Iquique from 1000 feet up...

Looks a little different than it does from the streets. It looks smaller. And it´s weird... you can see more of it.

I went paragliding today, and that was an awesome experience. Basically you jump off a cliff, strapped to a guide and a parachute, and skim around the sky for half an hour, bobbing and weaving on the whim of the wind. Iquique is framed by some pretty tall sand hills, and by his estimation, the peak we jumped from is about 1000 feet above sea level. We landed on the beach in the company of some cool college kids, who had a good laugh at my "unique" flying suit (imagine the puffy snow suit you wore in first grade, now add all the colors of the fruit salad and you´ve got it). Of course I had a good laugh too, one of the girls had a Michigan sweatshirt on, naturally she had no idea what it was, so I informed her that she was an unknowing supporter of my school. I might look like a six foot tall blueberry, but at least I know it. Yeah. So there.

After I was hungry, so I asked my guide (chef by morning, paraglide guide by afternoon) a good place to eat. He suggested the mall. I thought, "hey cool, a chilean mall, i wonder what unique and cultural experiences I can have there". Oops. The mall is just like every mall in the States. Big, white, and annoying. They even had a mechanical bull ride with loud American music right inside the front door. If my hunger hadn't outweighed my shame, my second step would have taken me right back out the same door the first one took me in. Unfortunetly, it did. So I went up to the food court and had some crappy pizza. Then, dejected, I left.

Tomorrow morning I have an 18 hour bus ride to La Serena. Should be... um... long.