Beach and bbq

We finally made it to our hostel in Arica around 10 or so in the morning, the Dona Ines hostel. Now the emails we had with them were cracking us up. They always mentioned an all you can drink-eat bbq and guaranteed hangover. So to be honest we were a little nervous about what we were walking into. Our fear was that in this beach town of Arica the hostel would be a little Cancuny full of trashed American college kids. Fortunately, that was not the case.
The hostel is an experience to say the least. WHen you walk in it´s a courtyard full of graffiti on the walls of travelers who have stayed there leaving notes for Roberto, the owner. There´s a swing hanging from the balcony of the courtyard made of parachute-hangliding looking stuff and a hammock and ping pong table and big brick bbq pit. THe people there are so relaxed and tan and in flip flops, weknew immediately we were going to have a relaxing and fun time. And having come from so much rain and cold weather and having to be somewhere at a certain time, i twas paradise to be here and be on beach time. We relaxed and had breakfast and decided to head to the beach, Playa El Laucho, per Roberto´s recommendation. Well it´s a good thing we decided to do it bec. the afternoon and on into today became one big party.
We met Roberto and Matias, an Argentine travlere staying at our hotel, at the beach and then Roberto´s girlfriend, a Swedish guy named Martin, and two Aussies, Steph and Christina, all from our hotel, ended up coming over. It was so much fun and exactly what we needed. The beach got packd in the late afternoon and felt like the Greek ISlands when the dj started. Turns out Matias used to be a masseuse in Buenos Aires so I actually got a free one hour massage. no joke. it was heaven. I couldn´t believe i was sitting on a beautiful beach in the warm sun getting a massage. (dad i know you´re rolling your eyes now) haha but anyways, the sun was strong and the water was pretty warm for the pacific, but there were a million jellyfish in the water. I mean HUGE huge jellyfish everywhere. SO gross. So no swimming for me. But it didn´t matter. We all had a blast.
Around 6 or so we all headed back. STeph, Matias and I went to the downtown area of Arica which was really really cute. Definintely looks like a beach town with all the cute colored buildings and fountains adn people in flip flops. It was really pretty. We got some delicious icecream and i was pretty sure this was the perfect day. We both knew there was no way we were waking up today and doing a tour out into the desert. This just isn´thte kind of town you wake up and have to be somewhere. it´s so great.