We landed in Tacna around 7:15am.  Because it is a completely normal and frequent thing to border hop to Chile there, there are lots of taxi services that just basically drive over the border and back all day.  I'm actually super grateful for this.  The internets told me we'd probably have to fill the car and there would be a per-person price.  However, the guy we used had a car price, so we could just ride with our little family for S/.150.  Then he hung out while we waited forever for our suitcase and stroller to come off of the plane :)

Now, let me tell you why having dedicated border taxis is the best thing ever - it's what they do. All day, every day.  They have copies of the paperwork you need.  They know what you need to fill out.  They have a handle on the rules.  They know where you need to stand and what the next steps are to get in and out of the countries.  Best thing ever.

Anyway, so it's a two-step process to drive to Chile.  Step one, get out of the car and cross through Peru's immigrations.  This involves paperwork and a security check (easy xray/metal detector stuff the whole time, though).  Actually, to leave Peru, it's just a metal detector.  Then you get back in your car, drive for a little bit, and then get out at Chile's border control station.  At least Peru's is indoor.  Chile's lines are all outside.  At least their workers get to sit inside?  Fill out some papers, check passports.  Check baggage and go through the metal detector. Ding! You're done.  You may continue driving to Arica.  They say the drive is like an hour, but that has got to include standing in line time.  Getting to Arica the day and time we went was pretty easy.

So we drove to Arica and our taxi driver took us to our hotel, the Panamericana Hotel in Arica, or just called Hotel Arica.  I think it was like $120 USD/night, so not terrible.  Honestly, while there are (according to the internet) some ritzier places in Arica, this was pretty close to top-end.  And definitely near top-end pricing.  Not bad, eh? :)

We were greeted by a friendly gentleman who quickly became my favorite staff member.  Matt and I both hoped he was a manager of something at the least.  I just wish I'd gotten his name and/or a picture of him.

Lucky for us, they let us check in early.  Also, elevators are apparently not a thing in hotels, at least in that area.  Neither our Arica nor our Tacna hotel had an elevator.  Fortunately, these wonderful people haul your crap up the stairs for you :) (Also, I can't say I blame them on not using elevators.  All of the elevators down here are pretty tiny and break down way more often than they should.)  So we relaxed in our room and settled in for a bit.