24.1.10

Des and I went for a walk along the foreshore this morning to see Antofagasta during a quieter period . I was Sunday and it seemed everyone was still asleep as there was little activity on the Esplanade.

But the tidal pool was happily filling up with each wave as the tide came in. It's a circular, concrete structure built into the rocks in the sea and there are holes and pipes under and around the pool to stop it from overflowing completely, and also to let the water out at low tide. The waves crash over the edge at high tide. It was great fun to watch the kids, later in the day from the balcony, standing on the edge of the pool waiting for the waves to knock them down into the pool. There is also a big pontoon floating in the bay which the local kids and tourists love to dive from.

All the fun activity is centered around the sea and shore, with craft stalls and McDonalds also in poll position. We thought we might have breakfast there, as you usually know what you’re getting at McDonalds. However, this one had really let the side down, with the remains of the previous days’ trading still littered around the dining room and children’s play area . It didn’t look too clean, and we wondered how it was able to hold on to its franchise license. The Service Station across the road was spotless, so we had breakfast there.

(If I were on the Municipal Council of Antofagasta, I would implement a daily litter collection, supply of litter bins every 20 meters, staff to assist with clean up, and a dog placement and sterilization programme.)

Lynn and I did some shopping for some healthy food and brought home a nice big piece of Salmon for the boys and us for dinner. We can whip up fine meal together in these hotel apartments.

All round it was a bit of a lazy day today, however, we did spend some time studying the map of how far we still have to go the reach Alaska. We got a shock that it’s still so far away. We’d better get our skates on!


25 .1.10




As we left Antofagasta on Monday morning, it was 23 degrees and the sun was low in the sky, making it difficult to see into the bright sunshine in the early part of the day. The town is built into the mountains, so we had many stops and starts on very hilly streets, as we had to give way on a number of occasions. Tricky riding with four bikes trying to stay in touch with each other. As we were nearly out of town, one of the thousands of feral dogs started barking and snapping at Lou’s boots. As soon as Lou got away, the dog started on Lynn, followed by me and Des. It’s quite unnerving having dogs do this when you’re riding. We have been told not to kick out at the dogs, and that they eventually go away. Never the less, it’s a potential hazard if we run into the dogs. (When I was 16 and had my first motor bike, I ran into two dogs who were fighting and ran out into the middle of the road . It was on Christmas Eve and it shook me up a bit, so I'm always a bit tense when dogs come towards my bike). We have encountered feral dog issues all through South America. I’m amazed they can all get enough to eat. Many of them are maimed from vehicular accidents, and most of the bitches have heavy teats from whelping pups.

We continued on through the Atacama, which became "The Big Northern Desert" on this stretch. Much of the scenery was the same and very barren this day.  

We fueled up after only 120 km as there were no more fuel stations for 295 km. Lou and Lynn took the precaution of filling a container with 5 litres of fuel, which Des carried on his bike, on the back seat. 100km along, Lou put the extra fuel into Lynn’s tank as hers is the smallest. The temperature, riding through the desert, had become very cold, so we put on Gortex liners in our jackets and warmer gloves.

As we rode through kilometers of dry light brown mountains, mining areas and whirlwinds of dust, (on very good roads) we suddenly came upon a place called Quillagua, a deep split between the mountains where the valley has running water (Rio Loa), grass and trees . Unbelievable how suddenly this appears, or that it’s there at all in the middle of such dryness.

We had to pull up at a Aduane (Customs Area), again in the middle of nowhere, and show our paperwork from when the bikes entered Chile. We can’t work out why this Customs office was there, but think it has something to do with the proximity of Bolivia, fairly close by. We were supposed to show the now stamped document to the Chilean Police, 20 meters up the road. The Customs officer said "If the Police are not there, you can just go on". Well, they weren’t there. (Yay, saved us another 30 minutes of paper nonsense).

We rode through the Reserva Nacional Pampa del Tamarugal with its ramshackle groves of scraggly Tamarugo trees, lining the PanAmericana south of Pozo Almonte. These trees are protected now, as they were nearly wiped out with clearing for mining. We passed an area which had geoglyphs in the hillside of Cerro Unita and Cerro Pintados, said to be dated at around AD900 which we stopped to look at, (and took an opportunity for a toilet stop, in the middle of nowhere) .

By 2pm, when we stopped for lunch at Of Victoria, it was 35 degrees, and we stripped off again and squirting ourselves with water. We bought cold water for our camelback drink containers, which we wear on our backs over our jackets. We usually fill them every morning, but today we needed more, and colder, water.

43 km down the road we stopped for the night at the Hotel Estancia Inn, in Pozo Almonde, after travelling 461 km today. We were glad to have a cold shower to get the dust off and a fine Chilean beer for the boys and Lynn. The Hotel had a fine outdoor area where we all sat together and chewed the fat over our ride, and Des teased Lynn some more about her penchant for wholemeal biscuits (in fact whole meal anything in OK by Lynn).