We left Tacna, Peru and headed towards the "La Fronterra" as the border is called. After some of my, ahem, "famous" navigating in which we ended up on a 'road' that had more square footage of potholes than paved surface, we arrived at the border. It looks like Peru recently built a new immigration/aduana building but inside things still worked the old way. One of the things Mike lost in his tank bag was his entry paper and when he didn't have it the guy said one word, "Money". It ended up costing him $50 which added insult to injury but we were done with Peru.
It's been interesting!
And we moved on to Chile. It is Sunday and it is election day here but we couldn't tell during the crossing even though we had been warned we might be better off to wait a day.
Every day I get to see what the landscape will bring. So far I have yet to be dissappointed.
We have to plan our stops strategically here in the Atacama Desert as towns are very spread out. Gas and lodging are our primary concerns. After riding through a particulary non-descript bit of desert we popped out on the coast to look way down and see the sea. Then the city of Iquique came into view and finally a large sand dune separating the town from the bluff. You may not be able to tell but it is hundreds of feet high!
Things are more expensive here in Chile. The cheapest hostal we could find was still $36 for the two of us but did include a breakfast of coffee and toast. Here we had to remove one side pannier in order to fit through the door. We met a group of students from Santiago taking a break from their studies to spend some time on Iquique's wonderful beaches. Mike and I walked across the street and had a good sandwich but no beer as it was election day. We then walked about the town a bit and headed back the the hostal to get some sleep.
The next morning was beautiful and we were riding down the coast with towering sand dunes on our left and the ocean on our right. There were many times we just gave in and turned off the road to enjoy the water's edge.
We have to plan our stops strategically here in the Atacama Desert as towns are very spread out. Gas and lodging are our primary concerns. After riding through a particulary non-descript bit of desert we popped out on the coast to look way down and see the sea. Then the city of Iquique came into view and finally a large sand dune separating the town from the bluff. You may not be able to tell but it is hundreds of feet high!
Things are more expensive here in Chile. The cheapest hostal we could find was still $36 for the two of us but did include a breakfast of coffee and toast. Here we had to remove one side pannier in order to fit through the door. We met a group of students from Santiago taking a break from their studies to spend some time on Iquique's wonderful beaches. Mike and I walked across the street and had a good sandwich but no beer as it was election day. We then walked about the town a bit and headed back the the hostal to get some sleep.
The next morning was beautiful and we were riding down the coast with towering sand dunes on our left and the ocean on our right. There were many times we just gave in and turned off the road to enjoy the water's edge.
A rock can replace a tripod sometimes :-)
This time I used a taller rock. Wow am I talented!
Sometimes the road climbed and we were high above the water
Always the ever present sand dunes
We happened on the "Tropic of Capricorn"(22.5 degrees south of the equator)and the cool momument indicating it.
We made it to Antofaugasto Chile today. It's really a nice town, fairly young so no "Old Time Square" to loll about in. Still it has many small shops and interesting areas in which to walk through. We had dinner at the hotel as the wonderful smell of spaghetti sauce was filling the air and we could not resist. We had trouble connecting to their wifi so they brought out their Network Administrator....yep, she's the cook!
After internetting a bit we headed out and had drinks at one of the small neighborhood taverns. There was a local soccer game on the big screen and everyone was quite into it. Afterwards we walked home in the cool of the late evening and hit the racks.
View of the Sea From the Top of a Dune
This time I used a taller rock. Wow am I talented!
Sometimes the road climbed and we were high above the water
Always the ever present sand dunes
We happened on the "Tropic of Capricorn"(22.5 degrees south of the equator)and the cool momument indicating it.
Farthest South we have had our bikes so far.
We made it to Antofaugasto Chile today. It's really a nice town, fairly young so no "Old Time Square" to loll about in. Still it has many small shops and interesting areas in which to walk through. We had dinner at the hotel as the wonderful smell of spaghetti sauce was filling the air and we could not resist. We had trouble connecting to their wifi so they brought out their Network Administrator....yep, she's the cook!C'mon! Tell me this isn't funny!?!!!
After internetting a bit we headed out and had drinks at one of the small neighborhood taverns. There was a local soccer game on the big screen and everyone was quite into it. Afterwards we walked home in the cool of the late evening and hit the racks.Blasting Out of Town and Down Towards the Water
View of the Sea From the Top of a Dune
Desert Riding!
More Riding Along the Coast
Tomorrow we have to decide where to aim for as a day's end destination. There are a few choices but from the map it appears they are all quite a distance from here.
Hope all is well with you and thank you for reading-John
4 comments:
I was able to view all of the other videos, but the ones on this post don't seem to work. Anyone else having trouble viewing these? The pictures looked so cool! Since you are in Chile today, I think I will go to Chili's for lunch today and think of you. :-) Looks like fun!!!
Hm...originally they were working but now there is some kind of problem and I'm sure it's because of something I'm doing wrong n "Blogger". I will try and find time to relocate the videos and reload them.
After doing some looking I notices that ALL the videos I posted are not available. Hopefully it is just a temporary thing with Google Video and it will be back an running before too long. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Videos back up and running! :-)
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