7:30 am 45 degrees 7500 feet.
Chile Highway 31
One hour to the city of Copiapó:
Chile Highway 31 includes 25 miles of oiled dirt road.
The outskirts of Copiapó.
Northern Chile is much poorer than the south. And dirtier too.
Grocery shopping, a car wash, a hot gas station shower in an impeccably clean bathroom for one dollar, and a roadside salesman with grapes and honey.
We bought 2.2 pounds of grapes for a buck twenty five.
Highway 5, the PanAmerican Highway due northwest to the coast for one hour at 65 mph.
4:00 pm 75 degrees sea level with a cool Pacific breeze.
Caldera, Chile.
It’s out of season so touts were pushing their eateries on us, the only tourists around.
Lovely sea air.
We chose the one not pushing us to eat there.
Fish stew for Konstantin and Julia. We shared ceviche appetizer.
My fish came battered like fish and chips cod which was a surprise but delicious. Layne had crab stew.
Chupe de jaiba, rich and filling. Left overs for lunch.
Darkness falls before 7 pm in Chile in winter so we raced for an iOverlander beach spot.
In a month they plan to ship home to Seattle. Meanwhile we had tea and cake by the ocean.
We will miss them. Alone by the ocean. What a privilege.
