Sunday is splitsville. Konstantin and Julia go south to prepare to ship home to Seattle. We like traveling South America so we are only going as far north as will take us to Brazil. Then we want to circle round and go south to eventually head north this time next year to Colombia.
So for our last day Layne did a bunch of cooking. I kept her company for a while but I needed to get out into a cool gray day. Rusty was reluctant but he dragged himself after me and we walked.
He climbed the cliff and ducked out of sight while I walked the beach. He’s the extra lump on top.
Somehow we ended up on opposite sides of the cliff and he walked one way and I followed on the opposite level. We chased each other like a bedroom farce constantly at the wrong level. Then he turned around and I stumped along behind on the cliffs me trying to catch up. I got the feeling he was showing me who was boss as he slid down the cliff and left me peering over the edge.
Then I descended to his level and he walked alongside but well away from me. I think he figured I was mad because when I caught up to him he shied away but I grabbed him anyway and we had a make out session in the sand. My dog is a pain in the ass but I love him.
Konstantin came by and I thanked him again for using his multimeter to check in my bizarre front winch problem. The last time I rolled it out I short circuited the whole van. Konstantin discovered the source of that problem this time and though we couldn’t fix it I now know how to bypass the short circuit and use the winch to pull the van though I have to pull the rope out and unspool it by hand. Konstantin said he was worried about us going into and Amazonia without our Hail Mary device. He’s a good man.
The pain in the ass enjoyed the sand rug. Konstantin isn’t fond of dogs but Rusty has won him over. He really is an unusual animal with a mind of his own.
Pacific overcast skies, cold and dank and still. The day before was sunny and windy which I preferred.
The PanAmerican Highway in the distance.
Gabriel the watchman lives there (below) with his two Bassett hounds and his lifesaving white truck.
He took us aside and gave us a quick tour of the odd rock formation that makes this place a municipal park.
These black circles in the dock were formed 180 million years ago when magma came boiling to the surface and encountered salt water the crystallized into the spots seen in the rock.
The rocks sit on the beach with their leopard spots and five years ago Gabriel convinced the mayor of Caldera this abandoned spot was worth cleaning up. They gave him the job and he cleaned up the house on the beach and made this remarkable spot his own.
The black lump is an intact spot while the bottom black circle is an empty spot where the white crystallized ring has fallen out.
I hoped for sunshine but it did not break through.
Up next, Santiago got roadside picnic and the laundry and hot showers of Taltal to the north for us. In a month I might be going to see Machu Picchu. Something normal and touristy for a change.
