We have another day of desert driving ahead to reach northernmost Chile at Arica, but for the moment we are spending a night or three in Iquique (“ee-key-kay “) for a very specific reason. We’ve heard there’s an RV carpenter here called Mark with a workshop and we have a drawer we want fixed.
Layne was up before me and on a clear sunny morning she loved our beach anchorage. I woke just after nine to a hot cup of tea and a dog anxious for a beach walk of course.
“You want another cup of tea?” Yes and Rusty wanted a bowl of water because we are demanding.
We finally got together and left around 2:30 in the afternoon. We are starting to realize we need to keep moving if we want to get to Brazil at the beginning of August so we can’t dawdle. That may not make sense yet but it will become apparent why we want to get to Porto Velho in dry season. Meanwhile, more of the endless Atacama Desert.
We had to pass a customs check at La Loa. In 1879 this was the border between Bolivia to the south and Peru to the north. Nowadays it’s the border between Chile’s northern region, which is a tax free zone, and the rest of the country.
Going north it was a mere formality where we stopped, I walked across the highway to the blue shed where a customs official stamped GANNET2’s temporary import permit. Why? I have no idea but I asked no questions and kept driving.
“Populated area.” In a manner of speaking.
Campers! We’re not alone!
And check this out: a beach with trash service and as a result it’s clean.
Time is pressing oddly enough. My passport expires next year so it’s time to get a new one. I can apply in Cusco Peru where there is a US consulate but the turn around time is six to eight weeks. So our plan is to sit still in Peru for a while and use that time to let Layne make a Trader Joe’s run. The idea is she’ll go to see friends in California this time while Rusty and I wait in Arequipa Peru at our favorite campground.
We want to visit northern Brazil starting in late July or early August when the dry season is established. That’s important because there are roads in Amazonia that are impassable in the rain. The red earth of the region turns unpaved roads into mud pits that even well equipped four wheel drive vehicles struggle through and would be impossible for our heavy front wheel drive van. So at the back of our minds we have this nagging need to keep moving.
If not for that we’d be happy sitting on the beach here for a lot longer. The seasons and the weather are the biggest motivation to move when overlanding.
And just like that around five in the afternoon we arrive in Iquique. It looks modern and surprisingly full of skyscrapers from a distance, the promised land in the evening light. It’s spread across the water front for five or six miles at the base of the cliffs.
Up close the reality is slightly different as the city is showing rather a lot of signs of wear, lack of maintenance and rather rundown. The best campground we found is a parking lot with cold showers and electricity available for $22 a night. Not a great choice and it’s perhaps fortunate no one was around to open the gate.
So we drive back around the bay and take a look at White Beach, Playa Blanca with a few wild camp options on iOverlander.
There was one campground charging $32 a night with “warm” showers and another with a pack of dogs which would drive Rusty nuts. So we decided to forgo a shower and camp on the beach.
I think the word “squalid” sums it up nicely. The backdrop is spectacular of course and the sound of waves crashing is restful but the desert dust combined with impressive amounts of trash and barely functional huts and abandoned vehicles give this place an air of post apocalyptic decrepitude.
The garbage is everywhere but fortunately it’s all beer and booze bottles not household trash so it doesn’t actually smell. That’s the best I can say about it.
It is ever more apparent we are here is because of that sticky drawer and the recommended carpenter who might be able to rebuild it. If he can and does we will stay long enough to get that done. There’s some shopping we can do as well because this a big city and it’s also time we got GANNET2 an oil change. But Iquique is a utility stop.
It’s surprising how much a decent campground or even just a pleasant place to park, can make a city worthwhile to an overlander.
There’s a statue of a swimmer on the beach dedicated to Alejandra Carolina Donoso Alquinta. I looked her up and she was a 43 year old member of a dive club went spear fishing off the beach in heavy waves by herself and was found dead apparently knocked unconscious by hitting her head on the rocks and drowning. So they put up a statue.
A sort of grim reminder to the rest of us to respect the ocean. I’m not sure Iquique is my kind of town.
