We were offline for a bit there which was one sign of movement through the wilderness. It was a really nice break from being parked and plugged in, but we are back in a yard attached to the grid and preparing for more maintenance. Five years and more than 100,000 miles fully laden take their toll. They’ve been good miles though.
Monday morning, not early, I stowed the Starlink and we took off for an early lunch and a shower. We were camped in the desert and had spent Saturday and Sunday down by the river in our van.
Lunch was at the top of long uphill in a place where we had had breakfast on our journey north a couple of months ago.
I liked my bean stew but Layne thought her beef plate was too greasy and it spoiled the memory of our scrambled egg breakfast of fond memory.
Most overlanders we talk to aren’t too thrilled by driving the desert or the arid sandy coastline and though I would prefer to live within sight of waves and tides I don’t mind driving these landscapes especially on these kinds of perfectly paved highways.
Highway 5, the PanAmerican in Chile is built like a Dutipean highway with clear markings and signs and disciplined traffic for the most part. It’s winter so it isn’t as burning hot as it looks but it did get around 90 very dry degrees.
We got held up a bit by some road work but a good road deserves some care. iOverlander has some wild camps along this stretch between Arica and Iquique but we didn’t need to stop for a night as we had to get to the coast.
The plan was to get our front end of the van checked as I’d been hearing some clunking especially on dirt roads. Mark’s shop has facilities but the shower is cold and it’s a bit too brisk for cold water, at least it is for us.
This is mining country and it’s cold at night because it is a dry empty sandy waste that epitomizes what a desert should be. NASA uses the Atacama as a training ground for astronauts who need practice walking on the moon or nowadays on Mars. It’s that desolate.
And a van on a strip of asphalt rolls across this at a mile a minute with no problem. We keep the windows closed and open the vents and try to keep the dust out and listen to the radio as we roll. After so many endless miles of gravel and crap asphalt and hairpins the Chilean Atacama makes a nice change.
1850 kilometers to Santiago, the capital, about 1300 miles.
A weigh station for trucks and buses, we just drove on through.
Chile offers some great truck stop along the PanAmerican including gas stations and even rest areas with showers. At the Copec gas stations they cost very little, a dollar or two while at rest areas they have an attendant to keep them clean but they are free. Here we had to stand in line for a bit but the hot water was worth it.
Then we drive into the port city of Iquique for some food shopping. They call it Lider (leader) with low prices to live better. With the Walmart logo.
Then we drove a few miles north of town to Punta Gruesa.
Where they have a surf camp in summer and where surfers gather in the morning even on cold overcast mornings.
Hardly any trash was nice change and the city dumpsters were a nice touch.
Rusty loves the cold.
Joggers were also in evidence.
As well as surfers.
Low hanging marine inversion keeps the sun away so it’s a bit colder than we’d like.
Up next more tedious but necessary mechanical repairs.
