It was a clear night on the beach in Arica last night,
and an almost full moon above us. No
noise from the wedding celebrations going on up in the main building, but Arica
must have some fish processing plants up the road a little way, because
occasionally the wind blew from that direction and we got the full delights of
the distinctive aroma from the plants !!
Had worse though, so it did not disturb my sleep !
Chile is 2 hours ahead of Peru, for some reason, so
despite only travelling a few kms yesterday, I woke up in the dark and looked
at my watch which said 4.30 am, but then I checked my phone and it had
corrected the time automatically and it was actually 6.30 am ! So I got up and went off to do my blog ! Very pleasant just sitting on the beach, and
when Friend Graham skyped me from the UK, had a pleasant chat while sitting on
the beach in Chile ! Warmer where I was,
I think !
It was 10.30 pm before we got moving, and we filled up with diesel before leaving
Arica – Good job we did because I don’t think we saw another gas station until
we got to Iquique over 300 kms later. We
wouldn’t have had a problem, but I bet some people do !!
Basically we just drove in the Atacama Desert all
day. Not very exciting – In fact, after
my early start this morning, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open in some
sections. It wasn’t hot – In fact it was
quite a pleasant temperature. But if you
were in the sun you could quickly feel it burning you, and the wind was
incessant. Not super strong yet, but one
has to get used to only opening one car door at a time otherwise anything loose
in there will blow straight out ! But
the desert itself is quite interesting, in the same way the wastes of Australia
have their own beauty – Just the sheer barrenness and starkness has its own
unique beauty. We climbed up a long hill
to about 1000 metres, then drove for about 50 or 100 kms across flat but
undulating and dry and featureless desert, the Pampa de Camarones. Then we dropped into a gorge, at Cuya, where
there was a small river which enable them to grow crops in the valley, which
was quite green. Then up to 1000 metres
again, drive for another 100 kms or so, across the Pampa de Tana, and then drop
into another green gorge at Tiliviche.
Repeat !!
Finally we turned west and drove to Iquique, where we
planned to overnight, and dropping into Iquique was equally dramatic – The
sizeable city stretches along the coast below you, while we drove down the
steep side of some enormous dunes above, with the city laid out in front of
you. Once you get down to sea level,
the city isn’t particularly exciting, although I understand the old centre is
quite pleasant. But we carried on along
the coast for a few kilometres where we had directions to a small Cabana /
hotel / camp site and planned to overnight.
Found German travel mates Rolf and Sylvia (from Cusco camp site) already
set up there and enjoying it. It was a
bit noisy as the pool was full of local kids having a Christmas party, but by 7
pm they had all gone home, and peace descended.
The wind dies down at sunset, and it is really very pleasant with the
beach just 30 or 40 metres away.
Tomorrow on towards Antofagasta, but we are going to turn
east just before then, and go inland through Calama and up into the Andes. Had
enough of the Atacama Desert for now !!
No comments:
Post a Comment