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22nd February 2009
After relaxing at hostel Las Luces and enjoying spending time
chatting to other travellers, we left La Serena with trepidation, as we knew that we
were going to be entering the desert region of Chile.
10km or so out of La
Serena we spotted a lone cyclist who popped out onto the
road in front of us, having just finished his breakfast. Dave and I
couldn’t believe it as we had not met another cyclist for weeks, nor had we
met another cyclist going in the same direction north as us. It seems that
most cyclists prefer to cycle from North to South due to more favourable
wind conditions. We quickly accosted
Franco, the young Chilean cyclist and took him under our wing as we
discovered that this was his first ever outing on a loaded bike and also
his first day on the road. Franco was quite pleased to have a bit of
company too for the day, as his friend had dropped out of the 3 day cycle
vacation at the last minute. We were quite amused to see that Franco was
carrying a full set of snorkelling gear, including wetsuit, fins and even a
weight belt as he was hoping to explore the region of Punto Churros, a
national park with vast marine life including Humbolt penguins and
bottle-nosed dolphins. We both really enjoyed the chance to cycle and chat
with another cyclist, even if it was only for a day. (Is anyone going to
come out and join us?)
We entered the third region of Chile
(Chile is divided into
fifteen regions), called the Atacama region (although, as we found out, the
famous Atacama desert is actually in the second region of Antofagasta). This region is billed as
having one of the most amazing and contrasting landscapes in the world. Not
only does it seem to have eternal sunshine but it is host to beautiful
beaches of fine white sand and turquoise sea. Dave and I were craving to
get out on the water in kayaks to explore the coastline, which wasn’t as
rough or foreboding as the coastline further south. The green valleys stood
in stark contrast to the sand dunes and desert and we were amazed how towns
and villages operate in these pockets of desert oasis’s in the middle of
nowhere.
From La Serena
we followed the route 5 Pan-American highway,
which for the first part followed the coast. We were lucky enough to meet a
group of six Chileans who were on a three week holiday, hitch-hiking and
camping through the north of Chile. They invited us to camp
with them on Puerto Cisnes beach and in exchange for sharing our water with
them, they treated us to a dinner of freshly caught crab and rice. Under
the stars, we learnt about their dreams, aspirations and chatted about
pre-conceived ideas about life in Europe.
Neither of us knew what to expect from the desert and so when we
reached the town of Chañaral, we were quite
apprehensive about the route ahead as route 5 headed further inland through
the desert and consisted of a 400km stretch to the town of Antofagasta. All the
locals kept urging us to take the bus due to the lack of shade and water.
After a bit of research, we decided that we would give it a go on the
bikes. In fact, the desert has been one of the most incredible experiences
so far. It certainly isn’t the monotonous scenery that we had prepared
ourselves for. There is a harsh beauty within the desert, with each hour
the colours of the dunes change from copper to sunset red to mauve, and it
has induced us into a meditative kind of cycling, with each of us lost in
our own thoughts. We have been surprised at the tinges of green and aqua
blue within the sandy layers. To see a lone tree flourishing in the desert
makes you appreciate the importance of water in order to sustain life.
So how have we cycled through the desert? We have been getting up at
the crack of dawn to witness the stillness of the sunrise over the land and
cycling in the coolness of the day. Between the hours of 12-4pm it is
impossible to ride as the sun is relentless and heat unbearable. Due to the
hole in the ozone layer over Chile, it is also very
dangerous to be exposed to the sun at this time. Then from about 4pm until
sunset we try to put in a few more kilometres. The luxury of shade has been
sought for our afternoon siestas in glamorous places such as bus stops, in
roadside shrines (for the huge number of people that seem to be killed on
the road here due to drink driving or falling asleep at the wheel-hence we
never cycle at night) or under billboard signs. We are so pleased that we
have succeeded in cycling this section and have felt a great sense of
achievement for having done it. Although we will be continuing to cycle
through the desert over the next few weeks, we know we still have many
challenges ahead, especially as we enter Bolivia.
It has been the Posadas
that have made the cycling through this section possible. Posadas are
roadside cafes that have been set up for the long distance truck drivers.
Although quite sparsely spaced, we have been able to try and hop from
posada to posada to top up with water. But what we have also discovered is
that they provide huge, cycling sized portions of food and large mugs of
coffee at very cheap prices. In exchange for eating a two course evening
meal, the owners have let us camp beside the cafes and allowed us to use
their showers and toilet facilities which has certainly been a luxury! It
has also allowed us to chat to and question the truck drivers about the
route ahead.
Most of the topic of conversation with the drivers and the locals we
have met along the way has involved life in the desert, particularly the
importance of water and about the mining in this area. One lady we spoke
to, lived in a shack in the desert. She had no water supply (this is
typical of many people in this area who don’t live in the big towns) and so
had to buy in water from the nearest town. Her water was delivered in a big
truck. She explained how it hadn’t rained in ten years in that particular
part of the desert, but when it does, the desert turns into a garden, with
rare plants and green grass that flourish for a short time. The rain also
creates mud slides and damages many of the houses that are made out of
cardboard type materials.
Naturally, out in the desert and away from the desert cities or
towns, water is carefully protected and we have realised just how much
water we waste back in the UK.
Here, additional taps are added onto the pipes to ensure that no leaks or
drips occur. Cisterns are only filled up when absolutely necessary and
people are urged to take shorter showers.
Many of the locals and drivers have also spoken about the dwindling
water supplies from rivers and wells due to the mining companies. Chile
is rich in its resources and throughout the desert mining companies have
been set up to exploit materials such as copper, silver, gold and modelenu
(?) (a material used in rockets), however they believe that the presence of
the mining companies has affected the water supply. They explained that the
companies drill deep into the ground to suck up the water for the drilling-
this water would otherwise filter into the land as springs, wells and the
occasional river. Dave and I are both quite interested to find out more
about this topic and chat to some of the mining people to hear their side.
Interestingly, we did read in a magazine that ecologists, guides and
tourists are campaigning for the
Salar de Llamar (a salt plain) to be made into a protected area.
Apparently, in the lagoon lives a prehistoric organism/cell that dates back
to 3.5 million years ago which would have lived in the sea and was
important in the facilitation of the start of life on land. The mining
company Joquimich has apparently been extracting water from the area and
the lagoon is in danger of disappearing.
According to the article, there are only four places in the world
that is home to this organism (Check it out on Youtube for further
information).
It also seems like the economic crisis is also beginning to be felt
here in Chile, the price of copper has lost its value from $4 to $1.50 and
as a result many of the smaller mines are closing or cutting back on
production. The silver mines have apparently all but closed until their
price begins to increase and today
in Calama we have seem many people queuing up to find out what work is
available as 4000 state mining jobs have recently been lost.
As we have been cycling, we have been saddened by the amount of
rubbish that we have seen lining the roadside, with huge numbers of bottles
of urine that have been thrown out of the window, plastic bags, bottles and
other various forms of fly tipping litter the road. The government has
slowly begun to step in to tackle this problem, with signs such as,
“cleanliness is culture” but they need to go a lot further. At times we
have struggled to find a camp spot hidden from the road or on the beach as
mounds seems to be places to go to the toilet, with streams of toilet paper
flapping in the wind. However, we were thankful to arrive into Antofagasta, after our
desert crossing to stay in a great hostel called Casa Mosaico. Marcello and
his partner Loretto are working hard to bring in recycling and sustainable
energy and education into this part of northern Chile. We were quite excited to
see and learn how they have created their own solar cookers, solar panels
for water, converted their car to use vegetable oil instead of petrol and
are about to embark upon a project to build a building out of recycled
materials. We learnt a huge amount from them and left feeling inspired. We
were also appreciative as they told us about Community Gen, an oasis in the
desert about 25km from Antofagasta.
Dave and I camped the night in the semi abandoned commune and learnt a
little more about fog/cloud catchers (turning fog into water) and saw how
people have attempted to build with recycled materials.
We have been particularly impressed with the ride from Antofagasta to Calama, a mining town in the middle of
the desert, as along the way we visited a wild west town of Baquedando, home to an
abandoned steam train station/museum. It was amazing to see abandoned steam
trains left in the stations unused since their heyday in the early 1900s.
This stretch has also been incredible to see the old salt mines that
flourished between 1900-1925, which
employed thousands of people. After their decline, all the buildings were
left to perish in the desert. Thus there is a whole network of old railway
lines, cemeteries, and houses left half standing. It was quite eerily
visiting these places, particularly the cemeteries as some of the bodies
could been seen in the broken coffins and were very well preserved and
mummified due to the arid desert.
Dave turned thirty six yesterday, so we only cycled half a day to reach Calama and promptly
booked ourselves into a very nice hotel. We even managed to find a pizza
place and gorged ourselves on ice-cream.
Later this afternoon we are heading towards San Pedro de Atacama,
which I can’t wait to get to as the scenery looks out of this world and we
are hoping to view the comet that is due to pass over us on the 24th
February, as the night sky is meant to be one of the clearest in the
world.
After weeks of feeling as if we would never cycle out of Chile,
we saw a sign indicating the Bolivian boarder. We can’t wait to enter Bolivia
as it will seem like such a huge milestone, added to the fact that we are
looking forward to seeing the Salar de Uyuni.
Dave would like to thank everyone for all his birthday wishes!
5th February 2009
Dave and I tossed a coin and we are now continuing to head up the
Chilean coast towards Bolivia.
I woke up yesterday to find a scorpion in my shoe. Thankfully I
checked my shoe before I put it on as it was ready to strike. I shouldn’t
have been surprised really as it was a reflection of the type of scenery
that we have been travelling through for the past three days-harsh,
unforgiving semi-desert scenery.
The landscape is arid with steep rolling hills. The only vegetation
that seems to thrive here are cacti and low lying shrubs. Hardy goats roam
the landscape and are fenced into the farmers land by lines of cacti. The
farmers try and eke out a living by selling goat’s cheese beside the
motorway. Dave nearly fell off his bike as he cycled close to a female
roadside seller. As quick as a flash she raised a white blanket and
revealed underneath it a skinned and butchered goat for sale. Goodness
knows how she thought we would be able to carry it on the bike. We wondered
how many people on the motorway had been flashed the dead goat underneath
the midday heat. This way of selling became a familiar sight as we carried
on up the Pan American Highway
of route 5 towards La
Serena, the city we are now resting in.
For the past few weeks we have been enjoying cycling up the Chilean
coast and have been caught up in the seaside holiday feel of the area. It
seems that many Chileans head to the coast this time of year to escape the
heat further inland in favour of the cooler sea breeze. Campsites haven’t been too hard to come
by and have proved to be very sociable affairs and we have been pleased to
find some with swimming pools!
So far the coastal region has been full of surprises in its
diversity. We have passed busy towns such as Duao and Lloca with their Weston-super-mare feel with horses and donkeys
waiting to be ridden on the beaches, circus performers and slot machines to
the quieter and exclusive resort of Zapallar which the super rich have
built an eclectic mix of mansions which cling to the mountainside
overlooking a peaceful bay. In such a place Dave and I struggled to find a
campsite or any cheap accommodation!
In between the towns we climbed up hills with spectacular views of
the Pacific on one side and the Andes
reaching high up to the clouds on the other. Wood plantations dominated the
area further south and the screams of the chainsaws resounded as we past.
The paper industry here, with its fast growing eucalyptus trees have helped
to put many of the mills out of business in the USA. In the valleys where the
rivers flow fruit and vegetables thrive with the intense heat. Dave and I
have enjoyed sampling fruits we have never seen before such as pepino dulce
– sweet cucumber, which tastes like melon and tuna- fruit from cactus
plants. We can’t believe the prices of the fruit and veg here, with melons
being sold for 40 pence and 3 kilos of grapes for one pound.
The coastal city of Vina
del Mar bombarded our senses and was a complete
contrast to many of the smaller towns that we have been through to date. It
could have been California
with its beautiful people exercising early morning in the outside gyms that
line the beaches or all dressed up early morning to walk their fashionable
poodles. Surfers looked out to sea waiting for the perfect wave sets. We
even saw an old Atlantic 21 (RNLI rib) cruising along keeping an eye out on
the swimmers. Dave and I were shell shocked and felt a bit out of place in
the bustling beachside city with its upmarket feel, wearing our dusty
cycling gear, so we quickly left before the group Simply Red arrived to
perform in town.
Dave and I are currently getting ready to carry on cycling up route
5 through Chile towards
the Atacama region, home of the Atacama desert,
the driest desert in the world. We are apprehensive about the availability
of water and shade en-route and the locals keep urging us to take the bus
further up north as they are insisting that there is nothing on the route
to see. However, after researching on the internet, we have found people
that have cycled the route and so we have decided to have a go and see what
the route holds. We are particularly looking forward to camping under the
stars as this region up to San Pedro de Atacama is reportedly the best
place in the world to view the cosmos and apparently a comet is due cross
the night sky over the next few weeks.
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