Antofagasta

This really was a cool spot to spend the night. I could have stayed another night because I’m a slow poke. Imagine lounging here in your camp chair drinking tea and watching the desert do nothing much. 

We were surrounded by windmills but aside from playing peek-a-boo they didn’t harm us. 

We had to drive down to the PanAmerican to get on our way to Antofagasta for business. 

That weird mound was where we camped, off to the left a little. 

Two and a half hours to the city. We rolled at 60 mph without trying.  

This is the poorer part of Chile. 

The driest place on earth. I can’t get that thought out of my head. 82 degrees, it’s autumn and not too hot. 

Lots of these pull outs along the way are marked E for estacionamiento. 

The hand in the desert. We saw this in the way down. 

https://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-hand-of-desert.html

The road into the city passes through a massive truck service area, truck washes, tire shops and so forth. Then you take a sweeping drive through a canyon to the sea. 

And down to the waterfront. 

Antofagasta is not a tourist town but there is some interesting architecture. 

And get this: parking with an entrance not covered by a low arch. Score! We slipped in and took a spot not covered with a shade roof. We felt lucky. 

Across there somewhere is the Bolivian consulate. I walked Rusty round the block, Layne opened the windows and roof vent and he got to take a nap. We went looking for a visa for Bolivia. 

The consulate had moved (I notified Google maps) and we followed directions given by the security at the building where it used to be and we walked in. 

We got in line snd only waited ten minutes. The clerk called us and we explained we are North Americans in a camper van wanting to visit Bolivia. US citizens have to get a visa before entry so here we were. They were friendly and helpful but she said they don’t have the stamps to put in our passport. And she had made come calls and the only place you can get a visa for Bolivia is at the embassy in Santiago 600 miles to the south. Well, bummer. 

We were ready for lunch and look at this. Layne got fried chicken with mayo and I got a hamburger with hot sauce and fried yuca. Delicious. And it cost $2 each. This part of Chile is much more like poorer Perú. 

Meanwhile the government workers union has just started an indefinite strike. 

They want respect, a decent pension and that the government keep past promises. At first I thought it was the Bolivians but luckily for us it wasn’t. We’re now going to check out the Bolivian consulates in Argentina and see if they can give us a visa. At worst we can buy one at the border itself but that’s our last resort. Not having stamps at the consulates is what Bolivia is, a state staggering on the edge of insolvency and failure. I have my anxiety about visiting.  

Meanwhile we are in Chile, my favorite country. 

The waterfront of an industrial city built on mining and shipping wedged between the desert and the sea. 

Oh and they make pretty decent coffee too. This cost more than my lunch. 

French style architecture. This town is weird but I do rather like it. 

And the other job was to find a place to do a wheel alignment. When we put new KO2 tires on in La Serena but their alignment sucked and GANNET2 pulled to the right. It took us checking out four shops to find this one that said wait a bit and we’ll fit you in. And they did and did a great job. $38 and well worth it. 

No shopping Layne said, let’s get out of here so we blew the joint and returned uphill to the purity of the desert.  

Did I mention this part of Chile is a bit more rundown? Check out the trash better the “A Better Chile” billboard.  I know it’s a cheap shot but we weren’t climbing up the hill too fast anyway. I like to not stress my GANNET2. 

We were driving towards the city of Calama on our way back to Argentina. Calama is the most dangerous town we’ve come across in Chile and has a dismal reputation for break-ins and theft among overlanders so we’re looking forward to that. I also saw a newspaper on a stand in Antofagasta and the headline read “4 arrested in a Venezuelan drug ring in Calama” so I wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or worrying.

iOverlander listed a free camp alongside the highway among the ruins of a former saltpeter mine. 

It looks like adobe but it felt like cement blocks. 

We just pulled up and parked. It was kind of cool and Rusty loved it.

It felt like camping in Pompeii…

The smells coming in on that breeze: 

Layne offered him dinner but he had places to go. 

The Atacama Desert. 

Rusty in the Atacama Desert.  

This is the life. 

So dark at night and so star filled. 

Another great camp spot. 

The Atacama Again

From foggy La Serena to the driest desert in the world we spent Wednesday on the road. 

It started with a dog walk and ended with a dog walk, with a few in between. 

We free camped in a quarry off the PanAmerican Highway, had ramen for dinner and passed out. 10 hours on the road will do that to you. 

We got to within 120 miles of Antofagasta where we seek a Bolivian visa at the consulate. We impose a visa on Bolivians so American tourists have to have a visa for Bolivia. Same story for Brazil.

The cold pacific marine inversion was heavy. It’s the same as the  US west coast where cold ocean air rolls up against warmer inland air and produces low lying  cloudiness. 

And here we have the same rocky coast with Pacific rollers crashing in the rocky coastline.  

Top quality pavement all the way allowing us to cruise at 60 miles an hour. Except on the hilly bits where I don’t push GANNET2. 

The freeway looks very European in its signage 

Tourist signs in brown and the classic European exit countdown showing 200 meters to the next exit. 

Emergency phones with pull outs. All very reassuring. 

Public art. It looks like kelp to me but I don’t know what it is. It’s memorable as I remember seeing it on our way south last November. 

Truck stops and rest areas. 

Many have free or low cost (75 cent) hot showers for men and women with an attendant to keep the showers clean. There is also an ambulance on stand by at many truck stops ready to respond to car accidents.  Chile is very organized and I love it.  

Heavy truck traffic up and down Highway 5, the PanAmerican. 

The Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth. 

Nicely landscaped gas stations, also with free showers, convenience stores and fast food restaurants.  And the cleanest toilets you’ve seen at a gas station. Travel here is easy and civilized. It’s not what you think of when you think of Latin American chaos and color. 

Lots of overnight parking and completely safe if you are worried. We prefer wild camping but you can stay here overnight no problems. 

We are going to come back to this area if fascinating black volcanic rock next year, after the summer travel season ends and wild camping on the coast here. 

The problem with Totoralillo is it’s on the road to other places but this area is riddled with tracks through the rocks with hundreds of places to park within hearing of the waves crashing on shore and it’s worth a stop. We will next year I keep promising  myself. 

And then the inland driest of the dry places. 

Keeping Rusty hydrated he gets water every stop. 

iOverlander led us to a quarry off Highway 5 overlooking the desert. 

We arrived just before dark, snapped a couple of pictures while Rusty stretched his legs. 

And we slept in the darkest night under the most brilliant stars with occasional trucks rumbling by in the highway below. 

It was a long day. Antofagasta is next. And bureaucracy. Oh joy.