To: tynda
Subject: NORTHERN CHILE
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 00:33:50 EDT
The Land of the Condor
Second stage of my South American Journey
When I lifted the cover under which I had parked my bike in this chilenian
seaside town
8 months ago, I could not believe that this rusty something was my Honda
Transalp, that had served me so well for 130.000km so far. With the help of
my host Raul and his family, and a motorcycle shop, we got it running again.
On the way to Santiago, I got used to my bike again. The rich central valley
is full of large vegetable and fruit processing plants. Large plantations of
apples, grapes and pears dominate the countryside. When riding the
spectacular road over the Cumbre (sometimes also called Los Libertadores)
pass between Santiago and Mendoza in Argentina, passing the highest mountain
in the Americas, Mt. Aconcagua (6959m), I detected dripping oil below the
motor. This worried me and I feared, that the engine leaked or some other bad
problems might have occured. Some oil-refills and 60km later, I reached the
nice town of Los Andes with a motorcycle shop. It turned out to be just a
leak in the new oilfilter that was fitted in a motorcycle shop in Chillan.
Travelling north from Santiago, I experienced the gradual climatic change
from rich agricultural country to the vast Atacama desert. Between Ovalle and
Vicuna, I took the gravel road through the foothills of the Andes. The road
winds through the fertile Hurtado Valley before climbing up into the dry
mountains. It was a beautiful ride on a single track dirtroad with almost no
traffic. Visiting the charming towns of Vicuna and La Serena was the last
dose of civilization bevore entering the Atacama desert. Distances between
gasstations rose to 250km, towns along the paved mainroad were sometimes
500km apart. Many so called oficinas, huge abandoned nitrate mines, were
situated in the desert. Hundredthousands of workers were held like slaves in
dusty baracks all over northern chile in the first half of the 20th century
working in the mines.
Shortly before the turnoff to Antofagasta I saw a hand rising 20m out of the
desert soil. Its the hand of the Atacama, a monument built in the middle of
nowhere in 1992.
The small and attractive oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama is the jumping
off point for many sights. Blue mountain lakes, huge volcanoes, Inka ruins,
the desolate Valley of the Moon and the salt lake Salar de Atacama are some
of the attractions in this region. The El Tatio geysir basin is the best of
all. The Technoflex shock absorber had some hard work to do on the 90km
washboard track with sandy and rocky sections that took me to the geysirs at
an altitude of 4300m. There was nobody else, all the tourgroups that frequent
the area every morning had already left. I set up my tent and spent one of
the most impressive days, and nights, of my life between the bubbling and
steaming hotpots. Beeing not aclimized to the altitude, I had a bad headache
all night long: But when the sun rose over the horizons and the geysirs spew
huge colums of steam over the frozen land, I forgot my headache and enjoyed
this natural spectacle..
Further north, on the border to Peru and Bolivia is the spectacular Lauca
Nationalpark. The tranquile Laguna Chungara is dominated by three Volcanoes,
each one more than 6000m high, covered by gleaming glaciers.
From there, the road leads over a 4700m pass to Bolivia. The road from Arica
in Chile to La Paz in Bolivia is now fully paved. Its an easy ride, the only
dangers are altitude sickness and large flocks of grazing lamas.
Before enteric the chaotic traffic of La Paz, I spent two relaxing days in
the hidden Termas de Urmiri. The single lane dirtroad descends steep into a
valley, with many narrow curves. Looking down it resembles a corkscrew on the
hillside. La Paz is a very busy city, large parts of the town are an open air
market. Just outside of the hospedaje I was strangeld and robbed by three
man. Luckily I was not physically hurt, just my ego was damaged and I lost my
daypack with my camera, some money, and worst of all, my diary. I parked the
bike and explored the fabolous lake Titicaca. Copacabana is a nice town on
the lake, with good restaurants and many touroperators, who offer boattrips
to the nearby Isla del Sol (sunisland) and Isla de la Luna (Moonisland).
These islands are the mythical birtplace of the first Inca, Manco Kapac and
his sister.
Soon, I will return to Bolivia, to explore more of this fascinating country.
WERNER For more photos of this trip go MORE WERNER PHOTOS OF CHILE
Return to HOMEPAGE FOR CHILE
April 2001