Mark and Neil Trekin' South: More Decisions and off to Chile

When we were in Ollantaytambo we talked to some other bikers who had advised us that the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia was under water right now. Apparently their friend had taken five days to travel across in a foot of water. It would still be nice to see it but coupled with the weather (lots of rain) we chose to forgo traveling to Bolivia. We are down to about six weeks left of available travel time and we would rather save a bit of time for Patagonia side-trips.
So after Puno we traveled along the shore of Lago Titicaca to Desaguadaro which is the border entry point to Bolivia from Peru. From there we planned to head for Tacna on the Pacific coast for a border crossing the next day into Chile. There was a lot of traffic and people around the actual border crossing and we idled back and forth a few times through the crowds trying to find a gas station. We finally decided to head towards Tacna hoping one of the small towns along the way would have gas. We had already been side-swiping some heavy rain showers and the mountains ahead weren't looking too friendly with the look of snow showers. It was also getting colder. We eventually stopped to put on more clothes and I even put on my heated vest. I'm glad I did as soon after that we hit the rain. It kept getting colder and when we crossed the 4800 meter pass we were just below the snowline. Through the mist we caught a few glimpses of the terrain around us and it was very barren but colourful. Kind of like the pictures you see of Mars. This is when it started getting really foggy and we were soon down to about 40 or 50 kmh with eyes straining to see the road. The fog continued for a long time and we didn't really get to see a thing for many kilometers. When we did break out of the fog it was short lived and we were back into it thicker than before with the road now slippery with mud and sand. On top of that the wind was pretty gusty. We never did find a gas station either but the long descent from the pass added quite a few kilometers to our tanks and we rolled into a gas station in Torata after about 420 km showing nearly 100 km remaining on reserve. On level ground we probably would have had about 75 or 80 km left in our tanks.
We got back on the Pan American and made it to Tacna about 5 pm but took nearly two hours to find a hotel and arrange parking. While I was out looking around for a room Neil was back at the bikes. As I crossed the street headed back his way I could see a police car parked near us and a policeman talking to Neil. The policeman was taking Neil's documents and threatening to fine us for parking in a yellow No Parking zone. The cop in the car looked like he was writing a ticket. Neil and I both questioned why no one else around us was getting a ticket. Everybody parks wherever they feel like. They were also only going to fine one of us. I think the young cop was trying to shake us down but the older guy in the car wasn't into it and they eventually let us go.

Lago Titicaca

The lines on the hills in the background are stone walls or fences. Miles and miles of them.

We saw lots of llamas and alpacas. We even saw a few vicuna (I think) but didn't get a photo.

Looking toward the pass in front of us.

The view from our first stop out of the fog with the road unwinding below us.

It was very barren and dry on the Pacific side of the pass near Moquegua except for these very green valleys. Some weren't much more than gullies really but very lush.

Looking back towards Moquegua

We had a bit of a slow start in the morning due to a language problem. My grasp of the Spanish language prevents me from detecting the subtle difference between "you can stay until 9 am" from "we don't open until 9 am".

Waiting for the gate to open.

The border crossing into Chile was a breeze and we met some nice people in the line-up. There were a group of bikers from Brazil on their way to Mach Picchu so we exchanged road information. After some hugs and handshakes we navigated through Arica and were into the desert for a short but windy ride to Iquique. Iquique is a fairly large town in a pretty dramatic setting on the coast and there are lots of tourists there. It has a huge sand dune for a backdrop that looks about as big as the city. It has very nice beaches with huge waves pounding in from the Pacific. It would be a nice place for a holiday but it's kind of expensive.

I think this trip has been good for Neil. He's looking younger every day.

I'm no expert but I'm calling this a desert.

Getting the idea?

The beach at Iquique. Awesome waves.

In order to hit the border right for the crossing to Argentina we figured we had two short days to get to San Pedro de Atacama with one night in Tocopilla. We planned on a relaxing start so Neil went for a walk on the beach before breakfast and I was going to work on the blog. I went down to the lobby and noticed a lady cleaning up breakfast dishes. Hmm...what time is it? We'd had a two hour time change without realizing. No problem. We got away well before 11 am and had a beautiful ride on good pavement along the Chilean coastline. The contrast between the huge sand dunes coming down onto the surf pounded rocky shoreline is beautiful to see. We did get pulled over by the cops again though. And again, all they wanted to do was ask where we were from, where were we going and take pictures of us and the bikes. Pretty easy.

Between Iquique and Tocopilla on the Chilean coast

Chile

More Chilean coastline. It was a nice day.

Tocopilla looked pretty industrial and unattractive so we got gas and kept going. Apparently, it's the site of a very large coal powered generating station with ships delivering coal and leaving with loads of iodine, phosphates and other minerals I think. We followed 5 sets of transmission lines across the start of the Atacama desert as we headed for Calama and San Pedro de Atacama. They take away from the scenery for sure. There isn't a lot of traffic here and it seems pretty lonely and desolate with some very long straight stretches of highway. Okay, Tocopilla to Calama is lonely and desolate. After that it got better.