Km1130 to Km1019: Sleeping at a slant
Leaving Taltal feeling like we'd been there for weeks and not even having been there 24hrs we waved a sad good-bye to the family that had taken us in and headed back inland only make our way to the next popular coastal town being Bahía Inglesa just over 250km away, around 2 and a half days by bike.
After all the excitement in Taltal we had postponed Mark's birthday dinner until we got to Bahía Inglesa so we were super excited to get there for our next proper meal. That night we did well to cycle up and off the coast and again well into the Atacama Desert. We had agreed to cycle basically until we ran out of day light then dash off the road and set-up camp. As dusk fell and it started to grow cold, in addition to the strong head wind, so we were forced to find the next suitable spot but unfortunately we were on quite a steep straight road so struggled a little to find a place to put the tent and stove where it wouldn't go rolling down the hill - needless to say I did spend most of the night climbing back up my tent floor!
Km1019 to Km927: Ghost towns
We woke up after a night on a surprisingly hard desert sand not far from the highway surrounded by mist as has often been the case. Two assumptions killed right like that; desert sand is not always soft and the Atacama Desert may be 'the driest desert' in the world but there's still plenty of mist to make you cold and damp!
We were looking forward to getting to the first town back on the coast, Chañaral, for a good lunch and a restock. However, when we did rolled into Chañaral, even though it was already 10am, there was not one person in the street to be seen let alone an open shop. Eventually we did find some food opposite the central bus station which too provided bored passengers with something great to stare at.
Once out of the town and back cycling along the coast the scenery was quite beautiful. We had planned to pull into a little town for the night but as it was not quite summer yet they were all still shut for business. Looking for a place to stay we cycled down to a few coastal homes only to find them still locked and boarded up form the winter months, even the outdoor light fittings and taps had been removed. We figured no one would be coming home any time soon so took shelter from the wind for the night on someone's well sheltered balcony as it sure beats unpacking and packing up the tents.
Km927 to Km885: Jaw dropping Bahía Inglesa
It was a short cycle along this beautiful stretch of coast to the popular Bahía Inglesa (English Bay). Oddly most people, including us until now, believe that cycling down the coast would be easy but to be honest I'd rather cycle a mountainous inland stretch. Thankfully the wind was kind to us this day but generally you have strong winds on the coast and rarely does the road run along the flat coastline but rather just inland where you go up and over little rises all day. At least inland you can push yourself up the uphill then have a nice long flat section then a rest on the downhill plus generally the wind blows up hill giving you a little helping hand.
Although we were still in an arid region there were plenty of flowers lining the road. It had been misty all day so we figured the mist must collect on the roads then run off providing much needed water for this continuous string of flowers leading us down the coast and of course I'm pretty sure the wind of passing cars helps to spread the flowers.
Just as we arrived in the bay the mist began to clear and we could straight away see why this town was so poplar. The beach sand in the bay was fine and pure white and the water a gorgeous turquoise reminding me a lot of the British Cornwall coastline. Accommodation was pricey and almost completely unavailable which baffled us as it was still out of reason and a Sunday night. Later that that day we found out it was the first long weekend of summer so that explained it all.
After finding a little self-catering Cabaña we headed off for Mark's birthday dinner. Mark had just been on-line and had received some good news from home so we had plenty to celebrate making a great meal at the Done restaurant over looking the bay all that much better!
Km885 to Km769: Getting an Magnum ice-cream just for being South African!
This morning we woke up in a proper bed for a change, although shared, and enjoyed a good cup of coffee with Manjar (pronounced as if Mangar in Afrikaans) or Dulce de Leche as a substitute for milk. Manjar is very popular and is used on just about everything all over South America and is basically the product you get when a can of sweetened condensed milk is boiled. It is a bit like caramel in consistency, colour and taste but makes for a great spread on bread and a good milk and sugar substitute in coffee especially when fresh milk is hard to keep on a bike.
Under the current conditions, on average we are achieving 100km a day broken up over 3 sessions of about 2hrs each. Copiapó was 75km from where we were but the next town, Vallenar, was an additional 150km from there. So, we decided to see if we could make Copiapó by lunch then use the afternoon to see how much of the 150km we could kill hoping that just maybe we could make Vallenar by nightfall the next day.
Copiapó was up the valley from where we were on the coast and fortunately the wind was now in our favour as it just seems to love rushing up valleys. Although we were going uphill up the valley it was an easy cycle thanks to the wind and was made even more enjoyable by the rare surrounding of abundant vegetation including trees and vineyards.
By the time we wanted to stop for breakfast we had already clocked 50km so I thought it was only fitting to pull into the lodge on the side of the road advertising Bresler ice-creams (Ola in South Africa, Walls in the UK and Good Humour in the US) and get myself a little treat. When we pulled up the really friendly lodge manager asked us where we were from. In response to us saying we are South African he asked if we'd like an ice-cream so I enquired of the price but he just said 'gratis' you are South Africans! Chile qualified for the 2010 World Cup Football in South Africa the day before so I think we are going to be very popular from here on out.
The rest of the cycle into Copiapó was awesome as we started to hear birds and crickets all sounds we hadn't heard for a while cycling through the desert. There isn't too much to Copiapó itself though but it does have a lovely cycle path along the disused railway line running into it.
Over lunch in Copiapó I was just about to comment that I was amazed that my spokes on the back wheel had held out so far when I looked closer and saw one of them had snapped/rusted off. Then I notice that the back tyre had started to perish on the sides and was starting to split. The wheel would at least hold to La Serena, the next big city with bike shops, which is just over 300km from Copiapó but I'm not too sure the tyres was going to last. So planned to reassess in Vallenar around halfway so was just holding thumbs I didn't get stranded on the side of the road with a unusable back wheel!
The afternoon session coming out of the valley heading south toward Vallenar was a bit of a nightmare due to bad wind and a huge hill but we still managed to get within 106km of Vallenar. After a night in the desert, which should hopefully be one of our last, we hoped to make Vallenar before the next nightfall.
Km769 to Km663: Reaching out to Vallenar
We woke just never sunrise and Mark dashed over to my tent for a some fruit and delicious Manjar rolls giving the cool desert mist and air time to warm up a bit. Setting off with a sugar rush we steamed through the 2 morning sessions leaving a nice easy 25km into Vallenar.
Vallenar is a small valley town as the name suggests (Valle meaning valley in English) but not as deep, thankfully, but not a pretty as Copiapó. The town however is friendly and although only has a few hostels they are of good quality. The restaurants and food are also generally of high quality otherwise there's not too much else to the town and it definitely wasn't going to have a bike shop that could help sort out my tyre which was not looking good but was still holding out.
Because we got there early we had some free time and free wifi so got to catch up with some good friends, Grant and Ange, about their recent trip to Italy which was great! Also enjoyed a delicious pizza at Joyo's which has not been matched in too many other countries I've been to world wide and definitely not in Ecuador, Peru of Bolivia!
Km663 to Km470: Optical illusions and Kayaking in La Serena
Having had a good rest in Vallenar we did well on the next day doing over 110km putting La Serena in good reach. That night we had one of our last sleeps in the desert and then headed off early coming to a huge pass which doubled back on itself several times coming down the plateaux towards La Serena which is back on the coast.
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Its quite a sight, but for some reason if you are coming down a steep hill and if the road ahead stop between 2 hills at a slightly less steep gradient than the one you're on it actually looks like an uphill. We have become quite accustomed to this optical illusion cruising through the foothills of the Andes and have learnt not to panic until you actually get there and start going uphill. As we came over the plateaux all we saw was a long road doubling back and forth on itself as it spiralled downwards the bottom but on the other side we could see what looked like the road rising practically vertically up into a valley further ahead! I was in shock and somewhat annoyed, why take the road all the way down the side of the mountain only to take it back up again and to boot I knew we were close to the coast so why the need?!
As we got further down the pass I noticed the cars backing up behind the trucks coming towards us but it looked they we're all on a steep downhill so why the backup? Ah I suddenly clicked it must be that bleerie optical illusion again because trucks only cause such a backup on uphills which meant we definitely would be continuing down on the other side towards the coast - to which I nearly jumped off my bike and did a little dance right there in the road!
Steff, who we'd met in Iquique had asked Boris's brother if he could host us in La Serena which fortunately he could. We had wanted to get there before he had class at 2pm but found out he actually lived 8km past La Serena (practically the same place) in a slightly quieter area called Coquimbo very much like a university town which was perfect for us but the extra distance put us just out of reach to get there before 2pm. When we eventually did arrive Victor had actually skipped class to receive us. Within moments of arriving we'd had a shower, been dished up a good lunch and had headed off to the university for an afternoon kayak around the bay!
Victor was very kind to us and took us around on our first day but then left us to do our own thing the next day as he had class this suited us perfectly because we had plenty of admin to do on our day off. We were now under 500km from Santiago so very excited to get going the next day especially because we had heard it gets quite green from here on out with plenty of vineyards to be seen along the way!
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