Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kevin and Joannie on tour
So here’s the story.
In June 2007 it rained hard in England, so much so that Meadowhall
flooded and there was general chaos in South Yorkshire. We had a holiday planned on our boat. The cats, Molloy, Malone and Hamilton, were
put into the cattery and Sappho came with us on the boat. We were moored at Sawley Marina. We loaded the boat and set off to the
Trent. It was in spate which meant we
couldn’t go anywhere so a quick change of plan saw Sappho put in a kennels and
we threw our tent into the back of Kevin’s 406 and headed south. We decided to
stop when the temperature reached 27 degrees Celcius, which happened to be a
beautiful French town called Vaison-la-romaine.
We hadn’t planned this holiday (obviously) and spent quite a bit of time
basking in the sunlight, drinking some very fine Gigondas and Cotes de Ventoux
and reading guidebooks for Chile, which for some reason we had brought with
us.
We hatched a plan to visit El Norte Grande at Christmas – a
holiday of ghost towns, thermal spas and volcanoes. Six months later saw us at
Antofagasta airport picking up a Suzuki Jimny and heading into the Atacama Desert. It wasn’t a holiday without problems. We don’t do holidays without problems. But we realised if we really wanted to go off
piste we would need a serious 4WD vehicle and a few big petrol cans. We got up to the altiplano but our vehicle
and petrol supplies wouldn’t have allowed us to do the crossing on the
altiplano from Isluga to Lauca. It’s over 4000 metres altitude and involves
fording rivers, no accommodation and no petrol stations for days. We had tantalising glimpses of both ends of
the route at Enquelga and Parinacota.
High plains, cold winds, smoking volcanoes, camelids and viscachas. But on this occasion our little Suzuki Jimny
wasn’t really up to it, and to be frank nor were we.
Nevertheless, on this holiday a serious love affair with
Chile began, interspersed with a few other mad holidays to Argentina, Peru and
Japan. We love traveling independently,
expect things not to go to plan and Joan, in particular, loves planning
holidays because it usually means buying maps.
We’ve been down to the Torres del Paine, visited the lakes
several times, bumped along the Carretera Austral, drank a bodega full of wine
in the Valle Central and had more thermal baths than visits to Skegness. However the altiplano kept calling.
So this year we bit the bullet. We hired a rather pricey 4WD
motorhome advertised as able to go off road for a once in a lifetime
holiday. Joan spent too many hours
pouring over maps and calculating mileages.
She researched remote and
turquoise lagunas, geothermal fields, desolate hot springs, smoking volcanoes
al la Top Gear and even a borax mine where emergency diesel might be bought.
Very little was left to chance
So, we picked up our off-road motorhome and bought two 20
litre jerry cans. Two days later, we
broke down in the Atacama Desert. As you
know, the vehicle was fixed and we set off again. Our confidence with the vehicle somewhat
depleted, we changed our plans and decided to go up first to San Pedro de
Atacama to test the vehicle at altitude.
It got to San Pedro (2300m) fine.
We took yesterday off to acclimatise. Today we chose a trip
we had done before in the Jimny to two lagoons high in the hills - above 4000
metres. We wanted to see if the vehicle
coped all right and also check how we might cope with the altitude. The road
was easy and not challenging at all. Along
the way we saw goats and alpacas roaming beside the carriageway. We drove
south, past small oasis towns and under the fuming Volcan Lascar. As we began
to climb, the motorhome was sluggish but made it to the turn off to Laguna Miscanti. From hereonin, the path was ripio (gravel
roads) but not too challenging. However
our motorhome struggled whilst minibuses and coaches flashed by. Eventually at 3,700 metres it lost power.
After some effort, it restarted again but we decided not to risk it and turn
back. We were but a few minutes from
some truly beautiful places.
So we headed back down to the Salar de Atacama. On the decline and on the flat, the vehicle
was fine. A solitary vicuna watched us
from a hillock and didn’t run away when we got out to take a picture. We drove
to Laguna Chaxa where you can see three types of flamingos: Chilean, Andean and
James. There is a guided walk through
the salt flats and even at 4 pm in the afternoon, the heat was high and the sun
blazing. There were plenty of flamingos
and other birds feeding.
Then back to San Pedro and the Camping Los Perales. We got in touch with the hire agency and got
conflicting advice. The vehicle is too
heavy and the engine too small for altitiude.
If we cleaned the air filter it might improve. (The vehicle has 2500 km on the clock.) And finally, it is unlikely the vehicle will
break down, but it may stop. Actually
what we want is confidence in a vehicle that will be reliable in a wild
environment, where there are few people, rough roads, no telephone signal, high
altitudes and several days’ drive from a big city. It’s not like our lives would be in danger,
but it’s not quite a question of calling out roadside rescue. Last time we
broke down at Punta Colorada was difficult enough and we were only 90 km from a
very big city.
Martin from the hire agency advised us to stay in San Pedro
and go to places with organised tours.
We pointed out we had already visited El Tatio geysers and Lago Miscanti
under our own steam years earlier. That’s the point of independent
travelling. But they were only trying to
help. They said it was our decision to
proceed too! So contradictory advice and whatever we do, we have already paid
them.
Tired, disappointed and feeling a little screwed, we decided
that whateve,r we would make the most of this holiday. New plans would have to be made.
No longer wanting to converse with the hire agency, we
switched of the phone and went for dinner.
On the way out we met a chap called Andres. He was an oldish chap with skin the colour
of the adobe houses and a grey mass of hair and a bushy beard. He said he was an artist and sculpture from
Columbia. With him was another chap who
worked on Easter Island doing indigenous dances. We chatted with Andres for a while about life
and philosophy. (He was a fan of
Diogenes. Joan didn’t say she was a transcendental materialist with a
neo-Marxist perspective!) We asked if
he lived here, but he was a nomad and in his own words a hippy. Joan tried to explain that he reminded her of
her brother, John, another wandering soul with a gentle heart, now crossed over
to the other side.
He made Joan a decoration out of wire. He asked her what she love best: moon, stars,
sun or sea and she answered, of course, volcanoes. So the decoration was made with a rugged
volcano and a heart. We knew that he
would expect a little something for this so we gave him enough for a night’s
meal for which we received big hugs. It
seems that campsites in Chile attract nomads and wanderers.
It was dark and the streets of San Pedro were filed with
travellers, buskers, pedlars and Andean music. With the brown adobe houses and
the soft yellow street lights, it feels safe to wander and for some reason, the
people touting tours don’t seem to target us!
We wandered to the edge of the town to a café which said
they did vegetarian food. It was a simple place and very cheap. We ordered empanadas with cheese, chips and
an avocado and palmito side. We’ve come to learn that one portion of “papas
fritas” is adequate to feed a small family.
As well as table service, there was a cafeteria type tray based set up
that seemed to have a fixed menu of stew, carbohydrate, soup and a bottle of
fizzy drink. People in work clothes chose
this option, as well as the staff there.
We ended up paying plata (cash) as the machine rejected our
deck of bank cards. We headed back to
the campsite where tonight all was quiet.
- comments