Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kevin and Joannie on tour
For once we woke early.
To say people complain about the cold nights in San Pedro, it was quite
warm in our camper.
We had breakfast, washed up and showered and realised it was
so much easier to do when the sun is still relatively low. We were bemused by the “WickedCamper” next to
us. Joan watched as they folded the tent on the roof away and latched it down.
Having paid we headed NW back to Calama. In the desert they are a lot of solar farms
as well as wind turbines.
Once in Calama, we hit traffic and when we got to Jumbo
Superstore we realised it was a lot busier than before. Then we twigged. It is the last Friday before Christmas and
the car park was heaving. We parked on some spare land and did our
shopping. Some of the trolleys were
ridiculously laden given that in most places shops only shut for Christmas
morning and reopen at 5 pm.
Joan had previously emailed the state copper mining company,
CodelCo, to ask if we could visit the world’s largest copper mine,
Chiquicamata, which lies about 13 km outside Calama. The company had written back and said that
the tours were not in operation due to the Christmas holiday. However they said there was a municipal open
day at the mine which we were welcome to attend at the old Campamento de
Chiquicamata. This is the old mining
town that was originally built to house the workers. When we were here last, it was still a town
in its own right but because the town sits on copper reserves, it was decided
to close it down and move the workers to nearby Calama. We saw a plaque which said it was decided to
close to town in 2007 about the time we were there last.
Chiquicamata is also of historic interest as it was visited
by Ernesto “Che” Guevara and recounted in his Motorcycle Diaries. Allegedly the conditions of the miners and
their families here in the 1950s moved him to political action.
We were waved in at the gate without question. The local council had hired buses to
transport in children and families. It was a strange place. The town was relatively modern and was better
built than some towns we had seen. There
were shops, banks, theatres and sports grounds – all looking as if they could
finish their afternoon siesta at any time and open for business. Christmas carols were blaring out over the
loud speaker system and there was a nativity scene complete with two alpacas, a
grumpy cow, sheep, goats and a mule.
Inside the church, children had been issued with balloons
and were dancing. There was a dodgy
looking clown who spent most of his time looking at his mobile. As well as a theatre there was a large
concert hall and other meeting places.
The kids filed out to the nativity and started singing carols and
Christmas songs. Then Father Christmas
turned up in his sleigh pulled by the reindeers, but which in turn was pulled
by a camioneta. There was something
faintly bizarre about waving at Santa in a deserted mining town, surrounded by
towering slag heaps in the heat of the Atacama Desert.
We then decided to head down to the coast in the hope of
finding a campsite. On the way we called
in at the Nitrate town of Maria Elena.
The last time we came in 2007 the area had just been hit by an
earthquake and much of the mining town was being demolished. There were signs of life today but the
cleared houses hadn’t been rebuilt and even more homes were boarded up. There was the smallest train station ever
there though its passenger days are long gone.
Then it was back towards Tocapilla, down on the coast. Again, when we visited here, nine years ago,
the earthquake had just hit the town and our hotel had broken windows, walls
you could put your hands through but perfectly accessible WiFI. The houses are rebuilt now. It’s not a touristy place so the chances of
finding a campsite were thin but we googled and it said there was a family
resort with camping about 12 km south of the town at Caleta Blanca. Just at
this time we got a message from Entel saying our data credit had run out so no
WhatsApp or Google if we have a problem.
We found Caleta Blanca easily enough but all that there was
on this small spit of land were a few shacks and certainly no official
campsite. We also noted that there
weren’t any cars parked by the shacks.
However we saw an old man by his home and asked him if there was
camping. He said there was no official
campsite but he would show us a good place to stay. He led us to a cove where
there was the foundations of an old building.
From the amount of glass and bottles left there, it seems a popular
place to party. We parked the motorhome
on the floor of the former building and made camp for the night.
Kevin put together BBQ that we bought a few days ago and we
had a meagre BBQ as the sun set. It was
lovely to go to sleep with the noise of waves crashing in on the rocks
nearby. Muy tranquilo!
- comments