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Kevin and Joannie on tour
Our motorhome is parked in the car park of a small hotel
with adjacent picnic area. The main
guests seem to be workmen and this morning they did their best to ensure we
woke early, setting off car alarms and chatting below our window, seemingly
oblivious to the fact that we might still be asleep. Still, they soon left and
it was easy enough to turn over and go back to sleep.
Breakfast was eaten in the picnic area and then we bided our
time till it was noon and the washing would be ready. Leaving the hotel was a
bit of a squeeze as they had a sliding gate which we had to creep under. Washing collected and filled with diesel we
headed off south, back towards the Ruta 5.
At the junction, we headed straight on towards the west to see Pintados,
alleged to be the largest single collection of geoglyphs in South America.
Access was via an old railway goods yard, with a couple of
wagons left still on the track.
The CONAF hut was vandalised but some workmen had come to
fix it. We asked if we could go further
with our mobile home as we didn’t want the road to get suddenly narrow as the
home can be a brute to turn round. They
said that the road led to a museum and was wide. We were glad as the geoglyphs were quite a
way on and the heat was yet again high.
There was a large car park and what looked like a newly
built visitor centre with interpretation panels. On the hillside beyond there
were lots of patterns, some geometrical, some animals and some humans. A path through the nitrate pampa took us to
view points with much needed shelter. Lots of photos were taken.
Next it was back to the Ruta 5 and we headed south. As a regeneration initiative, the whole of
the Tarapaca region is a duty free zone and you have to clear customs to get in
and out. The process was bewildering
when we first arrived as there are no signs in any language to tell you what to
do. But this time we negotiated the
customs post with the minimal of trouble and headed off once more.
We had spent more time at the geoglyphs than we thought so
it became clear that stopping at Antofagasta was somewhat ambitious so instead
we drove down to the coast to Tocopilla to fill up and buy provisions. The town centre was much as we remembered
with small, individual shops. The Unimarc (supermarket chain) was shut but we
found a small grocers nearby.
Then we headed down the coast to look for a place to
stay. We decided against staying at
Caleta Punta again where we had the puncture.
Light was beginning to fade so we gave ourselves fifteen minutes to find
somewhere or else we would stop in one of the main large lay-bys that occur
along major roads.
Then we saw a huge brown tourist sign for Camping Indigeneta
and then another. We headed beachwards but could not see any of the tell-tale
picnic benches with BBQs and shade. We
asked some locals and a man offered to take us there. It wasn’t what we were expecting. It was a square of neat chalets arranged
around a children’s play area with a closed café at the bottom. There were neat sanitary blocks adjacent
–locked! There didn’t appear to be anyone around. The gent called out for the caretaker but
when there was no response, said he might have gone to Tocopilla.
We asked if we could camp for the night and pay later, but
the gent explained that we could camp free on the beach so we did.
Dinner was meant to be a BBQ but the burgers we had just
bought turned to mush before they even went on the grill. So we dug out a packet of cheese risotto and
tried to tart it up with wine and asparagus.
It wasn’t quick in cooking either, taking longer than fresh homemade
risotto and was barely edible when finally made. Not the best culinary effort!
We noticed that the village where we were staying had no
electricity as all the houses were dark.
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