At the 6am pickup I met the five persons that was joining me for the Bolivia adventure. There was a young couple from Germany, a mixed nationality couple from Ecuador and Spain and a lady proffesor from Rio de Janeiro. So a very nice mixture of people with different backgrounds. I was the least fluent in Spanish but as it turned out people in the group were very willing to translate for me to english. So, fantastic for me!

After the pick-up we were quickly brought to the border with Bolivia and were soon served with breakfast. The border is at more than 4000 m height and with a temperature of 3C with a strong breeze it felt bitterly cold and I didn’t eat much.

After immigration we swapped to a Toyota land cruiser, 6 people plus driver, and set off for the first lagoon, laguna Blanca. The white color giving the lagoon it’s name is because of the high mineral content dissolved in the water. The lagoons are well known for the pink flamingos who like the plankton rich water and we saw lots of them during the first day where we stopped by a number of lagoons.

Perhaps, the most impressive lagoon is laguna colorada with its red water coming from the borax rich mineral ground.

There were a lot of pink flamingos at this lagoon.

We stopped for lunch at a place where there were hot springs and people put their bathing suits on and went for a swim.

There is an animal from the lama family that is prevalent in the area, the vicuna, and we saw many of those throughout the trip.

After a very long day, 16 hours, we arrived at the night’s lodge at 10pm. It’s at more than 4000 m height and after a quick shower and dinner I went to bed but sleep did not come easily due to the low oxygen content of the air. With less oxygen the heart beats quicker and the brain will not come to rest.

So after a really bad night’s sleep we had breakfast at 0630 and set off for the 2nd day of exploring. This day was dedicated to exploring lava rock formations. I didn’t really find this overly interesting and felt it was included to make it a 4 day trip.

The 3rd day was to be the highlight of the trip when we visited the Uyuni salt flat. First in the morning at sunrise, setting off at 0500 from the salt hotel. The salt plane has in some places water on top making for a mirror like surface and with the sun coming up made for spectacular viewing.

We were than taken to an area where the salt looked very white and I could imagine being in the mountains of my home area in winter times.

While on the salt plane our driver and guide had fun with taking photos using props and geometrical wizardry producing fun looking images.

Next stop was the first hotel of the salt before later going to the famous train graveyard in Uyuni.

After another nice lunch we were brought to the office and were re-located to different cars and started the long drive back to the same lodge as used for the first night.

In summary, the trip was very memorable but really hard work. Distances are very large, 500 km in total?, so a lot of time is spent in the cars driving quite slowly on the very poor “roads”. This gave very long days of around 15 hours and because of being over 4000 meter of altitude very tiring.

I end this blog with a picture of the group hanging off the Toyota land cruiser and a breadcrumb map of the route.

Follow in the next blog: Back to santiago

Back to going north in Chile

El norte grande is the northern most area of Chile and includes cities such as Antofagasta and San Pedro de Atacama. It’s a large area, with few people, and dominated by the Atacama desert.

As I was riding I passed the 1000 km mark from Santiago and later saw a sign saying the distance to Iquique was another 1000 km, and that’s not the northernmost town in Chile! It’s really a crazy long and narrow country!

The hotel had no rooms for a third night so I decided to leave Taltal after two nights. There was no food at the hotel so I went looking, but on a sunday morning I couldn’t find anything open apart from the neighboring supermarket where I went to buy stuff that would constitute breakfast. The typical chilean round bun, butter and 3 slices of salami would have to do.

I then set off along Ruta 1 which runs along the coast with fantastic views of the shore line and dramatic waves, almost like hwy 1 in California. After 55 km I turn on to b-710 which looks like a newly constructed road that goes upwards in switch backs and reaches more than 2000 meters in altitude. The area around the road is truly desert and the driest place on earth.

Why is it so dry? You’d think being so close to the pacific would give plenty of rain, so what’s going on? The coastal range mountains are quite tall and blocks rain from the west while the Andes blocks rain from the east. Furthermore, the pacific close to Chile has quite cold water and does not produce much rain in the first place.

After 120 km the b-210 road meets Ruta 5, but instead of going north to Antofagasta I turned south to see one of the highlights of the trip. After 20 km I could see a magnificent and tall sculpture in the desert.

Mano del desierto

I’ve seen this on the cover of guide books and now I was finally able to see it for myself! The sculpture, which is 11m tall, was completed in 1992 by Mario Irrazabal and references the human rights violations by the Pinochet regime. I guess the big hand of the government was always able to get you?

Antofagasta

After spending some time admiring the monument I rode the dirt road back to Ruta 5 and turned north to reach Antofagasta. At about the turnoff from Ruta 5 you ride through a terrible looking, huge, industrial area that looks like it could have been a set in the mad max movies. After turning off Ruta 5 I was soon in Antofagasta and found the Wyndham hotel I had looked up. It’s the most posh hotel of the trip so far!

Antofagasta is a town dominated by people working in or for the mining industry. The industrial area I rode through yesterday is mainly to do with enrichment of copper and lithium ore.

I walked in to a movistar shop to see if I could unblock my phone and was told I was no 12 in line. I didn’t want to wait that long so I started walking out when I was asked by the shop manager if he could help me. Then he spent the next hour and a half getting my phone fixed up! He was very patient and wouldn’t give up but in the end couldn’t fix it. He did send me an email with links and I was later able to submit the application to register the imei of the phone. I did get two 40 GB Sim cards and one of them is already working in my GPS navigation phone.

People here are amazingly nice, willing to help, and don’t get upset. It’s the same in traffic, drivers are very courteous and non aggressive.

Back to Antofagasta… It’s got a long beach promenade and a lagoon for people daring to enter the water.

The day temperature stays at 23C and often with quite a breeze making you feel cool. So better be careful and put a lot of sunscreen on.

After three nights I decided it was time to leave and go to San Pedro de Atacama, a distance of 300km. First getting out of Antofagasta, then onto Ruta 5, 25, and 23.

While on Ruta 5 the road was blocked by an enormous metal scoop traveling at 60kph on a big truck. It was so big that it covered two lanes plus the shoulder! After some time there was a long queue of cars behind. I couldn’t get past until a road toll Plaza. I have no idea how they would get the humongous scoop past the Plaza.

Ruta 25 was a brand new dual carriage road with pristine asphalt. The fence at the side of the road was not even finished.

I arrived at San Pedro de Atacama and started looking for a petrol station, there had been none to be seen from the road for the entire stretch and the fuel warning light had come on. It took some time before I finally found it and could breath a sigh of relief.😅

I met some bikers at the petrol kiosk and they recommended me a place to stay, hostal Terracota which I eventually found, they had a room and I went about installing myself therein.

San Pedro de Atacama

After the nice tarmac roads to get here, it was strange to see all dirt roads of the town, a bit like stepping back on time. The town is in an oasis with lots of greenery a welcome change from the brown of the desert! There are also a lot of tourists.

The town is at a height of 2400m above sea level which I find quite noticeable. Waking up at night, a bit breathless when walking fast. Hopefully, this will not last since I’m thinking of joining a tour into Bolivia and the Uyuni salt flats which will go to 4400m.

Valle de la luna is a nearby attraction and I rode to see what it was about. It’s 15 km from the town and as the name suggests it’s a valley looking like it could be on the moon. I walked a trail of about an hour in the scorching heat and the rock formations really looked like a moon landscape.

The heat is so dry, 10% humidity, so the sweat dries immediately and I felt exhausted after the hike.

I met a Singaporean(!) guy at the same hostal and he told me about the trip to Bolivia he had just returned from.  It sounded interesting and since I don’t have the ownership papers for the bike I’m not allowed to leave the country with it, so I signed up for the 4 day tour with a local travel company.  So after thee nights I checked ut of the hostal and joined the tour at 6am.

Follow along on the exciting trip to Bolivia

Follow my trip further north in Chile

Going north in Chile

After a week at Hostal Casa Matte I was getting over the jetlag and was starting to get some half decent sleep. Man, jetlag is really terrible and it gets worse as you get older, at least for me. Without proper sleep for many days both my body and mind are affected. Oh well, hopefully, I’m on the mend.

The hostal caters for bike travelers and when I left there were people from many parts of the world, ok, perhaps, mainly Europeans and Americans. It’s a great place to stay with many interesting conversations all through the day, and often as people work on their bikes. So it was a bit sad to leave. 😭

I decided to go north because last year I went south and I saw and experienced most of that part of Chile and Argentina.

Getting out of santiago is a challenge trying to avoid the automatic toll roads and, of course, I failed again. So, more fines 😩. I’m taking Ruta 5, the highway that goes from the north of Chile to the south, it’s also called the pan american high way. It was rather hot at more than 35c before getting to the coast where the temperature dropped to 25c. But also quite strong winds.

The bike is running really well, and I’m very happy with it. It was a reluctant buy since I really wanted another brand, however, it was not available so I had to settle for the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450.

Los Vilos

I stopped for the day at a place called Los Vilos after 250 kms. I found a hotel with the fancy name of Lord Willow. Sounds very posh but it’s rather basic, but the shower is hot and the bed clean and comfortable.

As I go along the roads of the town and sitting looking out of the restaurant window I notice the love affair of chileans and trucks and suv’s. It’s almost as if I was in Texas again! What’s the point of driving around in a 2 or 3 ton truck? I can’t figure it out, obviously marketing of these behemoths have been very effective.

Los Vilos is a typical small seaside town and it’s really nice to be away from big city santiago!

After a good night’s sleep I have a lazy morning and decide to stay for another day. Walking along the beach I hear the thunder of the waves, the smell of the ocean and seaweed and I feel really happy and relaxed. 😁I realize the trip has been quite stressful so far and it’s so nice to feel relaxed and calm again.

In Santiago it got very hot in the afternoon, 35c, but at night a lot cooler at 16c. So it was hot going to bed, of course no ac, but in the morning quite nice temperature. Here in Los Vilos the temperature at night comes down to 12c and I need blankets not to freeze! There are no heaters in the rooms so I assume the winter temperature doesn’t get a lot cooler.

In the end I stayed three nights at the place. I really enjoyed my time there. Apart from the last night when loud music was played until 5am! Earplugs did help a bit but the bass tones come through anyway so I didn’t get much sleep that night.

The next goal is La Serena, a much larger town 250 km north. The temperature was around 20c but with strong wind it felt much colder and I had to stop to put more clothes on.  After stopping at a service area the sun burned through the clouds and it became a lot warmer.

I turned off Ruta 5 to visit Parques nacional bosque Fray Jorge, a detour of 30km each way. This park has unusual vegetation for the area because of a unique microclimate formed by a peculiar geometry of cliffs rising from the pacific ocean giving lush greenery.

La Serena

I arrived afternoon time at La Serena and set about finding a hotel. This time booking.com found me a nice hotel and showed an even lower price than what the receptionist asked for. It’s located close to the center of town.

I walked around the very busy town today. The streets are narrow and there’s cars queuing everywhere, it’s almost like a grid lock. Streets are layed out in rectangular fashion so it’s easy to navigate around the streets. There are nice looking old buildings along the streets everywhere and several really large squares. It’s quite a beautiful town!

After two nights in La Serena, I felt it was time to continue my trek north so after breakfast and packing I set off around 9am for a 400 km ride north to a town called Caldera. Some days I wonder why I set off on this trip and today was one of those days. The surroundings of the entire ride was like moon landscape.

I only passed by one town on the 400km stretch and that was also the only place with a petrol station. I went passed it without stopping and realized I could run out of petrol so I had to turn back and fill up.

Caldera

I reached Caldera mid afternoon and set about finding a place to stay. Caldera is a busy place and it took me a while to find a free hotel room.

Another posh name hotel… There was only one room available and it was facing the street, I didn’t think much about the room location, but I should have!

After dinner with watching European football (all of south America is football crazy) I went for a walk in the beautiful golden hour light.

Later after going to bed I realized the street outside was not going to be quiet with loud cars and music! Earplugs helped so I did get some half decent sleep but next morning I pleaded with the hotel receptionist for another room away from the street and after more pleading I got another room at the other end of the hotel.

There’s a Paleontological park south of the town called Los Dedos and I rode there and took part in a guided tour. Kind of interesting showing fossils of various fish and animals.

The name Los dedos which means “the fingers” comes from 5 elongated sand ridges.

The climate in this desert town is not hot as you might expect, but pleasantly cool with a typical max  of 23c, a minimum of 16c, and not much variation during the year. The cool waters of the pacific keep the temperature stable year around.

I enjoyed Caldera and stayed there for three nights before setting off for another beach town, Taltal, 250 km further north.  Ruta 5 stayed close to the coast for half the distance before going more inland traversing the desert.  Actually, there are signs along the road stating the apt name  Ruta Desierto,  The road is beautiful and with more elevation changes than the previous day’s stretch is quite enjoyable to ride.  I arrive at Taltal around 1 pm and found a hotel throough the Ioverlander app immediately, the hotel has locked secure parking which is important when traveling with a motorcycle and I have a large room with A/C!

Taltal

One of my readers, Mike, suggests that I go and visit an Astronomical Observatory not far from Taltal, the Paranal observatory, which is one of the best sites in the world to study the sky.  It is set at an altitude of more than 2600 m, with the clear skies of the desert and none existent light pollution it’s set in a perfect place.  Furthermore it was a setting for the James Bond movie “A quantum of  Solace”!

The observatory has two tours every saturday so would have been perfect for me, unfortunately, the first available slot was in two weeks time.

Taltal has a beautiful setting in between the ocean and high hills:

Fishing boats, the ocean and high hills. A serene setting.

Quite a tame seagull was happy to be part of the picture.

Follow my trip further north in Chile

my next blog – going north in Chile

When boarding the flight to San Francisco in Singapore I thought, is this trip really a good idea and was I really up to it. But it’s too late to change my mind now when all preparations were completed.

I had a bulkhead seat and it looked like there might be an empty seat beside me, but it was a full flight and sure enough, a guy being wheeled down the aisle in a wheel chair, was lifted to the seat beside me. He was a big guy and seemed barely conscious. His partner rearranged seats so she could sit beside him.

I asked the lady what was wrong with him and was told he had cancer and was in severe pain and was given strong pain medication. He spread his legs leaving me with limited space and I was not looking forward to the 15 hour flight. Of course I pitied the guy but I couldn’t help thinking about my own comfort for the long flight.

However, I survived and arrived in San Fran their morning time and had the pleasure of queuing up for immigration into the US, when I finally saw the officer he let me in without much questioning. Then getting the luggage, dropping it off again, and make my way to security for the flight to Houston. Everything went smoothly and I was soon seated in the airplane.

Arriving Houston at 5pm I had time for a quick dinner of fish and chips before getting on the last flight.

Fish and chips Texas size portion.

Santiago next morning there were no problems getting through immigration and getting my luggage.

I used Uber for transport and the driver told me to go to the basement of the parking garage which seemed strange, and he later explained that Uber had not yet been given the permission to pick up travelers from the airport, so it had to appear like I was riding in a regular, private car.

I soon arrived at Hostal casa matte where I had booked a room.

Hostal casa matte

It’s a bikers place and there are quite a few bikes inside the property. It was nice with a shower after the long trip. I arrived on the 9th of January and I would pick up my bike the next day.

I had arranged with a local company to do the paperwork and purchase the bike so it would be ready when I arrived. Martijn had done a splendid job in organizing the whole thing so on the 10th I met him at the bike shop and picked up the machine.

I’m picking up the Royal Enfield Himalayan at the dealer.

I can’t recommend Martin and his company Andes Adventure Bikes enough. They took care of all the paperwork (and there’s quite a lot) as well as purchasing the motorcycle and even got the luggage racks installed. Please consider them if you have the same idea as me to travel on a motorcycle in south America.

https://andesadventurebikes.com/

After a further day of getting over 11 hours of jetlag I set off for a ride up the Andes to a vinter ski resort. Santiago is at 800m while the ski resort is at 3000m altitude so the road was very twisty with more than 50 switch backs with very narrow turns. A challenge to ride and a good workout for the machine testing most aspects like engine, gearbox, brakes etc. We both managed well! Although at 3000m I felt a bit light headed after the fast ascent.

Valle Nevado ski resort

3000m above MSL!

Coastal trip

The new motorcycle needs to be run for 500kms before first service so I decided to ride to the coast and a small town called Cartagena. On last year’s trip I stayed there for a few days while recuperating from covid and I remember the seaside town fondly. Santiago gets very hot in the afternoons, 35C, while the coast is much cooler, another reason for going.

It’s a 150km trip each way so not very far. I’ve been warned about going on toll roads that do not have toll boots but use automatic charging. As a foreigner you can’t obtain the necessary device so when you go on these roads you will be fined and payment of this is not easy because foreign credit cards are not accepted.

Soo, of course, I got on the wrong road and will get a fine 😩, it’s only about 10000 pesos ($10), so no big deal if it was easy to settle.

After all that I arrived at Cartagena and had a nice lunch.

For the trip back I chose another route avoiding the automatic toll road.

After the trips I have enough kms on the bike to do the first service which is being done now.

Local prepaid sim cards are very cheap but when trying to install one in my phone I could not get it to work. After many tries I talked to another hostal guest and figured out why. If you don’t register your phone after the first month it will be blacklisted(!) and you won’t be able to use local operators until you do register it. Well, I used the same phone last year and didn’t do the registration, so that explains it. So I now use an esim which works fine.

The trials and tribulations of traveling! 😂

Follow along next part of the trip