San Pedro would be our last stopoff in Chile and our stay there was a touch more structured and hurried than usual. Both of us were anxious to finally reach new territory so we limited our stay to a small selection of what San Pedro had to offer.
An interesting visit to the town museum, preparations for the next altiplano excursions and a stargazing tour were crammed into our first
day. We also visited the Valle de la Luna and the Valle de Muerte, both
alien landscapes formed by the salty deposits of the Cordillera de Sal.
The stargazing was an absolute highlight, our astronomer guide being a
funny informative frenchman. He had to be pretty good to make us stand
for 3 hours out in minus 4 degrees celsius staring at constellations,
planets and coloured stars through his seven telescopes. The next day we headed off on the first of our altiplano excursions, a 90km ride to the El tatio geysers. We started off too late as usual arriving at the geyser at sunset frozen solid and only too glad to skip the tent idea and take a bed in the Refugio. We had
underestimated
the
distance and difference in temperatures as in San Pedro we had been
stifling hot in our bike jackets whereas on the altiplano the wind
seemed to rip through them like razor blades. The light and the colours
of sunset reflecting on the saline lakes where guanacos grazed almost
made it worthwhile. We had an entertaining evening in the Refugio
chatting to the locals about their work there and having them regale us
with horror stories of gringos who had fallen into the boiling pools of
water. Gruesome! We beat the first tourist buses to the geysers at about 6am the next morning. The reason for the early start being that the maximum temperature differences between the boiling water and the air temperature produces enormous columns and billowing clouds of steam. We wandered (cautiously) from one impressive geyser pool to the next stopping every now and again to dip our hands or our toes into a cooler tributary or pool to combat the bitterly cold temperatures of minus 15.
The original plan was to spend 2 to 3 days out on the altiplano but our chilly bike ride cured us of that idea. Instead we spent the night cosy and warm in San Pedro sippping drinks around the obligatory bonfire in the
restaurant
courtyard. Part 2 of the altiplano `daytrips` took us
toward the argentine border to the altiplano lakes of Miscanti and
Minique. The road followed the edge of the depression before cutting up
onto the altiplano with its blocky climbable gorges and its ring of
volcanoes. The lakes were devoid of the flamingoes they are usually
filled with in summer and only a few nesting birds and llamas dotted
the stark and windswept landscape. Despite its desolate beauty we
didn`t spend much time there as an icy wind had started up and we were
dreaming of the open fires and full bodied chilean wines back in San
Pedro.One more lazy day with bad weather, one last round of drinks in front of an open fire and we were on the road again leaving San Pedro behind. The bad weather of the day before had powdered the volcanoes with snow and a ferocious icy wind battered us as it came off the altiplano.
It chased us in our descent down to the depression before the coastal range only letting up once we were on the curvy roads cutting through the coastal mountains. A bit further along on the road we found the perfect campsite on
a rocky headland. So that night we
were lulled to
sleep by the roar of the surf and the lonely cry of gulls. At Iquique, a strange town set in amongst enormous dunes, we turned inland riding on ruler straight roads that only changed course when they reached the obstructions of deep gorges that cut through the desert from their source, the distant Andes. In perfect contrast to the previous night we camped on the remains of a nitrate mine with geoglyphs dotting the hillsides behind us and strings of headlights stretching to the desert horizon.
After Arica we rode a tar road following the Lluta river canyon, a ribbon of green in the Atacama desert, to gradually climb the Andes through Parque Nacional Lauca. A beautiful altiplano park dominated by the impressive Parinacota volcano and several high altitude lakes. We had travelled from sea level to 4100m in one day and had finally, after 9 months of travelling (7 if you minus the 2 months of repairs and waiting) and a poorly two countries, arrived in the new and excitingly different country of Bolivia.