Desert and more desert with a little Andes

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  Santiago, Chile
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

April 3 - 6
Leaving Arica, we drove up from sea level to the PanAm Highway, which runs down the middle of this very skinny country, surrounded by high desert and mountains on all sides. We stopped at a geo-glyph to see what pre-Inca people had done and found ourselves admiring a strange figure carved into the side of a small mountain. It looked like a cross between an indigenous warrior and a Christmas dwarf, was easily 3-400 feet high and as many wide, laid out on a hillside facing the ocean. There is speculation about these geo-glyphs and their function, which may have been ritual, but also seems to be some kind of pointer to the ocean. The north of Chile is peppered with them, from single sites to some with 400 figures.
 
At our single site geo-glyph, a lone figure climbed down from the edge and hailed us as we stood by our Jeep. He turned out to be from Moscow and was walking his way around South America, aided by a tall and sturdy staff. We exchanged travel stories, then he hefted his backpack, took up his staff and strode off in the direction of the nearest small town on a path across the fields

A rare site

. He said he might catch a cab halfway, leaving us wondering what talents he had in the desert that we hadn't figured out yet.
 
From Arica we headed south through the high desert for Iquique on the coast to see a real town again, which had once been a significant port for exporting nitrates and was quite a bustling ocean-side town. It had significant military installations. We stayed at the Hotel Militar, which gave discounts to soldiers, and from our balcony watched them play soccer on their field at the headquarters next door, then headed off for a brisk walk on the beach and Chinese food, and so to bed. We left early on Sunday morning because we had a very long stretch of highland desert to cover and weren't sure how good the PanAm would be through that deserted stretch. We were surprised to find it in excellent condition and made very good time, hampered only by getting off the highway to find gas at the very few and far between stations we had learned about from other travelers. One stop took us quite a distance off the highway, into a town entirely dependent upon the nitrate mines, with the resulting company town look and feel. We have one of our three 5-gallon gas cans full at the moment and will be filling up at least one more before we drive through the Atacama Desert, which doesn't sound promising. But lots of people have already done it, including some motorcycle drivers we met in Central America, who are probably already through Argentina and Ushuaia and heading back north again

A real geoglyph

.
 
We landed for the night in Antofagasta, a very large and highly developed Chilean port, home to a fellow international banker at The Northern Trust in Chicago. The bay it sits on is spectacular, and we drove out onto the peninsula at the north of it, which curves back around to view the city in the distance. There was a recommended fish restaurant at the very end of the peninsula, where we had the freshest possible fish for lunch and admired the immense bay and the city across the way. Wending our way back, we pulled into a shopping center on the bayside to go to a Lider (pronounced 'leader') store to buy a hose for the gas cans. While John was chasing the hose, it became obvious that the old wharves of the ports had been replaced by chic and/or useful stores and boutiques, making what was once a run-down water-front useful and attractive again. Set next to the historic and Spanish-accented center of the old town, it made a charming scene with the Pacific at its border. We found our designated hotel, squeaked in under the arch for the parking with less than 5 inches to spare and called it a day. Staying at our hotel was a very sweet man from Haiti, who was in town to see his son, now suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease and married to a woman from the area. We had dinner with him at McDonald's on a Sunday night, the only place open in town, admired his courage and that of his son and counted our blessings.
 
April 7 - 14
 
Heading on down the coast, we left the coast and headed into the desert to Copiapo and looked for Bernardo O'Higgins Street, but had to ask the tourist bureau in town to direct us to the hotel, which was a hidden treasure behind walls

A thing of beauty

. We dined and slept well and headed down the coast to La Serena, where we discovered a Jeep dealer on the way to the beach. What joy! A chance to have the ABS electrical system checked out, a number of items were not functioning properly or at all,  rotate the tires, and have the 12,000 mile service done at 13000 plus. We found a great hotel on the beach with an apartment and a view of the huge bay. Luckily, there was a Jeep representative from Santiago there. We explained our problem with the electronics on our dashboard, and they quickly found the cause - a defective sensor on the front left tire caused by the improper routing of the wires when the lifters were installed. They couldn't fix it in the dealership there - no part, but the Jeep rep promised to meet us in Santiago with the proper part in 2 days time. His name is Santiago Moran and he is a man of his word. Leaving our bay view apartment with some regret, we found our way to Santiago and were overwhelmed with its size and complexity of freeway systems. We finally found a room in a Sheraton - not the main one, the other one that nobody knew about - but had to get a taxi to lead us there in the intricate freeway system. Luckily, there was a good Italian restaurant within walking distance, and we found a town full of excitement, great walking spaces and restaurants, and everyone having a wonderful time. It's a lot like New York, in the complexity of the city spaces and the sophistication of restaurants and public spaces, but with a slight hint of its Spanish history

Aconcagua in the mist

.
 
The next day, the dealer - Pablo Puelma Aguirre and his people, solved the electronic problem with the new sensor brought by Mr. Moran. Additionally they solved a horrible squeak problem that started as we pulled away from ORW in San Diego - the rack was not tighten down properly on the front passenger side. They also opened up there offices to us, giving us free access to their phones and computers as well as giving us their phone book with a map of the city was we could find our way out of town  - not an easy task - and get on our way to the mountain pass into Argentina to visit our friends in Mendoza before their family wedding, even though it meant crossing into Argentina and coming back again. We drove north towards Aconcagua, one of the highest mountains in the western hemisphere and site of revolutionary army trails when the settlers finally kicked out the Spanish. We landed for the night at a ski resort set on an incredibly beautiful glacial lake. We were the only guests for the night. The hotel was closed, but they opened up one of their chalets (slept 8) for us, overlooking the lake. Despite the whistling wind and the altitude - over 12,000 feet - we loved the views and the mountains towering above us even further. We had to be careful not to move too fast at that altitude - the slightest exertion left us gasping for oxygen.
 
The next morning, we crossed the border into Argentina, but there was a stretch in between leaving Chile and entering Argentina that was driving on top of the world

Check the stripes

. A side road lead to a park with an incredible view of Aconcagua, and we hiked a bit - huffing and puffing - to get a good sighting. There is something magical about seeing a great mountain in its own site, miles above anything around it, standing majestic and silent against the blue sky. The border crossing is called Los Libertadores - the Liberators - in honor of the revolutionaries. It took us three hours to get through customs on the Chilean side, but we made it to Mendoza in time to find an excellent hotel, The Aconcagua which was built for the 1978 World Cup, with a masseuse, my first birthday treat, and a lovely restaurant for dinner. Mendoza has wide boulevards and great trees arching over them, providing shade in the heat of the summer, and reminiscent of French town we have known and loved.
 
On the 12th, we used our GPS system in the car to great effect and managed to find the vineyard owned by my Argentine friend from Citibank and her husband. It was obscure, to say the least, but beautiful: back into the wine country, down country lanes and dusty trails, with grape vines on all sides. We stayed three days, enjoying the countryside and the wonderful restaurants in Mendoza with them, and especially the tour of the St. Julian vineyard, owned by the Zacardi family, complete with excellent lunch. Our tour guide was a young Englishman, who had learned his vineyard spiel within the last few weeks, but was amazingly informative. Having seen much of the same in Napa, it was surprising how sophisticated the wineries are in Argentina.
 
April 15 -
 
We left Mendoza in the morning, re-crossed the border at Los Libertadores and returned to Santiago, where we managed to land at a Best Western hotel with a great Indian restaurant. Who knew?
 
We have now been on the road for more then 3 months and have traveled some 11,500 miles by jeep, ferry, train, plane, boat, horseback, bus, taxi, and of course by foot.
 
No we have not paid our taxes.

More Pictures

Developers Dream	From the Cartier's Yard	Glacier Lake	Great friends
Jeep at 12000	Modern Art	Mountain Stream	Not Modern Art
Our Chalet for 8	Our fancy fish restauranrt	Real Beauty	The herd - Vicuna's
Whose is longest and greyest	Yet another with jeep

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