Chile I

  This is our 5th day in Chile. We have traveled hundreds of miles through desert with huge mountains of rock and vast areas of moonscape. It gets cold (37) at night but the sun is intense during the day. Elevation as high as 7,500 ft. Some of the area has NEVER had any recorded moisture.

The roads are generally very good. Chile is a very modern country and much cleaner than Peru. The border crossing at Arica was efficient and easy. Inspectors were friendly and spoke a bit of English. They are interested in our travels. We spent two nights here. It’s a busy seaport town with sea lions, pelicans and fishermen bringing in their catch. We had a fresh seafood lunch right on the pier.

We then went to Pozo Almonte where we spent two nights in the town plaza which was right on the ocean. Our guard for the night was a guy who could make his eyeballs spin around in different directions. You should have been there.

There are nitrate and copper mines and abandoned mining towns of long ago. One of those, Santiago Huberstone, is a World Heritage site and had been active for over 100 years. The buildings covered several acres and showed how people lived and worked during that time. We visited a railroad museum with many old and rusting trains. The town of Baquedano is still a busy railway but the town is only a block long. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn just outside of town.

In the middle of nowhere we came across a giant sculpture of a hand. There are also petroglyphs on some of the hills that are thousands of years old. The desert can be quite beautiful with many colors of red, grey and brown. It is a lonesome place with very little habitation. About the time you are tired of the vast spaces, the ocean appears with a rugged, rocky coast and white sand beaches. We visited an old cemetery out in the desert with graves dating back to the ’20.

We are now parked in the town of Coplapo. We have turned inland and will head toward the capital city of Santiago. Norman has an oil leak so we will be here till that is taken care of. Our internet modem is working and our motorhome is performing well. Our Spanish improves a bit. We are 8,000miles from Paducah and still on good terms with each other.

Bill and Gerry