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Published: March 10th 2012
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When I told my family friends and loved ones I was going to keep a blog I hadn'y realised how much of an obligation it is. So I apologise if you are sat at home worrying why you've not heard from me. I hope you don't fear the worst. It is just I have been too tired at the end of the day to write. So in future panic not! I am OK just tired, lazy or drunk or a combination of all three !
I forget to mention why the last entry was entitled 4 socks. Some of you may know the trip organisers advised to take 4 socks - not 4 pairs of socks, just 4 socks. The trip out was a struggle, not least across London and at CDG airport becuase of all the luggage I had to lug around and I only had 4 socks !!
Well today I have had a lazy day and done some washing so I have reset the sock counter!
Thursday 8 March When I had booked into the hotel at Tongoy I had shown them my credit card. The old lady said ( I thought: "Bien" -
good) but I suspect she didn't have her specs on as the next morning it seemed they didn't accept cards - cash only. This was a problem as I didn't have enough. I offered US dollars and the old lady's eyes lit up. $55 USD seemed alot but it was a very pleasant place and the old man helped me lock my bike away and spoke to me in Spanish all evening. I think he thought I might absorb it, but I just smiled and said bueno and cerveza in equal measure and we got on like a house on fire. He showed me a picture of himself as a young man in the army. It was very reminicent of fascist German uniforms and the faded black & white image only added to the illusion. God knows what stories he was telling!!
I woke to thick fog. I had read about this. The cold night time desert draws in the moist sea air and condenses it out as fog. This is the only source of water for life in the desert. It was quite cold, about 15C I recall. My the time I had had breakfast settled up and
packed my bags the fog was lifting and I headed back out on Ruta 5, heading north to Copiapo.
It was about an hour to La Serena, where I had orginally planned to stop, but it wasn't worth it now as the observary tours weren't until evening so I headed on.
Past La Serena the motorway became single carriageway. Up until then the road was a glorified dual carriage way. About 40 minutes north of La Serena the road heads inland and and up hill. That meant the temperature steady rose, reaching 30c by the afternoon (For those who are interested the bike, like alot of cars, displays the outside temperature on the intrument panal)
The journey north was brought to a near standstill twice by convoys of huge mining trucks. These were giant Tonka toy dipper trucks, as wide as both carriageways and had been dismantled in their component parts, a chassis/engine/cab and the main dipper. The brake discs alone must of bee 6 ft in diameter. None of the chassis/engine part of the truck had wheels and although I never saw them I image a pair would have taken one low loader so to transport
one truck required probably 6 lorries as it appeared the trucks had dual wheels at the back.
The low loaders were accompanied by a safety vehicle which refused to let me sneak by. This it turned out to a good thing becuase once the convoy pulled over I saw it was lead by two police cars and Chilean police look like they mean business ! (I've seen them standing at street junctions directing traffic and the still look scary !!)
Although the convoys probably only travelled a couple of miles, when going up hill the pace was painfully slow, and each time I must of been stuck behind for half an hour or so. Going up hill I was worried I might burn the clutch out so I stopped and had a drink before racing to the front. Quite fun really!!
I ran into two of these convoys and just missed a third ( It just pulled over as I reached it). The exciting part of the journey was passing a sign that said "Region De Atacama" - I had made it !! There was absolutley no traffic so I swung round and parked by the sign for a quick photo!
As I got into Capiapo I need fuel and it was getting on a bit so I got out my guide, turned the sat nav and keyed in the address of the first hotel I found in the book. If it looked ok i'd stay. As it was the Hotel La Casona was lovely. The owner spoke English, gave me a beer and locked the bike up for me. The room was spacious, airey and had a shower, just the job.
I went for a walk into the centre of town, which was buzzing with life at about 7.30 pm. People were mainly shopping and as there seemed to be no football on, many where engaging what I think must be Chile's national past time - snogging ! I mean they really go for. The more public the space the better!
I couldn't find anywhere I liked the look of to eat but I wasn't really looking as the hotel did food so after what I thought was a reasonable stretch of the legs I headed back. The was no menu, you just sat down and were fed - great!. The cook/waitress was a large homely lady and clearly the food was home cooked by her and it turned out not only to be authentic (at last) but delicous. We started with an egg salad followed by what I coud best determine was a dish called oven pig. It was in fact a roast loin chop with herbs and onions, served with potato and peas. For dessert - fresh peaches. I would recommend this hotel for the meal alone, let alone their friendly helpful nature. It cannot be everyone's idea of an ideal guest to have a smelly biker on sock 3 turn up on your doorstep, but the people were lovely and couldn't be more welcoming and kind.
Another advantage of La Casona was I had free internet - hence my first blog the other day. It meant I could catch up on my e-mail. Lin had texted me so I knew I had an e-mail waiting from her and I was over the moon to read what she had sent ( No - mind your own business!). I had planned this trip for so long, long before I met Lin and now I'm here, reading her e-mails I have a suddened feeling of home sickness. I love her and I miss her terribly and I am welling up a bit as I type. The big macho biker as gone all soft!
OK - that's enough for now
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Cori
non-member comment
You big softie! We miss you, loving the blog ;-) Please keep on washing your socks x