FEBRUARY 2010
CHILE-Valparaiso
Monday 1st we connected each leisure
battery in turn, one appeared faulty. We set off into the town
and enquired for a battery shop, the Copec garage directed us to
Autofram where they checked the batteries and agreed with our
findings. We bought a new battery which they connected. We
drove north looking for camps marked on our maps, there were no signs
and no camps. We eventually found the fourth camp marked and well
signed. Tuesday
we had a rest day. Wednesday
we left at 0800 and travelled north along the coast to return to Ruta
5. At 1000 we stopped at a Copec garage for diesel, and while we
were there we accessed
the internet. We left at 1100 and
journeyed through semi desert with Cardón cacti, some with red
tops, and Sotol. We had a deep blue sea to our left and the road
was winding and the hills were very steep, requiring us to change down
two gears. We arrived at Termas de Socos by 1430 to camp in a well
signposted, well laid out camp. Thursday we went to the
Valle del Encanto (the Enchanted valley) to look at the
Petroglyphs. We found some after a scramble among the rocks, they
were not impressive. We left and continued northwards along the
coast to Coquimbo. The camp was off the coast road, easy to find
as it well signposted. We took a bus into town to shop in
Unimarc, and a taxi on the way back. Friday a rest day.
Mervyn bussed into La Serena.
the internet. We left at 1100 and
journeyed through semi desert with Cardón cacti, some with red
tops, and Sotol. We had a deep blue sea to our left and the road
was winding and the hills were very steep, requiring us to change down
two gears. We arrived at Termas de Socos by 1430 to camp in a well
signposted, well laid out camp. Thursday we went to the
Valle del Encanto (the Enchanted valley) to look at the
Petroglyphs. We found some after a scramble among the rocks, they
were not impressive. We left and continued northwards along the
coast to Coquimbo. The camp was off the coast road, easy to find
as it well signposted. We took a bus into town to shop in
Unimarc, and a taxi on the way back. Friday a rest day.
Mervyn bussed into La Serena.
Saturday 6th we left the camp for
Vallenar, we drove along the sea front and then turned into La
Serena. The Ruta 5 continued north through hill country, some of
the hill roads were very steep. At Vallenar we asked for the camp
but could not find it so we carried on to Copiapó to camp in a
Copec fuel station. Sunday
we left early and drove west to Bahia Inglesa where we arrived just
after 0900 to camp. We entered The Atacama Desert during the
drive. We relaxed for the rest of the day. Monday we made a poor start
to the day. We drove to the toilet block to fill up with fresh
water. We then found that the wheels had sunk into the soft
sand. We spent thirty min trying to dig the van out and then sent
for help. The tractor duly arrived and eventually pulled us
out. The tow chain broke mid operation but was tied
together. We then drove north to Balneario Flamenco where we
arrived just after lunch. The electric will be put on at 2100
this evening for two hours. Tuesday as we started the
day we drove through a field of lava rocks, we continued into a sand
desert with yellow mountains. The final change after tea break
was into a rocky desert. We started looking for a camp after
lunch but we were unable to find anything and journeyed almost to
Antofagasta to camp in a Copec garage. Wednesday we left the fuel
station and drove into Antofagasta to search for an Iveco repair
shop. We found one where we expected to find it. What a
surprise! We asked the foreman, Francisco, to have the
differential lock sorted out, the light was still on from Monday.
After an hour and a half the van was road tested and seemed OK.
Francisco told us to come back if it was not OK. We then shopped
in Unimarc and filled up with Butane. We tested the differential
lock on a fifty km drive and then went to the camp to eventually be
shown a level spot outside the sites where we settled in. Thursday a rest day. Friday for a start we paid
our bill for the work on the differential lock, then we shopped and
finally drove to Calama where the camp was easy to find.
Saturday 13th there were hot showers at the camp which delayed our departure. We drove south east to San Pedro De Atacama where we had trouble finding a camp. We were too big for the camps and we were leaving town in the south east direction when four people waved franticly to us. They were Juergen & Karin with two friends that we had met in Mexico. We camped with them in a large open area on the edge of town. We spent part o
f the afternoon and
evening exchanging information, Juergen & Karin on Peru and Bolivia
and from us Chile and Argentina. Sunday when we got up
Juergen & Karin had already left for Argentina. We left about
0800 and we had to pass through the Chilean customs on our way to
Toconao Juergen & Karin were at the head of the queue. Another very
quick “goodbye” and we left them to it. As we had been advised
against taking our van into Toconao we parked on a lay-by and Mervyn
walked in to see the church. We decided not to continue on to
Socaire. We returned seeing Vicuñas and Donkeys (Wild?)
then bypassing San Pedro De Atacama we continued to Calama, where we
shopped and camped in Casas del Valle.
There were several snow capped Volcanoes to the northwest of the
road. Monday we
had a rest day. Tuesday
we made an early start for what was to be a long day. We had
decided to change our route and re-enter Argentina. It took us an
hour to return to San Pedro de Atacama , when we arrived there we were
pleasantly surprised to find the Border Post almost empty. It
only took half an hour to clear and we then drove through a pass at
15000ft (4600m) to the Argentinean Border Post at Jama where it took us
an hour to
clear. We arrived
at Susques and soon found the Hotel Pastos Chicos where we were allowed
to stay overnight. The meal in the restaurant was excellent. This
was our best day’s drive, the colours were superb, purples, browns,
reds, pinks, greens, white and oranges, of all variations and mixtures,
under a blue sky. We passed a Flamingo Andina close enough to recognise
and a hundred more in groups of various sizes. We also saw many
Llamas and Donkeys. Wednesday
another early start to the journey, the Altiplano was fairly flat and
we made good progress until we reached the Sierra Alta where we climbed
slowly and then descended even more slowly to Yala to camp at El
Refugio in the early afternoon. The descent of Sierra Alta
from 15000 to 4700ft covered a distance of twenty km and took us an
hour and a half. the colours were again superb the most
outstanding was a lime green. Thursday a rest day.
This was the first rainy day this month. Frid
ay we drove south on Ruta
9, and paid our toll of four pesos (60p). We arrived in Salta
just before lunch, and settled into the Municipal Campsite. There
was high humidity.
Saturday 20th we left early to journey south through a narrow gorge, very steep and winding. In the gorge we saw Cardón Cactus, Prickly Pear and a Grey Fox. We had planned to camp in Cafayate but when we found the camp it was full and all the others looked full. We continued south until we were stopped by the police (for the tenth time) and they said we could camp in the local park. Sunday we made an early start south to visit The Ruinas De Quilmas. This was an Indian Village from the 1000s, most of the walls did not reach five ft high. We continued south until we arrived at a fourteen km stretch of Ripio where we turned south-east on a “surfaced” road. The road was surfaced but in a dreadful state and it had some stretches of Ripio in it. We were heading for Tafi Del Valle to camp. The camp was very crowded and it took thirty min to fill up with water. Monday we drove south-east from Tafi Del Valle through a narrow gorge where the road was very twisty and in places room for only one vehicle. In a few places the edge of the road had slipped down into the river. At Acheral we joined Ruta 38 a far superior road which took us to San Fernando del Valle. As we drove through the town we followed a well signposted route to the camp. Tuesday after one of the best showers so far we left to shop in San Fernando del Valle. A diversion took us to tea break in an Airport car park. We then took a chance on a short cut which returned us to our chosen route. We drove s
outh in rain and showers
to La Rioja. At the usual police check point we asked for
directions to the camp, they were easy to follow and we had settled in
by 1400. Wednesday
we set off in heavy rain, it had rained most of the night. We
drove south to Patquia where we turned south west to head for Parque
Nacional Talampaya, we arrived about 1400. We were allowed to
camp in the car park. Another English camper arrived, we went
across to chat with Mary & Mike Page. This took a long time
and we had a late dinner. Thursday we took a three
hour tour in the park’s Safari bus visiting some Petroglyphs, a
Botanical Garden where loud shouting produced three echoes, some
Vertical Cliffs with Stacks and finally three Vertical Pillars; The
Tower and The Monk were the named two. During the tour we saw an
Armadillo digging i
n the sandy soil, three
Mara (rabbit like animals), three Condors and a small Hamster like
animal sitting in a bush. We returned back through the desert
scenery for a brief chat with Mary & Mike before they set off for
their tour. The guide was excellent, he took the trouble to give
us a talk in English when he had finished his Spanish talk. On
our drive to the other park, Parque Provincial Ischigualasto, the sky
clouded over and the cloud lowered. Two Germans, Dirk &
Andrea, arrived and we invited them across for tea and a long
chat. During the evening we saw a Grey Fox three times, the last
time with something in it‘s mouth. Friday the weather had
changed so we set off on the 0930 tour in our caravan along with about
twenty other vehicles. We saw El Guano (a worm like rock), The
Painted Valley, an Argentinean Sphinx, a lot of small Round Rocks
(Cannon Balls) and Hongo (Mushroom Rocks). We crossed several
river beds, some with water in them. We returned to the van for
lunch, said “goodbye” to the Germans and drove back to Talampaya to see
if we could meet Mary & Mike. We didn’t see them but Roland
(from The Grande Buenos Aires) & Corrina Beck were there. As
it was getting late the chat was brief and we drove north to Villa
Union, where the camp was well hidden so we filled up with fuel and
water at the YPF fuel station and camped there overnight.
Saturday 27th we were woken in the early hours by the caravan being shaken we found out later it was the Chilean earthquake. We travelled south west to San José de Jáchal. For seventy five km the road passed through many dry river beds, about every hundred metres we descended six to eight feet to cross the bed. We left Ruta 40 and climbed through the mountains, this road was very steep and twisty and in places only four metres wide, the caravan is two point four metres wide. The easy to find camp was closed, the second camp was over an old railway line that would have removed our exhaust. We went on to San Juan. There was an unfindable camp at Albardón. There was no camp in San Juan but a Petrobras fuel station had a large area at the back amongst the trees. Sunday we drove south on Ruta 40 to Mendoza, we shopped in Wal-mart and then found the camp, following the directions in our book. Most camps do not have directions, only an address.
Saturday 13th there were hot showers at the camp which delayed our departure. We drove south east to San Pedro De Atacama where we had trouble finding a camp. We were too big for the camps and we were leaving town in the south east direction when four people waved franticly to us. They were Juergen & Karin with two friends that we had met in Mexico. We camped with them in a large open area on the edge of town. We spent part o
f the afternoon and
evening exchanging information, Juergen & Karin on Peru and Bolivia
and from us Chile and Argentina. Sunday when we got up
Juergen & Karin had already left for Argentina. We left about
0800 and we had to pass through the Chilean customs on our way to
Toconao Juergen & Karin were at the head of the queue. Another very
quick “goodbye” and we left them to it. As we had been advised
against taking our van into Toconao we parked on a lay-by and Mervyn
walked in to see the church. We decided not to continue on to
Socaire. We returned seeing Vicuñas and Donkeys (Wild?)
then bypassing San Pedro De Atacama we continued to Calama, where we
shopped and camped in Casas del Valle.
There were several snow capped Volcanoes to the northwest of the
road. Monday we
had a rest day. Tuesday
we made an early start for what was to be a long day. We had
decided to change our route and re-enter Argentina. It took us an
hour to return to San Pedro de Atacama , when we arrived there we were
pleasantly surprised to find the Border Post almost empty. It
only took half an hour to clear and we then drove through a pass at
15000ft (4600m) to the Argentinean Border Post at Jama where it took us
an hour to clear. We arrived
at Susques and soon found the Hotel Pastos Chicos where we were allowed
to stay overnight. The meal in the restaurant was excellent. This
was our best day’s drive, the colours were superb, purples, browns,
reds, pinks, greens, white and oranges, of all variations and mixtures,
under a blue sky. We passed a Flamingo Andina close enough to recognise
and a hundred more in groups of various sizes. We also saw many
Llamas and Donkeys. Wednesday
another early start to the journey, the Altiplano was fairly flat and
we made good progress until we reached the Sierra Alta where we climbed
slowly and then descended even more slowly to Yala to camp at El
Refugio in the early afternoon. The descent of Sierra Alta
from 15000 to 4700ft covered a distance of twenty km and took us an
hour and a half. the colours were again superb the most
outstanding was a lime green. Thursday a rest day.
This was the first rainy day this month. Friday we drove south on Ruta
9, and paid our toll of four pesos (60p). We arrived in Salta
just before lunch, and settled into the Municipal Campsite. There
was high humidity.Saturday 20th we left early to journey south through a narrow gorge, very steep and winding. In the gorge we saw Cardón Cactus, Prickly Pear and a Grey Fox. We had planned to camp in Cafayate but when we found the camp it was full and all the others looked full. We continued south until we were stopped by the police (for the tenth time) and they said we could camp in the local park. Sunday we made an early start south to visit The Ruinas De Quilmas. This was an Indian Village from the 1000s, most of the walls did not reach five ft high. We continued south until we arrived at a fourteen km stretch of Ripio where we turned south-east on a “surfaced” road. The road was surfaced but in a dreadful state and it had some stretches of Ripio in it. We were heading for Tafi Del Valle to camp. The camp was very crowded and it took thirty min to fill up with water. Monday we drove south-east from Tafi Del Valle through a narrow gorge where the road was very twisty and in places room for only one vehicle. In a few places the edge of the road had slipped down into the river. At Acheral we joined Ruta 38 a far superior road which took us to San Fernando del Valle. As we drove through the town we followed a well signposted route to the camp. Tuesday after one of the best showers so far we left to shop in San Fernando del Valle. A diversion took us to tea break in an Airport car park. We then took a chance on a short cut which returned us to our chosen route. We drove s
outh in rain and showers
to La Rioja. At the usual police check point we asked for
directions to the camp, they were easy to follow and we had settled in
by 1400. Wednesday
we set off in heavy rain, it had rained most of the night. We
drove south to Patquia where we turned south west to head for Parque
Nacional Talampaya, we arrived about 1400. We were allowed to
camp in the car park. Another English camper arrived, we went
across to chat with Mary & Mike Page. This took a long time
and we had a late dinner. Thursday we took a three
hour tour in the park’s Safari bus visiting some Petroglyphs, a
Botanical Garden where loud shouting produced three echoes, some
Vertical Cliffs with Stacks and finally three Vertical Pillars; The
Tower and The Monk were the named two. During the tour we saw an
Armadillo digging in the sandy soil, three
Mara (rabbit like animals), three Condors and a small Hamster like
animal sitting in a bush. We returned back through the desert
scenery for a brief chat with Mary & Mike before they set off for
their tour. The guide was excellent, he took the trouble to give
us a talk in English when he had finished his Spanish talk. On
our drive to the other park, Parque Provincial Ischigualasto, the sky
clouded over and the cloud lowered. Two Germans, Dirk &
Andrea, arrived and we invited them across for tea and a long
chat. During the evening we saw a Grey Fox three times, the last
time with something in it‘s mouth. Friday the weather had
changed so we set off on the 0930 tour in our caravan along with about
twenty other vehicles. We saw El Guano (a worm like rock), The
Painted Valley, an Argentinean Sphinx, a lot of small Round Rocks
(Cannon Balls) and Hongo (Mushroom Rocks). We crossed several
river beds, some with water in them. We returned to the van for
lunch, said “goodbye” to the Germans and drove back to Talampaya to see
if we could meet Mary & Mike. We didn’t see them but Roland
(from The Grande Buenos Aires) & Corrina Beck were there. As
it was getting late the chat was brief and we drove north to Villa
Union, where the camp was well hidden so we filled up with fuel and
water at the YPF fuel station and camped there overnight.Saturday 27th we were woken in the early hours by the caravan being shaken we found out later it was the Chilean earthquake. We travelled south west to San José de Jáchal. For seventy five km the road passed through many dry river beds, about every hundred metres we descended six to eight feet to cross the bed. We left Ruta 40 and climbed through the mountains, this road was very steep and twisty and in places only four metres wide, the caravan is two point four metres wide. The easy to find camp was closed, the second camp was over an old railway line that would have removed our exhaust. We went on to San Juan. There was an unfindable camp at Albardón. There was no camp in San Juan but a Petrobras fuel station had a large area at the back amongst the trees. Sunday we drove south on Ruta 40 to Mendoza, we shopped in Wal-mart and then found the camp, following the directions in our book. Most camps do not have directions, only an address.
ARGENTINA-Mendoza