After 10 days of quasi solitude in the stunning mountains of the Puna de Atacama it is pretty hard, but comfortable, to get back to reality, to drive a car, to see people hanging out in the streets, to just turn on the faucet to enjoy a hot shower. I’ll talk later about our attempt on the Nevado Ojos del Salado, highest volcano in the world, second summit of the Andes and therefore of South America, but before that our trip is not over. This volcano was our u-turn point, and one week was necessary to return to Lima, traversing the Altiplano one more time to reach the Atacama Desert before following the arid coast that leads to the Peruvian capital.
Fiambala in Argentina is kind of the end of the world. On the road, the next town is Copiapo in Chile, 280 miles away. In between there isn’t that much: a frontier post, few emergency refuges along the road, the Paso San Francisco as a physical border at 15400’. But for the mountain and desert lover, it is one more time a wide color palette, a diversity of immense and desolated landscapes that are out there. It is the kind of area where you could stop every 100 meters to shoot pictures in every direction.
It should be possible to spend days, moving along this excellent road, looking for the best light, playing with clouds and thunderstorms. The usual vicunas are now mixed with guanacos, wild burros are everywhere, and ducks and flamingos are sharing some lagunas. The yellow grass is the only vegetal here, harassed by the vicunas and the wind. This one blow constantly on the curved volcanoes, reinforcing the harshness of an already difficult environment: sun, sand and wind are constant here.
On the Chilean side the fireworks goes on: the emerald waters of the Laguna Verde are glowing, the surrounding volcanoes are insanely beautiful, and as a goodbye, the Nevado Ojos del Salado is showing is Chilean dress, just under lace like clouds. I will have to come back.
And here is the downhill slope, steep, long, on an average dirt road, to Copiapo, a mining town that doesn’t look appealing. It seems so far from the mountains that the altimeter is panicking to finally show an altitude of only few feet when the engine stops in Caldera, on the Pacific coast. Crowded streets, fast food smell, churros on the Main Square, “Princess Caldera” election near the beach, artisans everywhere, loud music, more smells, and noise. It is not before midnight that sleep is bringing some release.
On the road to Lima, the Atacama Desert presents an interesting variety of monuments and landmarks, some of them are declared UNESCO world heritage.
The National Park Pan de Azucar will be a good place for a first rest. Indeed, this place seems beautiful and interesting, with sea lion and Humbolt pinguins. Halas, those animals are not around during our visit and the park has been severely flooded last year, which means that most of the roads and accesses are now closed. A rest day on the beach with a good book is finally welcome.
On the coast, a little bit of everything can be found: some small towns are old industrial ports almost abandoned (Chaparral), some others are real jewels, welcoming, pretty and clean (Taltal, Tocopilla).
Then, the Panamerica road is leaving the ocean to dive deeper in the Atacama Desert. Here, the scars of some severe saltpeter extraction during the beginning of the 20th century are still visible. The nitrate soda was mainly used for fertilizing and, of course, for explosives.
“Oficinas”, real town/factories were everywhere and are now witnesses of this prosperous time. Workers were living and working there with their families. Some places, like Chacabuco, were converted into concentration camps after Pinochet coup d’état.
Peruvian border. Finally. It will be the 6th border and the last one to be crossed during this trip and the worst experience as well. Around 3 hours were necessary to cross the Peruvian gate, custom officers showing a real lack of sympathy, a real lack of motivation, giving orders while staying seated…
Once in Peru, the behavior on the road is almost shocking. The only things that are respected are the traffic lights: cars passing without any visibility, passing on a double white line, absolutely no respect for signs, signs indicating unrealistic speed limit that were easily doubled or tripled (40 or 60 km/h for perfect deserted straight lines…). Driving requires full attention at any time.
A great night in Arequipa is perfect to get some serious rest and a nice diner before heading back on the road for the last 2 driving days along the coast. This part is familiar: we took it 6 weeks ago when we started this trip… It is now time to go home!
