Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 30, Calama, Chile Iquique to Calama - 258 miles |
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Today's ride was very interesting. From the beach town of Iquique, we headed south on Chile's Highway 1, along the west coast. There was foggy overcast almost all the way, but we had pleasant riding at about 65 degrees F. The Highway 1 designation is not the only parallel to California's Highway 1 coast route, with the coast itself and the seascape being quite similar also. One moment you are riding along at almost the same level as the beach, and about 200 yards from the ocean, and the next moment you are riding on the side of a steep cliff 200-300 ft. higher than the ocean, with a perilous drop-off. There are also the big rocks sticking up through the sea, with breakers sending crashing waves up high. Once in a while there is a little pocket beach, but mostly the shore is very rocky. But the similarity stops where one looks for some plants and greenery along the coast. This coast is part of the bigger Atacama Desert we have been riding through for the last couple of days. Not a bush, a blade of grass, nor a tree grows on either the coastal slope or the dry mountains directly inland. I didn't take any photos because they would only show the brown of the land and hills and the high fog of the seashore. One thing that was quite unique was a golf course near the resort town of Iquique that had no grass at all! The fairways were totally covered with small rocks! The rocks looked to be somewhat smaller than pea gravel. And it looked like the "greens" were covered only in sand. What fun that would be! But, there were golfers out playing. After about 160 miles of this coast and lots of fun riding, we stopped at the town of Tocopilla and turned inland, after a good lunch of fish stew at a local market. (Speaking of good local food, last night my roommate Terry and I found the best Empanadas we have ever had - just in a small stand.) We then rode inland about 100 miles, again through the brown sand and rock desert, and again with not a green twig. This town of Calama has a big copper mine, and the tour guides have arranged for us to have a short tour of the mine tomorrow morning. As a little more explanation of this barren, barren desert, every once in a while we run across a small valley which does have a spot of green. Sometimes this is large enough to support a village, but it must be from springs. The green just seems to start in one place, runs maybe a half mile, and then disappears. Our photographer, Henry, said he had talked to some people in such a tiny settlement, and they had not had rain for 64 years!! Interestingly, as we rode through the mountains separating the coast from the inland desert, the temperature rose to about 88 degrees F, and then further inland the temperature dropped back to about 65 degrees. I guess the sea breeze comes inland quite a long ways. No photos today - they would look the same as a couple of days ago - light brown sand with washed out blue skies. |
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