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We wanted to hit Iquique
and Arica because they were the last two big towns before leaving Chile.
We were in need of a chain for one of the bikes and a set of spare tires.
Leaving the Atacama, we doubled back through Calama, where we ran into
Marcos and Esther. They are a Swiss couple that we met around a thousand
miles ago in a gas station north of Santiago. They are traveling on two
Suzuki DR650s that they bought in Santa Barbara. From there they traveled
to Alaska and then backdown through Central and now South America. We road
with them as far as the junction to Iquique. We would run into them again.
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Iquique occupies a narrow
coastal shelf that butts up against a steep escarpment. It is another of
the ports that serve the north's mining enterprises. The drafts along the
escarpment make it ideal for hang-gliding, and the sky is often filled
with them.
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Having had no luck finding
parts, we decided to try Arica, which is on the border with Peru, and is
a free trade zone.
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| Since it is more than 300
miles from Iquique to Arica without a gas station, we had to find a grocery
store that had a few drums of gas. Karen holds the funnel, while the old
man pours from a 5 liter wine bottle. |
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Approaching Arica, the
landscape is similar to much of the coast in this part of the world. The
high desert is cut by deep quebradas formed by rivers that flow
for all or part of the year to the coast. The dense garuas fog caused
by the Humboldt Currents helps provide enough moisture to support a short
growing season. In Arica, however, we were no more succesful finding parts
even in the zona franca. Anyway we were ready for a change, so we
decide to push on to Putre, where many people like to acclimate to the
altitude before continuing to the Altiplano.
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NEXT
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