Massive sand dunes, not a lot of sleep in the petrol station and a big bird on Daisy

The night we spent in the Petrobras station in Calama is not one that will be remembered for the quality of the sleep. To say that I got 20 minutes would be a lie but the company was great and Des had a wonderful time interacting with the canine squatters on the forecourt.

The only route available for us to get north, now that El Senor clearly had something against us entering Bolivia, was to take the Pan Americana along the coast. This meant heading west to the rather unmemorable town of Tocapillo straight across the Atacama Desert. Our choice was to camp the night next to the sea and the first site that we came across had a strong resemblance to the municipal rubbish dump. Because it is in beautiful setting the locals had decided to use it for BBQs and decided to leave behind all of their waste which included hundreds of nails from the wooden pallets they had used as fuel for the fires. These we tried to remove to save the hassle of a puncture. We decided to search along the track a bit further but all potential campsites told the same story. Rubbish, rubbish and yet more rubbish. Why do people do it? I put it down to a lack of education! When we returned to our site there was a water tanker filling up with sea water. The driver told me that this was the best site around. Maybe he likes having his BBQ with the indicators of human presence all around. None the less we slept soundly and were refreshed for the next days ride.

Today involved travelling along the coast road to Iquique. It was a beautiful ride with the sea on our left and the desert on the right. We stopped at a road side cafe and had fried local fish for breakfast and were treated to a show of pleasure as we interacted with a mother and her 2 daughters when they were allowed to sit on Daisy.

It made her day, which made mine though I am glad that Triumph had decided to up rate the strength of the side stand. The hostal was in the old area of town which still had wooden buildings and the owners were very friendly. We had dinner in a great restaurant that had only been open only a month or so and must have been a big risk for the owners since they was no walk in trade and must have relied on word of mouth. I can see that the reputation of the chef must have had a lot to do with it since it was the best steak that I have had and the waitress made the whole experience memorable with her chirpy, vibrant and friendly personality.

The next morning we tried to get into Bolivia again but the police at a road block

close to the turn off we needed told us that there was ice on the road some 500m below the height of the pass. So inevitably we were thwarted again and continued north on the road to Arica. The road was amazing and I remember it from the last trip. All around was what looked like huge sand dunes. They were in fact mountains covered in sand but the effect was still the same.

Once at Arica we headed east for another pass into Bolivia hoping to sleep at Putres but were thwarted by a track of sand that the GPS had suggested we take. I had abandoned my belief that a GPS is for checking that you are following your map derived. OK on a lighter bike with no luggage but it was a tad testing. So we are in Arica staying at a great hostal and had a rest day today before attempting to take the right road tomorrow.

If we had continued on the sandy

track for another 10km we would have hit tarmac and this blog would be coming from La Paz rather than Ariva. Es asi la vida!!!!

In Arica I found three guys playing touch rugby and in the square was a young girl running around the statue in the middle and then doing star jumps etc. I am liking Arica more and more.