Letter 4
Copiapó 13.07.02
Vallenar - Mina Transito (somewhere in the dessert) 115.87 km
Asked some policemen for a residencial yesterday. There was one nearby.
Found it straight away. Rooms at two different prices. Decided to have a
look at them both first. We went for a longer walk in labyrintic
corridors. The expensive one at 5000 had shower and toilet in the room.
With hot water...
The other with shower in the corridor was 3000. I bet on that the water
COULD get hot. This morning it showed to be a fact. Very hot. And it was
a bit difficult to adjust. When another person opens a tap or flushes the
toilet it changes the balance and you have to adjust and adjust and so
on and so.... But it was nice. And clean underwear!
Yesterday I met with two girl in the internet café who spoke english.
One had recently come back after a year as a aupair in... Finland. The
other had studied a year in New York and was now teaching english in
Calama. Now she was visiting her parents for the winter vacation here in
town. Like always it was nice being able to SPEAK to someone.
After having traveled they considered Vallenar a rats hole. To me it had
all a city ought to: lodging and internet connection. This morning I'm
ready at 8.45. Just need 2 x 1.5 l's of lemonade and a new ballpen. I'm
dragging my bike along the main street, all shops seem closed. Only
restaurants and a 24 hours pharmacy are open. I ask some ladies when
they'll be open?
At ten, they show with their fingers. A little later I ask a young man
where to buy a ballpen. "Boligrafó" according to the dictionary, "lapis"
according to him. It's too early, I'll have to wait until 9.30. Offers
me his, search his bag, no, he hasn't got one with him, sorry! I trudge
on while the town awakes and so - a bookshop, which is just going to
open. Can I buy a ballpen?
Yes certainly. The bars are raised and here I am - writing. Now I just
need lemonade, but it's past 9 so perhaps? The hours don't seem to be
equal for all.
At 9.30 precisely I'm back on Ruta 5. Yesterday I asked the two girls if
there was ANYTHING between Vallenar and Copiapó? Yes, there was at least
"una posada" exactly midway. A place with food, drink and a bed. Sounds
absolutely appropriate. I cannot do it in one day anyway.
Just outside the town I stop at two hitch hikers (chileans). They are on
their way to some religious feast at their home town up near Arica. One
is coming from Vina del Mar, the other has been with some family. The
landscape has flattend a bit, there are mountains at both sides but
there are not so big difference in altitude between them and the plain
I'm crossing. There is more gravel and dust at the sides. Yesterday I
entered Región de Atacama. A great dead tree stands at the right as a
last guard before what's to come: el desierto, the dessert. One thing
I've forgotten: canned tuna, the lunch. I have only a can of peas and
not too many slices of bread, but I have oranges and chocolate. It'll do
for today.
The stagecoach drags it's dust trail to the east. Oh no, a car! Soon
turns up a side road leading at Chihuaque, it wasn't there. Now a
quarter later the dust is still to be seen somewhere in the horizon. I
havn't met any other touring cyclists. The hitch hikers recently had
seen some in april or mai. But the latest were seen by the family in Las
Poertas. There two canadians had passed 15 days ago - not two weeks,
they counted very accurate - on their way to Paraguay, and they had
taken the same road as me, so they're probably also going to Bolivia
first.
After 32.5 km the road turns to the right. A nice variation. We have to
cross the railway we'd followed. I notice by looking at the rail that
this one is in use and remember some distant sounds this night: da-dung,
da-dung... On a red sign is written PARA (stop) and all do. Even you can
see far away to both sides that no train is coming. It's not just danes
that are law abiding. For this reason a group of salesmen has gathered.
Cheese, clementines etc. I go for a net of clementines: 500. Afterwards
I wonder that the oranges I bought the other day only cost me 500. Did
he cheat on me? No, he just got a good bargain. I could have negociated.
But then I'm offered a bag of 5-6 goat cheeses the size of camemberts. I
just want one for my lunch, but that's not possible.
After 60 km there's a posada, but I'm not midways yet, so I pass. It's
hot! I put on my shorts. For the first time I feel very small and
vulnerable. But I've bought water both for today and tomorrow. Anyway I
think the first bottle is emptied quicker than usual. Our opinion of
EXACTLY was probably not the same. But just as I've passed the half way
point up comes a sign: "Pueblo" and in the distance something looking
like houses can be seen.
It was true. A restaurant, but no lodging. Cola is the only thing to get.
I sit down and have one and suddenly I notice how the heat has drained
me. It has been easy terrain, I've taken it easy, but nevertheless I'm
totally worn out now after 80 km. I havn't had anything to eat except
oranges, that's a mistake. I don't feel like it when it's that hot, but
I think I have to change that! A sign with something looking like a
condor, a birds farm? There are really a lot a cages outside. "Otra" is
what you say when you want another one (cola), I learn. It's not only
birds in the cages. Silk moneys? (silbador) from Bolivia and Equador.
Budgerigars from Australia. Alpaca sheeps and goats etc. A minor zoo
here in the middle of the dessert! I put 100 pesos in the box for
feeding. It doesn't sound like anyone else has done so. At the road I
saw a coyote or whatever that kind of fox is called, so I won't be
complety alone in my tent. When I step outside again the air doesn't
feel that hot, but I take a look at the watch, the bike has been in the
shadows: 31.3 degr. I roll on. Trying to keep a sunday pace. Might as
well go some more miles. Looking for camping areas. It's all flat.
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| A blooming miracle | An unexpected zoo |
At 96 km is a bus shelter at a side road. When I enter the shadows I
feel how the sweat is all over, when I'm rolling I don't notice. I could
make it all the way to Copiapó, 50 km left. Max. 3 hours. (I'm no wiser
than that). If I can see the white line in the middle I can roll through
the night. I have a rear light that blinks and I can just stop those few
times someone appears. I consider it.
Then I sit here in the light from the front light and sums the last
episodes from today. It's 19.15. The tent is long standing the matress
rolled out and so is the sleeping bag, I'm ready for the night.
I had to cross a couple of hills to see if a town in the map was getting
nearer. No sign of neigher town or houses and I passed a spot suitable
for camping: an old dried out river bed or digging from the construction
of the road. Can only be seen from south and I don't think the lights
from the car can reach it.
A quick decision, it was 17.50 and I think it will be dark at 18.15. The
tent was raised in a second. The plugs couldn't be fastened so it's tied
to 6 big rocks I gathered. I had to l lie down for some time before I
pulled myself together to find diary, ballpen and light. Just now a
slight breeze - besides which it is totally silent. It's not darker than
I see the tent canvas. The moon is just a thin nail. I have to step
outside to watch the starry sky. Inside is only 23.7 degr.
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| Every flower seems a miracle in these dry surroundings | The mountains disappear in the haze |
13.07.02 Minas Transito - Copiapó ca. 50 km I forgot the computer on
the bike.
It's been a quiet night. Hardly no wind. The temperature not below 11
degr. - inside the tent. The trucks have been going all night - I only
heard them when I was awake of course. The older models sounds like
jumbojets.
On my way to Copiapó. Have to cross a minor pass. One of those where the
road just go straight up over. The railway that has come back, which was
meant to happen according to the map - that's about the only correct
thing in the map - makes some big turns to get across, but we have to
crawl upwards. I have almost ended the first bottle already. It's only
9.30, but even then quite hot. When we
cross the rails for the first time there is a sign saying: "Attention
driver, in this area live wolves and guanacho's, be considerate, they
are threatened spieces". I wonder if the wolves are given same message
according me?
I had hoped for a quick morning ride, but it goes slow. More up than
down - eev. Then at last a posada. I'm greeted by two truck drivers on
their way out. Where do I come from? Dinamarca! Ah, el grande danes!
says one of of them and even I show him my little size, you are 'grande'
when you ride the bike here. We end up patting the shoulders and shaking
hands: Feliz viaje!
I get my well-earned breakfast: Tostada con café. Here is the nescafé
and the margarine on the table so help yourself!
The dry brown mountains are seen on both sides, only here in the plain
single plants tempt the hard conditions, but scattered rain ravines tell
that even here it rains sometimes. The road inclines again. I crawl for
2-3 km. The pace tells about the climb: 7 km/h. It's steaming hot, but
the sweat is not to be seen. Due to the dry air it evaporates before
turning to droplets.
On top I sit in the shadows of a chapel, bigger than most, and write a
bit. Now only 10 km can be left for today. Candles are burning in some
of the sticks, so it's a place people use. Just when I write this a car
arrives and a family gets out. Then down it goes. In the beginning at an
uncomfortable high speed - 50 km/h - because the road is bad here.
They're working at it. Big machines with buckets that can fill a
truck in 2-3 times, make the dust come up. Luckily the wind blows the
opposite direction. For 12 km I roll downwards, the longest until now.
At the sign 'Copiapó' I have to step again. The air has cooled on the
way down. There's a wonderful breeze.
After being in the town for some time - I trotted around to find an
internet café, which is open - I find the breeze too cold. It's coming
from the sea and blows up through the valley. What a contrast to 12 km's
ago.