12th January – Bahia Inglses – Antafugasta 300 miles

Having had little sleep due to our neighbours, the young guys from Santiago, drinking several bottles of Pisco and sitting chatting, but they were shouting although they didn’t know it, until 7 am when they crashed out.
So pack up and say our farewells to an apologetic group of young lads, they were great. We are heading for Antafugasta today which is straight north through the beginning of the Atacama desert which is a bit unnearving in some respects. We have been told that there is a 400 k stint with no fuel and it was stressed to have enough water.
Initially we are running along the coast and suddenly come across the police stopping all the traffic and getting us to pull right off the road, we are at a loss as what this is all about and then after about 5 minutes the police car moves on and 2 artics come around the corner, the first carrying the truck without the tipper body followed by the 2nd with the body on it. This is one of those earthmoving trucks and it is the width of the whole road. They move on with a police car following and we are on our way. At home they would have closed roads and all sorts but this just went on its way with 2 policecars.
Once we leave civilisation we start climbing and will reach over 2000 meters during our journey. Martin said it was different to his expectations as there were rocks etc which he hadn’t fully expected in a desert. The fact that it is a desert in the middle of a massive mountain range I guess accounts for this but I certainly couldn’t have begun to describe it before we went. The road cuts its way through the mountains so we have a few turns and curves and then many long straight sections before another curve to weave its way through the lowest valleys where it can. Martin takes some photos of what looks like a lunar landscape, we feel like Neil Armstrong et al.
After 80 or 100 miles we stop at a truck stop, this is a large hut in the middle of nowhere with a massive parking area. Several trucks are stopped there so we pull over to see if food is an option. What a friendly bunch, all the truckers greet us as we go in and then discover our first hurdle, no one speaks any English. We gesture food and are offered something which contains chicken so let’s have that. A bowl arrives looking a bit like soup but it has a boiled potato and a piece of chicken in it, it tasted great and came with a bread bun each. We are then asked if we would like something else and after rummaging through my phrase book we are being offered fish, the waitress takes us to a table where several truckers are eating and shows us, what turns out to be the main course. No we want something small, perhaps a desert, I did use the Spanish by the way, oh and off she goes and brings us a massive nectarine each. It certainly filled Martin and I up and there is no way we could have gone all three courses. Including a litre bottle of Sprite and a litre of water, six pounds, we now know where to stop in future, a truck stop where lots of lorry’s are stopped.
Whilst we were having our lunch a fruit lorry was right outside and one of the ladies from the cafe climbed on top of the load and was selecting things she wanted which were brought in. There was a ton of fruit and veg unloaded, she then climbed down and came back in to carry on what she normally does, the driver was just following orders from her.
Refreshed we continue towards our destination and suddenly there on the hill to the left is the ‘Hand in the Sand’, a feature we want to see. This is about 40 miles from Antofagasta and someone has cast in concrete half a palm with 4 fingers and a thumb sticking up out of the sand, at a guess it is about 15 – 20 feet tall. It is a very unusual and original feature I must say.
On to Antofagasta and we drive along the coast and find one of the 2 campsites Martin had sourced.
Pitched and eaten we are now off to get a bit of shopping and have a quick drink.