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We spent the morning parked below the dam and Kirsten had a problem trying to put our next route onto the GPS. It took her ages to get it sorted out and so we did the washing up in between. We drove down to the coast to La Serena, Chile's second oldest city, built in 1544. We were here in 2002 and camped on the beach but neither of us can really remember it. In any case it's a very large city with a very long beach all along the bay.
We went to a large Jumbo supermarket where I even found an apple strudel! Kirsten went to the Chilean version of Home Depot and came back with a new collapsible stool. We opened up our back doors where there is an opening for the floor compartment under our table and where we keep stools and a table. It was very dusty from all the gravel roads we have been on so we had to clean everything first before we could see if the stool fit. It did! So then she went back and bought a lounger! The two had only cost $37 and it would save us having to bring a lounger down from Winnie in our luggage!
Our next destination was to get to the beach. From iOverlander we had two possible places to park up for the night. The first spot doesn't exist anymore. It's in the middle of a construction site with no access to the beach. The second was perfect - a side street off the main beach promenade. It was also next to a construction site but being New Years Eve we didn't expect any work to be going on for the next day or two.
We went for separate walks on the beach as we didn't want to leave Winnietwo alone. Not that there's a problem here but you never know. Kirsten found lots of birds and jellyfish to take photos of, plus quite a few people enjoying their holiday.
I went later and noticed that everyone was parking up alongside the beach (where they have to pay for parking) and setting up tables with champagne and drinks. It seemed that every family was setting up their spot for the night and some even had proper barbecues set up! I had the distinct impression that something was going to take place that evening.
I got back late and so it was after 9pm by the time we had cooked ourselves cauliflower cheese and fried potatoes. Yummy! The sea breeze means it's a lot cooler on the coast and we can cook again without sweating buckets!
At 11-30pm we walked the 200m to the beach and saw lots of people setting off Chinese lanterns with what looked like a paraffin cube. They light the cube and the lantern floats upwards and drifts with the wind. Some didn't get it quite right and the wind blew the flame and burned the paper walls of the lantern but there were still dozens and dozens floating above us - quite a sight.
At 11-55 pm all the promenade lights were all switched off - accompanied by lots of oohs and aahs and then some people started counting down from 10. We had no idea whether it was the correct time or not but it didn't really matter. We counted down with everyone else and cheered the new year in. Happy New Year! 2016 was a good year and we had a fantastic trip in the Antarctic. The year seems to have past by really quickly. Now we're looking forward to a very good 2017!
There were cheers all around us and people clinking glasses and drinking their champagne - of course we didn't have anything with us! But then nothing else happened ... for 5 minutes... then the fireworks started!
Wow! We were given a real treat. The fireworks were excellent and probably on a par with London or Sydney. There were three barges out in the bay and the firework display was synchronised between all three of them. It was very good indeed and lasted for at least 15 minutes. We were suitably impressed.
What we weren't impressed with was the guy who was peeing behind our motor home!! Kirsten spotted someone and told me there was a man by the back doors of our motor home. I sprinted over there only to find the guy was peeing and using the motor home to hide behind. Men!!! I was so not impressed!
Unfortunately our night didn't get any better because there was loud Techno music thumping out from somewhere on the beach front and kept us awake most of the night. It's sooo not our music and it's all the same - boom, boom, boom - and the motor home was vibrating. The music didn't stop until 7am and that's when we finally managed to get some sleep!
At least we could take the next day off and decided to stay where we were. Hopefully there wouldn't be another night of loud music. The beach was one very long rubbish tip!! An unbelievable amount of empty glass bottles, cans and other litter strewn everywhere. Even though it's a holiday the first group of cleaners were already at work and by the next morning had got the beach back to a reasonably clean state.
We left the beach and headed south and inland to get to Andacollo, a village that is at 1,100m above sea level with some very steep switchbacks to get up there. The Basilica is the site of a yearly pilgrimage on 26th December where 10,000 people fit inside and where Pope John Paul II visited in 1998.
We found out about it from some new books we had bought in Vicuña. Regula and Joerg had recommended that we buy maps for Chile from Copec, the Chilean petrol stations, which cost 3,000 pesos each and there is a set of 6 for the whole country. The maps show the latest state of the roads and whether they are tarmac or gravel. I had gone in search of them but could only find a set of three books and a map for 13,000 pesos ($19 US). They are well worth it.
I you are interested they are called Chiletur Copec, zona norte, centro, sur and rutas de Chile which is the accompanying map.
We found out about Andacolla from these guides - there is nothing listed in any of our Lonely Planets or other guides. Of course, we happened to get here on the 2nd January and the Basilica is closed! We parked in a parking area on the main street about 500m from the Basilica and decided to stay for the night. It was too hot to stay indoors so we went for a walk around the quiet village with its many colourfully painted houses.
The next day we went inside the Basilica and were the only ones in the huge, virtually empty, interior. Well, us and some pigeons! The church is quite impressive and still has all the wax from the numerous candles burned inside for the pilgrimage only a week ago.
We drove back down the steep switchbacks and went via Ovalle (a big, busy city) and further out to Monumento Arqueológico Valle del Encanto. There are about 30 pictograms and other rock art from the 2nd to 7th Century AD. We paid 700 pesos each entrance fee plus another 1000 pesos for the vehicle. We could have saved the latter and left the vehicle at the entrance and simply walked down. However, it was extremely hot so at least we could go back and get drinks instead of having to climb back up the steep and very dusty hill to the entrance.
We spent two hours walking around the site, up and down, scrambling over rocks to see various petroglyphs and rock art. Some of the rock art was barely visible and not well marked and the map we had been given wasn't much help. We ended up having to back track twice. It was extremely hot so we were glad Winnietwo was nearby so we could drink a lot. We even found what was called the Inca bath and prayed to the Gods for a shower!
The Gods answered us because we drove out at 6-30pm and headed for the Ruta 5 - the main Panamerican highway. The Copec petrol station only had cold showers for 500 pesos each but there was a rest area nearby for truck drivers. Kirsten went to check the toilet block and found hot showers that were free!
Kirsten dashed off for a very good hot shower whilst I did the usual cleaning ritual of getting Winnietwo as dust free as possible and then it was my turn for a hot shower. I hate to say this but our last shower was 11 days ago! By now it was so late that we decided to stay the night. The trucks didn't disturb us and we had a very quiet night.
In the morning we did our washing up, cleaned our toilet and rinsed out our hand washing. We were hoping to find a beach spot where we could hang out our washing. We drove north on Ruta 5 and just before the turn towards Tongoy on the coast we hit a toll station. It cost us 2700 pesos ($4 US). Then as we turned off there was another toll station! I asked the woman in the toll booth if we really had to pay a second time. Her answer was short and to the point - "Ticket!" It's a good job we still had it because it had a bar code. It proved we had just paid and the barriers went up to let us through without paying a second time! Now we understand the system!
Only twenty minutes later we arrived in the small village of Tongoy where we picked up bread and cake and also bought drinking water. We can't stand the chlorine anymore because our cups of tea taste so bad. Now we'll have to buy it - 6 litres for $3 US.
We drove along a sandy road for about 2 km and found a spot to park near a laguna. First job - cup of tea! Wow, what a difference proper water makes! We stayed there for two nights and it was far cooler. We were glad to be out of the searing heat. We even managed to do quite a bit of hand washing!
We drove out along the sandy road and straight into the weekly market. The fruit and veggies looked really fresh so we bought cauliflower, broccoli, corn, tomatoes, nectarines and avocados. Super! We only drove 20km further along the coast and stopped in a small side street right by the beach in Guanaqueros. We managed to find a parking spot although there were plenty of other cars vying for space.
We stayed for one night and then drove back towards La Serena. We pulled off into Coquimbo to see a plaza in the town and then drove along the beach promenade in La Serena. It was a slow crawl because there was a great deal of traffic with a lot of stops for pedestrians crossing to get to the beach.
We went back to Jumbo supermarket and this time Kirsten went inside. It took her well over an hour and she came back with German mustard (two jars!), German dill pickles plus a German cake and German bread! She was really happy. It was obviously German week there or maybe they get a lot of imported products in for a German community we don't know about. She did at least buy essentials aswell. Afterwards we returned to the side street where we had parked for the new year and stayed for two nights so Kirsten could enjoy her German week with making German potato salad!
