Hi, there!
It's me, Kirsten, writing the next few reports. Sadly Helen's dad passed away on January 13th and so we immediately booked some flights, so Helen can be with her family in England right now. She will be back on February 15th and I will be waiting for her until then. Since I have nothing but time on my hands, I decided to write the next two reports. That'll also give Helen some time to relax when she gets back.
So here we go:
We left El Salvador around lunch time, filled the gas tank, emptied the toilet and then drove west towards the Pacific coast. Chile is a very narrow country - the widest spot is only about 370km (230 miles) as the crow flies. You could actually easily drive from the coast at sea level to the highest mountain pass (4,800m) in the Andes and back in one day. This makes travelling in Chile very interesting and you never get bored.
We stopped along the way in Diego de Almagro - a small, and very dusty mining town - and found a very good internet connection. I managed to do a web update and also checked our emails. One of them was from ESO (European Southern Observatory). A few days ago we had applied online for a free tour of the Paranal Observatory on Saturday, January 21st to see the Very Large Telescope - the World’s Most Advanced Visible-light Astronomical Observatory. We got a positive reply and gave each other a high-five. Wow! Had we known, that the roads up to and down from the Paso San Francisco are in such a good driving condition, we could have done the tour on the 14th. There are two tours each Saturday, either in English or Spanish. It was only the 12th of January, so we had 9 days to do something else.
Just before Chañaral we turned north onto the Panamerican Highway. It's a smooth ride through the desert. Way in the distance before us we saw another motor home cruising along. The closer we got the more we thought it could be a Winnebago. We finally caught up and indeed ... it was a Winnebago with a Toyota 6-cylinder engine and Chilean plates. Wow! A Winnie in Chile! Who would have thought that? Winnietwo meets Winnie! Of course we would never use our Winnie with its 4-cylinder engine down here. We wouldn't be able to drive over the high passes in the Andes!
A Toyota Winnebago on the Panamerican Highway!
Our destination for the day was Caleta Cifuncho - a small and beautiful beach just south of Taltal. People were raving about the tranquility and cleanliness of the beach on iOverlander. We got there at 6.15pm and indeed the beach is truly a little paradise on the Pacific coast of Chile. We parked at the north end of the beach. The small fishing village of Cifuncho is only about 1,5km (a mile) away at the southern end of the beach. There were just a few other campers here, all of them Chileans staying in tents. A very peaceful setting!
We made a cup of tea and I enjoyed mine outside in my new beach stool! The sun was shining, the ocean had a crystal blue colour, the waves were rolling softly onto the beach and there was a lot of bird life around us. Life was hard again!
All we could hear was the sound of the waves and the cries of the birds. They got my attention and I grabbed the camera to take some photos. Vultures were sitting on the highest point on the beach - the toilet house. When I got closer I knew why the vultures sat there - the toilet was very smelly and disgustingly dirty. Otherwise the beach is super clean, there are lots of garbage bins along the beach front. We spent three relaxing days here and I was in heaven watching all the birds diving for food. I took thousands of photos! And deleted most of them afterwards, but the remaining ones are spectacular, if I may say so myself! ;-)
Bird Watching am Playa Cifuncho
After three days our toilet was full and since we couldn't empty it into the beach toilets, we drove north to the small town of Taltal. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and the shops were all closed in the afternoon. We couldn't find a free WiFi connection either and so we left the town late in the afternoon and drove to a beach only 2km north of Taltal. The city of Taltal improved this beachfront last year with lots of parking spaces, toilets and showers, a huge playground, picnic tables etc. It was really busy on the Sunday but during the week it was quiet and peaceful, so we stayed for three nights.
