On our way out of San Pedro de Atacama we stopped to check out a couple of beautiful mountain lakes. Lagunas Miscanti was spectacular with its rich colour and impressive setting surrounded by volcanoes. On an administrative note, if you ever go there make sure to get your tickets in the town of Socaire on the way up. We have noticed that Chile is not always great with signs and directions. If you miss the little dusty sign in town you will have to drive the 40 minutes back to town to get the tickets before driving another 40 minutes to return to the lakes. This did not happen to us but the comments section in Google had several stories from people whom had experienced this.And the smaller Lagunas Miñiques was a lovely setting to just sit and soak in the serenity.
We chose to camp one more night in Chile before getting to the Argentina border at Jama. I am so grad we did. First, because it made the next days driving a bit shorter, but primarily because the sunset we experienced was simply amazing.
It is hard to beat the kitchen views in the Andes.After our dinner we enjoyed a glass of wine waiting for the sun to set.When the colour started, it was over the top. Whatever direction I pointed the camera the sights were intense. I was like a kid in a candy shop.
The next morning we headed for the border. Then, came our biggest disappointment, we were not allowed to leave Chile. We were warned that this might happen, but we went with a positive attitude, and sometimes that simply isn’t enough. The vehicle we were driving was brand new and recent changes in Chilean regulations about registration to take rental vehicles out of the country had recently come into effect. What it came down to was the papers and letters we had were not enough to allow us to take the vehicle out of Chile. Salt in the wound was that we received the proper forms by email less than 30 minutes after we departed the border crossing heading back into Chile. It was just a matter of getting caught up in a bureaucratic cluster. We made the decision to cut our losses and head south in Chile as opposed to Argentina. Flexibility is the key to enjoying our lifestyle and now was a time to exercise it.
We started heading south through now familiar territory.We pushed hard that disappointing day and drove over 630km to get back to the coast.The thing with Chile is it is an incredibly narrow country with very limited options when it comes to north/south route choices. So as much as I enjoy the steep hills and endless curves, our main goal was to get to a part of the country we had not seen yet. This resulted in us backtracking over 100’s of kilometres of roads we had already driven.That is not to say we didn’t continue to see some pretty cool sights. These handsome devils were part of a herd of about 20 wild llamas that we stopped to watch trotting by us.That first day heading back we stopped in Antofagasta and treated ourselves to a hotel room for the night. From then on it was all camping until the end of the road trip. We managed to find some lovely sites.After another thousand kilometres driving south we found that with our tent the time for wild camping had come to an end and we started staying in campgrounds. This campground in Puchamilla was by far the nicest one we found. However, I have to say that the people running every campground we used were incredibly pleasant and helpful.We booked in to do a tour in a smaller winery near Puchamilla. It was wonderful to be the only two guests and have one of the owners give us the tour.We started the tour picking some cherries from the vine to have with our fruit plate. They were incredible.A great time with a lovely lady. Learned a ton and had some great wine.We camped by a small lake and were treated by the local waterfowl to some great photographic opportunities.This Red-gartered Coot feeding its baby was great to watch.Karen knows the best way to photograph birds, so she brought the supplies.When the swans tried to come in and bully the smaller birds it was nice to see the mama protect her baby.The morning fog made for a serene scene with swans in the distance.Our final campsite was in a very basic campground with the kindest hosts you could hope for. They brought out a bottle of wine and shared a glass with us before leaving the rest for us to drink as we set up camp.This site also came with the friendliest watch dog. In the morning she was right there keeping an eye on things.
Our 3 weeks of driving around Chile was everything we could hope for. Though we were disappointed in the fiasco at the Argentina border it allowed us to visit some places south of Santiago that we never would have gotten to.
Now it is off to Rapa Nui, or Easter Island as I knew it before being educated.
