Valparaiso to Monte Patria : A highway costing us 2400 pesos every 100 kms or so, the chileans coming back from vacation, heat, a scenery which looks like the South of the United States, a little bit like Arizona, we are in ''Le Nord''. Y que Calor ! The temperature is over 30 degrees celsius now. When leaving Valparaiso, we drove through Vina del Mar, a splendid balnear city on the shore of the splendid blue ocean and without a plastic bag on the streets ! In short, it's very pretty with an air of Nice in France. The coast after Vina del Mar is as interesting and magnificent. We leave afterwards the highway to head to Ovalle first, then Monte Patria. We end up in a small camping where again we are the only campers. It's the cheapest we have ever paid, 2000 pesos in total for both of us. Not expensive, but this is all it is worth ! That day, we finally try the Motte con Huesillo (or mote, not sure of the spelling... the Chileans don't seem to ever write it the same way)
It tastes like a plum juice with a couple of plums in it and some oat ! Some love it. Alain and I won't have it again.
We are always surprised by the abundance of fruits, melons and watermelons :
No neighbours, therefore a quiet night, for a change ! We head up to Vicuna, in the Elqui Valley and in the hospidaje where we end up camping we meet Michel and Lisette, a couple from Quebec who are touring Chile, Peru and Bolivia for four months.
Vicuna is a quiet little town and we book our visit for the following day to Observatario Comunal Cerro Mamalluca. Before heading to our celestian visit at night, we decide to visit Pisco Elqui, a nice small village where we will visit the Disteleria Mistral, in Spanish... We end up tasting the famous Pisco (40%). Some Chileans don't hesitate to compare it to Cognac... they are optimists . We drink a Pisco Sour, Pisco with lemon and sugar ! Really refreshing !
And it's time for our visit at the observatory ! This region of Chile has about 350 days of blue sky and no light pollution. The largest telescope in the world called VLT (Very Large Telescope, how original) is located 120 kilometers south to Antofagasta and is composed of 4 large mirors over 4 meters each. There is another one being built close to La Serena which will be operational in seven years whose mirror will be 42 meters wide, mind buggling !
Two hours of a crash course in Astronomy and although the size of the telescope was not what we expected, being able to see Jupiter and its stripes, its rings as well as other stars was a fantastic experience. And the cherry on the Sundae is the following picture of the moon taken with our own little camera !
and by the way, for the ones who are wondering about December 21, 2012, according to the astronomers, there is nothing special happening in the sky that day!
Time is flying by and we still have to head North ! therefore, we head out again and end up in Caldera that day. The pension, Residencial Millaray, we find has been recommended by both the Guide du Routard and Lonely Planet. They both need a serious update on the comment on this pension and you can be sure I will be the one to send these guides my opinion on it. It's filthy and not worth stopping by!
On our way north, we meet Michel and Lisette again and have a coffee together, before splitting up as our roads are different from now on.
The Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar is on the Pacific Coast in the middle of a desert. We walk on the beach in the afternoon to discover our environment, walk to the next village of fishermen and we end up the day by walking up the Sendero del Mirador, with a magnific view on the cliffs and the sea.
The camping is quiet !
Time to pack already and we start the trip towards Antofagasta. The 2 way road of 400 kilometers is incredible and even if the road is too straight, it is worth driving it to feel the desert and its contrasts. Sometimes, it is sand and cacti, then just sand, afterwards just some rocks and the hills with their different colors. 70 kilometers before Antofagasta, a hand seems to be waving at us, the one that we saw with envy on the blogs of our motorcycles friends, namely Victor, who rode down to Ushuaia. It's called the Mano del Desierto, a towering granite hand and it fits perfectly in the desert. It was built in 1992 by sculptor Mario Irarrazaval.
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