Life from Behind the Visor: 4 days 4 cities

Jan 10-13 Vicuna to Cachi via Copiapo

The lure of Dakar grabs us once again and we check out the route and schedule. Brenda figures that we can take a few days to travel to Cachi Argentina which is where the end of Stage 12 will be for the bikes and quads. This means crossing the border one more time as well as another mountain pass but first we have to get there.

The beach in La Serena

The coastal highway is really the only viable route so we make the best of the pavement that follows the coast north to Copiapo. The scenery is very different from what we are used to, the desert here is very barren, not even any cactus, just rock and sand sprinkled with scrub grass and the occasional hamlet.

Copiapo is one of Chile’s primary mining centers, founded in 1744, so this is not surprising. What is surprising is that the second largest industry in the area is agriculture, the dry climate is perfect for growing grapes, olives, tomatoes, avocados as well as some citrus fruits. This is primarily possible due to irrigation as it does not rain here, statistics show that it rains on average here only 18mm per year. This is also the city where back in 2010 a mine cave-in trapped a group of workers for 69 days, they set a record by surviving underground longer than anyone else recorded and one of the workers even made it onto David Letterman.

From Copiapo we make our way to Fiambala which is 500km over the pass and no gas services along the way. This would definitely require more fuel than we can currently carry, so we take advantage of the 10liter gas cans that the Copec gas company sells at their gas stations. This gives each of us enough fuel to make the distance but the added weight will add extra stress to our luggage racks. After we load these up we are starting to look like the 1200Gs riders we see with all the stuff strapped onto their bikes.

The Chilean side of the pass is hardtop gravel that leads to a copper and gold mine, after that it is a good gravel road that slowly gets rougher and softer as it approached the border. Less traffic usually means less attention spent on maintenance in any country and Chile is no different.

A small oasis thanks to some creative water capturing by a local farmer.

By the time we reach the border the road is quite rough as it switchbacks down to a salt flat and the border control station. We are the only people there so the process is very fast and while we are stopped we top up the bikes with fuel, at this point we have done almost 200km so most of the 10liter jerry can is used up. From the border station it is back up and up to the actual border line and the elevation of 4747m and then down the other side. The Chile side is under construction as they try to keep up with Argentina who have paved their side of the crossing. Somewhere in the road construction Brenda lost sight of me and ended up taking a turn off into a gravel pit. The soft deep gravel was a bit tricky for her to turn around in and she ended up tipping over. Not to worry though, there were a few gravel truck drivers on hand to help her upright the bike and get on her way.

By the time I turned around and backtracked to find her she had already been rescued, sometimes the bike-to-bike intercoms don’t work as well as required. Anyway, after a quick snack at the border-line we head off in search of the Argentina border control station. We pass another one of these little refuse cabins along the road, the first one we seen was at the border sign and they seem to be spaced out along the highway for people in need.

Once we reach the Argentine border it is no surprise that we are the only people there as we did not see any cars since the other border control. In any event there is a fine collection of motorcycle related stickers on the windows and we see a couple that we recognize. The officer said that the Dakar had passed through this station, the support vehicles and such, not the racers and with that came a bunch of new stickers.

This donkey dreams of being a mountain goat.

The long downhill slope is scenic in it’s own way, lots of volcanic rock and little greenery. We do however get great gas mileage as the bike sputters to a stop after 308km, only 12km short of our destination. Another roadside fuelling and we proceed on into Fiambala for a quiet evening walking around town and eating supper on a sidewalk table in front of a nice little restaurant. The desert weather is very nice in the evening and a cool breeze makes the 24C weather rather pleasant.

The next morning we enjoy the typical breakfast of bread and coffee then we off to Santa Maria and what should be an interesting cut across through the mountains on a “local” road. This section of highway has evolved from days past when the main road went through the center of town. Now the road is paved but not much wider than the dirt track that it replaced. The adobe brick houses and creative fences line the road.

We are greeted at the entrance to the “local” road with a road closed sign. This time it seemed as if it were true as there were very few tracks on the road aside from the garbage trucks, a quick discussion and the decision is made to take the longer route around the bottom of the jagged mountains then pick up the road at the intersection on the other side where it intersects Rte #40. Although less exciting we do make good time which allows for a little maintenance on Brenda’s bike as once again the skid plate bolt has broken off. The friendly guy at the gas station helps me find a hose clamp in the storage room and this works a temporary fix.

Santa Maria is also just an overnight stop but we manage to find a clean Hosteria right on the central square. Once settled we find a restaurant and no matter how small the dining room the Argentine beef is plentiful and done to perfection. I don’t think I will get tired of 10oz steaks that are 1.5” thick and that you can almost cut with a fork. Simply delicious and served with a fresh garden salad. $7 well spent.

The final push to Cachi would be far more interesting than we could have predicted. First the scenery and landscape was out of this world and photography just does not replace what the eye can see. In any event we take a ton of pictures and sometimes just stop to have a good look. The dirt road does demand our attention so we have to be careful not to get caught being wonderstruck by the scenery.

We pass through a geological attraction where the plates have shifted and are pointing straight up resembling the backbone of dinosaur that is half barried in the sand. The scale of it is just beyond imagination.

Cafayate is a popular tourist spot due to the location in the middle of some well established vineyards dating back to 1835. There are also olive plantations as these two things seem to go hand in hand.

Cafayate is jam packed with everyone who plans their holidays based on the Lonely Planet books, this is evident by all the handicrafts for sale and the never ending choice of Hostals to stay at. A while later we stop to add some fuel in what appears to be a safe spot, of course once we stop three trucks go by and we are almost immediately approached by a few young boys touting a water bottle.

We kindly refuse the water but the boys are curious and ask a few questions about where we are from and such. They walk away after we give them some Canada stickers and we wonder if they have even heard of Canada. To our surprise they return to get some pictures with their iPhone, one of the boys says what sounded like Ottawa, we ask him to repeat and he says “Ottawa capital”, wow he has heard of Canada. Then just when we thought we had seen it all we meet an antique Ford car being driven down Rte 40 from Bolivia to Ushuaia.

After a quick roadside chat and a few photos it is time to get going and get out of the sun, it must be 35C today and full bike gear does not make it more comfortable. Brenda has a different idea as she picked up another nail and has a flat tire. I push the bikes into the only shade available and get to work on fixing the tire. I could not find any nail in the tire but figure it may have fallen out or it was just a pure puncture and the tire never did pick up the nail. In any event the tire needs to come off and the tube pulled to find the leak. It appears that the only hole in the tube is the one I patched back at the thermals by Pucon and the patch has let go. That spare tube I have been packing around comes in handy as it is much easier to replace the tube than it is to patch it, that is until I try to stuff the heavy duty tube in to the tire. Damn that is a tight fit but after 45 minutes of fighting with it the tire is repaired and we are able to make the last 15km into Cachi.