After an awfull night with then and when lots of dogs yelling I stood up with one thing in mind: leaving as fast as possible So I went with all the stuff through their house, paid and left. At the transamericana, I took breakfast (two fine empenadas and big cup of tea. After the night, I wasn’t sure about the cleaness of the region so my stomach could certainly widthstand the fried "bags of cheese" and the tea is only boiled water…
Then I checked my sms as La Higuera is not "Entel-friendly" (one of the three cellphone companies) so I had no coverage. Oscar, the guy who was interested to buy the extrawheel (no probs here as 99% are 26 inch bikes) had called me. We made a meeting point 30km north in Puenta Colorada. Later I learnt that there is a new road being built to join "El Nevado" in the east where much gold is beeing found. Gold that need to be exported by ship. The restaurant keeper here near La Silla says it will be the biggest Gold mine. Don’t take it to exact…Chilenes like others tends to add here and there.
The road wnet nicely down and I could get my first impression of the new trailer Bob Ibex: much stabil and when packing most important setting the suspension strong enough, even better. Unfortunately, not as perfect as on the tandem, but that comes from the bike suspension which allows some side movements. After lunch, Oscar joined just as a was doing la Siesta in the shadow of a three. So finally I could take off the extra kilo I was carrying since La Serena as he didn’t have the money in cash. What a great news.
With wind from side and back (the wind mainly blows from the oceanand gets strong until the evening, therefore planning helps a lot) I went in the Vallenar where the road started to climb more and more to have a new pass at 1300 meter. The road went slowly down and then appeared the observatories of La Silla and Las Campanas. The guy from the restaurant at the highway said it would not be worth going up as visits are only on saturdays and the entry to the site is forbidden. So I decided to enjoy my ice cream and water.
As it was already past seven, I started to look for a place to stay…after yesterday: Camping of course! And 20 minutes later, the tent was up, even the wind was quite strong. Next step was to cook diner, where the wind do sometimes blow out the stove/flames. After 25 minutes, the cheese risotto with herbes was cooked…fine! Ok, nothing easier to open the bag, add some water and oil and wait….;-)
And now I am in the tent, with nice heat from the sand and waiting for some pictures of that beautiful sky… Nice, even the moon is bride!
Good night everyone…
The numbers:
70km
Pos Meter: 750m
kCal: 4200
Min temp.: 15C
Max temp.: 32C
Min Humidity: 23 % (night)
Max Humidity: 77 (in the bag)