Day 18 (Wednesday 30 November 2016)
Atacama to Iquique 490 kms
With reluctance we left the beautiful Tierra de Atacama hotel and travelled through the Valle de La Luna.
The hotel is only 8 years old and the two Chilean architects climbed up the imposing volcano to perfect the position and orientation in the landscape.
On the site was a 150 year old sheep and cattle staging pen used for livestock crossing the Andes from Argentina and heading for Chilean ports.
This holding pen was left as it was and the hotel incorporated behind. From the road you would never know the hotel was behind the adobe brick walls.
We drove through the Valle de La Luna, sandstone peaks, barren ground with no vegetation whatsoever, huge wind turbines and solar panels.
Through the towns of Tucopilla and Chuquicamata it was a bleak landscape with four or five rows of electricity poles beside the long and straight road. The first Regularity was at Sin Nombre, again a very gravelly, rocky road at 70kph. We reached the sea at Tocopilla.
Mountains rose up from the sea and the clouds formed a layer before the peaks. No wonder the region is so dry and barren, the clouds cannot get over the mountains.
The second Regularity was on a gravel, rocky road at 45kph. There was a sheer drop to the sea as the road wound around so there was an incentive to stay on the road.
Five hundred metres into the Regularity, the Halda stopped working so we had no timing device.
We then followed the coast for 60kms, along which appeared to be basic holiday shacks but no people. Perhaps it wouldn't look so bleak if there were crowds about during holiday season.
At the lunch stop at El Loa we discovered that we had broken springs, this time on the rear driver's side. We left early to get to the hotel to see what could be done with the springs.
Once at the hotel we found three broken spring leaves so out it came with Paul K's help and with Andy's assistance cobbled together a spring with a new part and moving the broken pieces.
With Paul C's help we got it back in and found that it was now too high for the U bolts so out it came again. Time for a meltdown and we also needed to do some rethreading of the bolts.
It was now getting on towards 9pm. Suddenly we had a whirlwind around us, Paul & Vincent (Bentley), Richard & Sinead (Bentley) and Hester and Leon (Bentley).Screws, nuts, bolts, jacks were going every which way. By 11pm when exhaustion was setting in, we had it back together. Sinead had organised our late dinners so a quick drink and we were in bed by midnight. We would never have done it in this time without the assistance of the above people. What a day!
Atacama to Iquique 490 kms
With reluctance we left the beautiful Tierra de Atacama hotel and travelled through the Valle de La Luna.
The hotel is only 8 years old and the two Chilean architects climbed up the imposing volcano to perfect the position and orientation in the landscape.
On the site was a 150 year old sheep and cattle staging pen used for livestock crossing the Andes from Argentina and heading for Chilean ports.
This holding pen was left as it was and the hotel incorporated behind. From the road you would never know the hotel was behind the adobe brick walls.
We drove through the Valle de La Luna, sandstone peaks, barren ground with no vegetation whatsoever, huge wind turbines and solar panels.
Through the towns of Tucopilla and Chuquicamata it was a bleak landscape with four or five rows of electricity poles beside the long and straight road. The first Regularity was at Sin Nombre, again a very gravelly, rocky road at 70kph. We reached the sea at Tocopilla.
Mountains rose up from the sea and the clouds formed a layer before the peaks. No wonder the region is so dry and barren, the clouds cannot get over the mountains.
The second Regularity was on a gravel, rocky road at 45kph. There was a sheer drop to the sea as the road wound around so there was an incentive to stay on the road.
Five hundred metres into the Regularity, the Halda stopped working so we had no timing device.
We then followed the coast for 60kms, along which appeared to be basic holiday shacks but no people. Perhaps it wouldn't look so bleak if there were crowds about during holiday season.
At the lunch stop at El Loa we discovered that we had broken springs, this time on the rear driver's side. We left early to get to the hotel to see what could be done with the springs.
Once at the hotel we found three broken spring leaves so out it came with Paul K's help and with Andy's assistance cobbled together a spring with a new part and moving the broken pieces.
With Paul C's help we got it back in and found that it was now too high for the U bolts so out it came again. Time for a meltdown and we also needed to do some rethreading of the bolts.
It was now getting on towards 9pm. Suddenly we had a whirlwind around us, Paul & Vincent (Bentley), Richard & Sinead (Bentley) and Hester and Leon (Bentley).Screws, nuts, bolts, jacks were going every which way. By 11pm when exhaustion was setting in, we had it back together. Sinead had organised our late dinners so a quick drink and we were in bed by midnight. We would never have done it in this time without the assistance of the above people. What a day!
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