Chile El Norte Grande

Van and giant hand in Atacama region.

I finally made it safely into Chile, and I was very happy to leave Peru. But, the delay in Peru had been costly, both in terms of time, and money, so now, the race began, the race to get south to the Lake District, Chiloe, and Patagonia. After crossing the border, I headed to Arica, less than an hour drive down Ruta 5, the PanAmerican Sur in Chile, a road which would in a way become my home until I got all the way to Pargua, took the ferry to Chiloe, and even all the way to Quellon where I would take another ferry to Chaitan, and Patagonia. I spent a lot of time on Ruta 5, traveling basically the entire length of the most important, and traveled road in Chile. Thank heavens it is mostly a great road, often essentially a 4-lane interstate like those in the USA, posted speed limit, 100 to as high as 120 kph. It was mostly a great road, and the van and I handled it all well, though do have one complaint. The Chileans love tolls, toll booths seem to occur every 80 km or so, and, every time you exit, you pay again. For example, on the 8th of December (the day I drove past Santiago in the middle of the country), I paid four tolls (for which I kept receipts, might have been more) for a total of $11,250 pesos, or US$16.67, and I traveled less than 600 km that day, including some off Ruta 5. Look, I actually like tolls, a true "users tax", more you drive on a road, the more you pay, a fair and just tax. But come on, there is one main road in all of Chile, runs basically almost the entire lenght of the country (except for Patagonia), and they just kill you with tolls, plus they do not accept EZPass down here. 

Well, I was traveling, to Arica, and then south. Stopped at some cool places to camp, take a few photos, and San Pedro de Atacama was great (more on that later). I was mostly a road warrior, driving 500+ km per day, paying lots of tolls, peeing in a bottle in my van along the side of the road so I did not have to exit (and pay another DAMN toll, just to pee). There are an occasional service plazas, fuel, but they seem pretty infrequent at times. So, I just drove, enjoyed the scenery, and found places to camp with my iOverlander app. It took a number of days, but, eventually, made it to the Lake District, where things get very nice, and very different from the desert I had basically been driving through since leaving Lima. Below, a map of my route, and more text and pictures to follow. Traveling is fun.

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