Leaving Oruro on the morning we were to cross the border was quite stressful. We had a 3-hour ride ahead of us and a near-empty gas tank. I ranted about getting gas as a foreigner in Bolivia in my last post and this morning was the prime example of why. We were sent away from every single gas station in the city because they did not have the system to process the transaction for foreigners. We finally encountered an attendant who took pity on us and helped us out. He had initially turned us away too, but we expressed how desperate our situation was so he told us to pretend like we were leaving, circle around, and park at a pump that was out of the surveillance camera’s view. We were too relived to even think to be happy at getting the local rate for gas.
We reached the border and crossed without incident before we were on our merry way. Details on the procedure are on our Border Crossings page for interested parties.
The Bolivia/Chile border crossing
One mistake we made was not filling up before crossing as there were no gas stations near the border on the Chilean side (closest station was around 200 kilometers away) and we were stopping close to the border for the night, in the tiny town of Cariquima. Fortunately for us, the owner of the hotel we stayed at had gas and sold us some to save us from our plight (at a much higher cost than gas stations, of course).
With our gas misadventures behind us (*cue silly jokes*), we proceeded to Iquique on the following day. Iquique is a lovely coastal city with a large sand dune called the Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill). The city was founded in the 16th century and remained part of Peruvian territory until the 19th century when outcome of the War of the Pacific handed it over to Chile. In the 1910s and 1920s, British mining companies recruited miners from India and Pakistan to work in Iquique’s saltpeter mines so, unsurprisingly, this city is where we saw more Indian people than anywhere else in Latin America. We even met a Chilean who spoke Hindi! Too bad we didn’t stay long enough to get some garlic naan.
Our next stop was the city of Calama, which is around 1.5 hours from the Atacama Desert. We started the following day with a visit to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. The town itself was nothing remarkable as it is just a small town with a lot of tourists; however, it is the aggressive stray dogs that you need to watch out for. As we entered the town, we were quickly surrounded by a pack of dogs. This is nothing new as dogs seem to not like the sound of the bike and always bark when we ride past, but we had never been attacked until now. One of the dogs got Phil’s ankle. Luckily, we were in our riding gear, but the bite still managed to leave a small bruise on his leg through the riding pants, boots, and the jeans he wore beneath the riding pants.
After the unpleasant encounter, we walked around the town, had lunch, and proceeded towards what we came here for – the desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest place in the world after the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The size of the desert is over 100,000 km2 and since we didn’t have days to explore, we concentrated on the Valle del Arcoiris (Valley of Rainbows) for the coloured rocks and it did not disappoint. Aside from the gorgeous landscapes and colours, a big plus was that there weren’t many people while we were there so we had the place to ourselves most of the time.
We had a series of one-night stops on the way down after Calama. First was Antofagasta where the main attraction is the Mano del Desierto (Hand of the Desert) sculpture that is located about 60 kilometers to the south of the city. The sculpture was constructed by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal and it symbolizes human vulnerability and helplessness. We stopped by the sculpture on our way to Chañaral on the following day. Unfortunately for us, we were beaten by an inconsiderate couple who decided to plant their van right next to the sculpture and take selfies until the end of time. We waited for a good 10 minutes for them to finish up, but when they didn’t budge, we parked the bike in front of the hand, took a few pictures as best as we could without them or their van, and were on our way. We just had to remind ourselves that stupid people exist everywhere and we shouldn’t let them stop us from enjoying things.
Our favourite rider posin’ with the hand
After what seemed like endless days of riding through the desert, we finally came upon some greenery as we approached La Serena. The city is Chile’s second-oldest after Santiago and is a popular beach destination that’s hot on the backpacker tourist trail. While we didn’t indulge in beach activities, we did enjoy the colonial facades and the amenities that come with touristy cities, such as some good Thai food.
We knew we wanted to visit Valparaiso from the moment we entered Chile as it was the most recommended city to visit in the country on every blog and book that we looked at. However, for our accommodation, we decided to book in the nearby Viña del Mar as it was only a 15-minute ride away and had better options. We were surprised at how nice the city is because no one talks about it. It has a terrific laid-back vibe with a lovely beach and, as a bonus, it seems to have more locals than tourists. Needless to say, we were very happy with our choice of staying here, especially after visiting Valparaiso.
This is not to say that we didn’t like Valparaiso. Often touted as “The Jewel of the Pacific,” there is a reason why tourists flock to this city and that reason is COLOUR. Countless colourful buildings and murals greet you at every turn throughout the old quarter of the city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Valparaiso has the typical busy and bustling atmosphere of big Latin American cities and it is the liveliest one we visited in Chile. Some thrive in such an environment, but for us, we enjoyed visiting it during the day and returning to the more tranquil Viña del Mar for the evening.
Next up on our itinerary was Santiago, Chile’s largest, oldest, and capital city. Founded in 1541, Santiago has been the capital of Chile since colonial times and is home to numerous historic buildings, monuments, and universities. What really surprised us about Santiago is that despite its population of around 6.5 million, it feels like a small city because of how laid-back and peaceful it is; it feels more like a Canadian city than a Latin American one. Comparatively, La Paz, Bolivia with its population of 2.3 million is so chaotic that it feels like it is on a different planet instead of the neighbouring country.
We were staying in Santiago for a week and started off right with a wine tour. We are big fans of Chilean wine and specifically those from Concha y Toro so, naturally, we had to visit their vineyards. We enjoyed some great wines and delicious cheeses, and cried happy tears on the inside when we visited their wine store. It turns out that everything in Chile is expensive except for good wine and cheese. Go figure.
Other than the wine tour, most of our week in Santiago was low-key. Staying at an Airbnb where you can prepare your own meals is one way we saved money in the city. We did take out a day to visit the center and another to check out some fine art at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago (Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art) and street art in the Bellavista neighbourhood. At the museum, the exhibition that stood out most to us was a collection of anti-fascist propaganda posters. It is easy to forget that Chile was under fascist rule and these posters serve as a grim reminder.
Our initial plan was to make Santiago our last stop in Chile and then cross into Argentina. However, every Chilean we spoke to told us that we would be missing the best part of the country if we didn’t go south. Since we had to get some work done on the bike (damaged fork seal) and none of the places we looked at in Santiago had the part, we decided to go south since the dealer in Concepción confirmed that they had the part. The south is indeed very pretty with a lot of lush greenery, but if we didn’t need to get the bike fixed, we would have been disappointed because the towns and cities are nothing to write about. Nature is nice, but not what we would have taken on the extra cost of staying in Chile for (close to 1,000 CAD for the additional week).
Sunset in Concepción
Our last stop in Chile was in Osorno – an unremarkable city where we had the most awful-tasting sushi imaginable. Why, oh why would anyone think that dousing sushi with cream cheese is a good idea?! Leave the cream cheese to the bagel, ya dig?
Overall, Chile was not a country that blew us away. Perhaps this is due to us being on the road for as long as we have been and seeing all the places and things we have seen, but we left Chile underwhelmed. However, this is not to say that it isn’t a lovely country or that we didn’t enjoy our time there. Chile is the only country in South America that is classified as a “developed” country so the culture seems to have more in common with Canada and USA than with, say Peru and Bolivia. We appreciated being in a country where mindfulness of others exists – no loud music in the early hours of the morning, drivers don’t try to kill you, and no endless piles of garbage everywhere. After spending two months in Peru and Bolivia, Chile was a much-needed break.
