The surprise, to wake up to the sound of rain on the
cabaņa roof, was not so great this time. In Europe, we're well used to
days-on-end of rain. The advantage of a plan, prepared in great detail during
the previous nine months, is that you can ignore it on arrival, or, when
conditions or events indicate, that you can shuffle dates and places around to
suit.
We did some sight seeing in Taltal and noticed the
progress that had been made at pace, with new schools, housing and roads and
major road improvements to Av. Arturo Pratt in progress. The town is also proud
of its ancestry, with it's museum and tribute to the railway system (Plaza del
Tren) and recognises the need to entertain the population and tourists alike by
having created a mini golf course and outdoor sport facilities near by and is
even in the process of creating a small botanic garden (S246)
to display the wealth of cacti that occur between Paposo and Cifuncho.
But the weather showed little sign of improving, and so we
decided to head north, reaching Ruta 5 in low cloud, with puddles of water on
the road and the windscreen wipers going. Soon however, the sky brightened
slightly and the fog turned to steam coming off the tarmac. We made good
progress and stopped off for a bite to eat in one of the many truck stops
along Ruta 5.
We pushed on, reaching the impressive, but graffiti
covered Mano del Desierto, (S247)
a massive sculpture of a hand rising out of the desert, some 70 km south of
Antofagasta. No plants here, but my stop numbers are designed to help me to
retrieve digital images, they are not Field Collection Reference numbers.
The only other stop of the day (S248)
was an un-manned railway crossing on Ruta 5, just south of Baquedano. Throughout
Chile, motor drivers slow down religiously, as signs warn of a railway crossing
further down the road. Signs warn road users to stop (and presumably look and
listen) for any approaching train that - by virtue of its size - has (takes)
priority. At many of these crossings, no train has passed for years, the rails
having been removed a long time ago. And yet, cars, busses and lorries slow
down, almost as a tribute to the past days of steam. In 2001 I had been told of
police traps at these crossings, with drivers fined significant sums for not
stopping at locations where the line was no longer in use. I do not know how
true the stories are - I never saw any evidence of police near these crossings.
Yet it is curious to have unmanned railway crossings (here with the line in
use!) on the Pan Americana, mile for mile the busiest road in the country. The
pictures taken illustrate why it is good to stop where the signs suggest.
That night we reached Calama and found comfortable
accommodation at Hotel El Mirador, where we enjoyed a few
glasses of Chilean wine with some fellow tourists from Alaska, whose main
interest was the Chilean wine offerings, but who had just been to our next
target, San Pedro de Atacama, for a no-vineyard break.
