We set off from Arica at about 8am, but the 2 hour time difference made an early start difficult. There was a lot more desert, now the Atacama, and a long straight road (The Panamericana).
The road went through spectacular scenery with enormous long straight valleys running east west from the Andes down to the sea. To cross the valleys we had to drive miles down the side of each valley to the crossing, often a dry river, and then head back up the far side of the valley to reach the plateau again. You could see rally cars miles away on the far side of the valley. It was impressive motoring.
Wendy drove part of the way and we eventually passed the Chuquicamata Mine after a long climb to nearly 10,000 feet. The road was dead straight for miles, rising continually. Alongside the road, in the desert, were power lines with the pylons stretched upwards for as far as you could see. It must be the longest dead straight uphill road we have ever driven along anywhere in the world.
The spectacular Atacama Desert road.
At one point we came up behind Chris Denham being overtaken by the film crew in their Landcruiser Amazon
Our overnight stop was in the town of Calama and we stayed at the Park Hotel, which was the HERO HQ and much better than expected.
The rooms, food and pool were all very good. We tried to ring the Hammonds but they have left Lima. Then we drove into town which was fairly seedy and went to the bank and pharmacy. At dinner in our hotel we met Christopher Wray's stepbrother who lives in Santiago and he gave us his number in case we needed any local assistance. We are preparing to go on a 3-day trip to Santiago with just Colin and the Robinsons as we are disappointed HERO are not taking us to the Chilean capital.
I spoke with David Moffatt about joining us but he wants to continue with the rally across the Andes and back into Argentina before returning to Chile near Santiago.
Distance driven today 380 miles.
