13th March, over a month since we arrived in Chile for Part II of our trip and we are finally heading north!! We leave our hotel near Santiago airport after a few days’ rest, a major repack after our trip South and Easter Island and a skype call to my niece for her birthday. It feels good to finally be following El Norte signs. We repeated our preparation of several envelopes with exact change for the numerous toll booths – on our way south, they occurred every 50kms, and were 700 pesos each and because stopping, finding neutral, taking gloves off, finding change can take a while at toll booths, Anthony had come up with this great idea of pre-paring several little envelopes. I prepared 6 more, some with the exact change, some with 2 notes. Good planning hey?! Ha!! Not quite because the distance between booths going north is completely different and every single booth asks for a different amount!! Oh well, at least I know how much is in each envelope.

We want to get some distance under our belt before exploring more of Chile, so we take the Ruta 5 north. It is a beautiful 2 lane each way highway. It is an easy ride but quickly becomes tiring as it doesn’t require as much concentration as dirt roads. The scenery becomes very dry and barren very quickly. After the wine growing area and we cut into another valley, a fruit growing valley by the fruit trees we see and the number of fresh juice stalls along the road. The air smells sweet – it smells of pineapple. Then we ride through sparse grazing land, with rocky and scrubby hills in the distance. We hug the coast for a while, it is wild, the waves rolling and crashing spectacularly. It is tempting to stop but we have set ourselves La Serena as a target for today which will make us feel like we are finally progressing north, then Vicuña east of there the next day.

We are finally heading north of Santiago on Ruta 5

Then we ride through numerous wind farms, in the middle of nowhere. They are obviously owned by different power generation companies based on the advertising flags along the perimeters. Yes, wind farms does mean it is windy but nowhere as much as I had expected from what I had read. Maybe, as Anthony once said, it is because we “grew up” (our first bike riding experience) in Cape Town which is incredibly windy. Or we were very lucky…

All along the way, we ride past numerous tiny roadside cafés and restaurants, with Coca Cola or other suppliers’ advertising flags. Unlike the new wind generation farm flags, these are in tatters, sometimes you only see the first 2 white letters on red background, having been pounded by the relentless gusts for too long.

While riding, I find myself wondering how much I want to get more experience on dirt roads, as seeing Anthony coming off has brought back my fears of seeing him getting hurt – feelings and flashbacks reminiscent of my PTSD after his Dec 2012 accident rearing their ugly head – that took so long for me to get over… For the first 3 months on the road, I was terrified watching Anthony coming so close to grief, especially in Russia and Iran, yet he remained so calm and sure of himself (his anti-depressants at the time masking most emotions), I eventually relaxed myself too and started enjoying the challenges along the way and loving the way he rode.

We meet 2 Argentinian bikers now living in Santiago at a petrol stop. As you do when you meet fellow bikers, we discuss our route options to Vicuña – they thought the route was tarred all the way but we show them our detailed map which showed otherwise. They are going via Ovalle first instead of La Serena which we were going to do. It looks like a good idea so, quick change of plan, and we decide to aim for Ovalle too. As we ride off, Anthony and I both opt for the easier but longer option to Ovalle. His ankle is quite painful today and the thought of any type of riding challenge is totally unappealling.

The winding road is easy, through many more wind farms so yes it is a little gusty at times. The scenery has changed again, we see many cacti (pad thai’s Anthony thought I said!).

On the way to Ovalle

After an interesting chat with the 2 Argentinian bikers near the pool that turns out to be too cold for a swim, we have a dinner of delicious ceviche with a pisco sour. When the bill arrives we tell them it is wrong as it is missing the drinks – no, that was a welcome drink!! Wow, nice surprise! The hotel has an interesting garden, full of interesting plants, birds, rabbits and a llama. To finish off, we are treated to the most stunning sunset.

In the morning, we discuss route options to Vicuna with the 2 Argentinians – the state of road depends on who you talk to, as is often the case, from all tar from the receptionist to 50kms of bad ripio by one of the many bikers staying at our hotel. Neither Anthony or I can be bothered with 50kms of bad ripio today, not as a choice. Somehow, the thought of one of us coming off and Anthony struggling with his ankle churns my stomach. We opt for easy road.

It is only about 130kms but by 110kms, we are both tired. Often the shorter rides feel like they’re much longer. We finally reach the pisco growing area. Not far now.

We are on the Ruta de les Estrelles, where many astronomical observatories are located

Wine growing valley of Elqui region

I looked for brushes to give Streak and Storm a good clean. The Supermarcado and all the stores in town remind me of the stores in the UK when I was a little girl visiting my grandparents: they have a long counter with goods behind on shelves or in locked glass cabinets around the store and someone serves you. I find the word for brush – I obviously don’t speak Spanish so the guy mimics brushing teeth, no, I lift my foot up and mimic brushing shoes. Too easy!!

Shopping done, I stroll through town. All the bars are buzzing with shouts, gasps, cheering – I walk into a couple: they are watching a soccer match on the TV or big screen. I get to the tourist office as she is closing – yes, I am too late. On to the cathedral. Before walking in, I take my hat and sunglasses off. After admiring it, and taking a photo, I walk out, having noticed a donation box with a notice to tourists and ignoring it. I have a slight pang of guilt but continue on my walk. Stop at a green grocer advertising 4kgs of tomatoes for 1000CLP ($2), walk into see what they’re selling and discover a most amazing mural around the store. We must come back here before we leave Vicuña and buy some fresh fruit (“eat more fruit” we kept being told in Iran still rings in my head). I am now 100 metres from our B&B, look into my bag to put my hat back on and discover it is missing. I know exactly where it is: I must have dropped it when I took the photo inside the cathedral. I return, make a donation and chuckle at myself for having been so stingy and being taught a lesson!!!

Iglesia Inmaculada Conception in Vicuña

Inside the Iglesia Inmaculada Conception in Vicuña

Amazing mural inside Vicuña greengrocer

The reason for coming to Vicuña was to visit one of the several astromical observatories and a pisco distillery. The Elqui valley where we are has 300 days of clear skies a year and is renowned for having the clearest skies in the world. Because we often change our plans and timings, we hadn’t booked anything yet and we are too late for a tour tonight. Mitzy tried to call several times on our behalf but kept getting an answering machine. I decide to try and book online and follow up with an email.

We have a lovely evening at a restaurant nearby – we share a plate of 6 bruchettas with veggies. Delicious. When we return to the darken B&B, open the front door with a massive old key, it reminds us of “a night at the museum” movie, for this place is also a museum. The house has belonged to Mitzi’s family since 1880. Her grandfather used to be a trading merchant so half the house was used as storage. The walls are all 60cm thick, the ceilings 5m heigh. They have cordonned a large part of the property as a museum showing furniture, utensils and equipment used by her grandfather. There is no air conditioning or fan but the room has stayed cool all day. Our room looks onto a beautiful courtyard, full of flowering bushes, the roof dripping with different ‘creepers’. There’s a passage way that takes you to another courtyard and back garden. It is simply gorgeous.

View from our room at Casa Solar de los Madariaga in Vicuña

We have the most delicious breakfast – huge plate of fresh fruit each, plate of cold meats and cheese, home made jam, fresh pot of real coffee and green tea. Amazing.

I get an email back from the observatory I contacted and yes we can join a tour this evening, I just need to drop by the agency between 12 and 2 to pay. Brilliant. We were going to take a local taxi to one of the pisquerias at lunchtime but Mitzi organises for one of her friends Lorenzo to take us around for the same price – excellent. We go Aba pisqueria first: good timing as a busload of cruiseship tourists arrives just as we leave after some interesting tasting (and the purchase of a half bottle!). Pisco is a local brandy made from muscat grapes – ancient documents reveal pisco was already been made in this valley in the 16th century. You can drink it as an eau-de-vie or in a cocktail such as pisco sour, which is pisco based of course with some sour citrus juice, some sweetner and sometimes angostura bitters. I have tried a few while in Chile (and Peru) and while they have all been very tasty, they never taste the same! We go to another pisqueria outside Vicuña, much larger and more commercialised but they are overrun with cruiseship visitors so we leave. A lovely little Sunday outing though.

At Aba pisqueria in Vicuña

Elqui Valley outside Vicuña

Elqui Valley outside Vicuña

Strange cactus in Vicuña

Oh what a night!!!!! Our visit to the Observatorio del Pangue, situated 19kms south of Vicuña, where the only man-made structures nearby are 3 other scientific observatories, was out of this world!!!!! We saw galaxies with the naked eye, a mere 200,000 light years away, we saw a galaxy (Sombrero or M104) through the telescope which is 60 million light years away, so far that we could clearly see its entire shape, we saw the only existing supernova in the entire universe, which is an exploding dying star, and we saw a slowly collapsing dying star, we saw Saturn with its rings and 4 moons. We also learned that the point of the southern cross id made up of twin stars and saw them. And of course, we saw shooting stars. We saw and learned so much… It was a completely mind blowing experience… It makes me feel like visiting more observatories with bigger lenses and learn more. Can’t wait to camp again under the stars soon.

Tomorrow, we head north, slowly towards Antofagasta.

– Anne