Chile

Arica

As all Mondays I was to publish the pages of my website. As of 7:00 I parked my truck at the bottom of the hill. Then I sought with my smartphone a Wifi connection which I found with chilegob opposite Tourism Office. Alas this connection was slow and discontinuous. I could not publish the entirety of the pictures because of the too old battery. I returned to my truck to put it in load. Then while waiting I visited the downtown area. I discovered that Gustavo Eiffel had designed three buildings of which the Iglesia San Marcos, under work of restoration. Around 10:30 I returned to the Tourist office, open, which has another safety connection hardly more effective. Finally around 11:30 the publication was finished!

Visite Arica, click the picture

Ruta-#11

I could traverse the ruta-#11 towards Putre in very fertile Valle Lluta. The road curves between dunes to go from 600 meters to + 2700m. Under work it becomes with a alternated way and with a very long file of trucks in the direction of Bolivia. I stopped on a parking area at 2786 m of altitude to acclimatize me before Putre at +3500 Mr. the map below is extracted from the booklet of the Tourist office. The red ruta-#11 is in the upper part from west to east.

On the road Ruta-#11, click the picture

Pucara Copaquilla

When I left my bivouac the outside temperature was of +5°C, brrr! I stopped a few kilometers further to see Pucara Copaquilla which is a gigantic crack created by the gullying of water. Then I forked on the ruta-#31 to go to Pachama and Belén where missions from the 17th century are. Iglesia de Pachama was under restoration. Inside the painters worked to give again colors to the frescos very damaged by time. In Belén it has two churches of which only one is worth visiting by seeking the person who has the key! But nothing extraordinary compared to the beauty frescos of Pachama. After having lunch on the spot I decided to return to Pucara Copaquilla to bivouac in front of the imposing spectacle at 3103 meters of altitude to continue my acclimatization.

Iglesia de Pachama, click the picture

Iglesia de Belén, click the picture

Bivouac, Pucara Copaquilla

Putre

On Wednesday, August 10th, my birthday, I visited Iglesia de Socoroma, well restored. Then I went to Putre to visit its Iglesia, alas closed. In compensation I made it tour around the Plaza without much interest. I bivouacked on the spot at 3530 m of altitude and inclined. I continued to go up in altitude.

Iglesia de Socoroma, click the picture

Iglesia de Putre, click the picture

Sunset, bivouac

Parinacota

On Thursday, August 11th I left Putre without regrets. After a few kilometers I turned right to go to Termas Jurasi to take a hot bath. Four truck drivers played about already joyfully in the tank. Rested I continued up to Parinacota under the guard of the Parinacota Volcano culminating at 6350m according to Lonely Planet. By comparing the pictures of August 2002 and August 2016 I noted that climate warming had made damage. Snow covers nothing any more that the summit part showing of the falls of plate-fronts. As in the preceding villages the church was closed and here broken roofs. Except for two small shops for tourists the village was deserted of inhabitant. I bivouacked close to the church at 4435m of altitude.

Vicuna	Parinacota Volcano

Iglesia de Parinacota, click thr picture

Lama	Parinacota Volcano, sunset

Colchane

On Friday, August 12th was part of pleasure on the track #A95 which leaves on the right of the ruta#11 just after the police checks before the border with Bolivia and which ends in Colchane on the ruta #15 also going to Bolivia. But before I had to go up a file of trucks on two kilometers going to Bolivia expecting the police checks. This part was not a pure pleasure because the truck drivers did not give me any present. At the beginning of the track #A95 up to Salar de Surire the Guallatiri volcano is omnipresent with its summit fumaroles. The track traverses the altiplano between 4000 and 4500 meters of altitude. In Guallatire I got information near a guard of the park who assure me that the night temperature was from approximately -14 to -16°C the diurnal temperature did not exceed +14°C. All the crossed villages were deserted of inhabitant in this winter season and the closed churches. I decided to go up to Colchane at 3725 m of altitude to have a more mild night temperature. Salar de Surire is registered with the inheritance of Chile as National Monument. What does not prevent that it is abundantly exploited. The trucks leave fallow a sequence number on their windscreen; I read a figure higher than 200! On the altiplano the hordes of vicunas (vicunas) are numerous. The last visited church was that of Isluga as at the time of my journey 14 years ago. I bivouacked on the plaza of Colchane.

On ruta-#A95, click the picture

Mamiña

In the day break in Colchane at 3725m of altitude the temperature under my truck given by the thermometer of "G" was of -10°C. The temperature in the cell was of 0°C with a moisture of 3% given by the Oregon weather station. The Webasto heating spent one hour to go up the temperature at +12°C. To facilitate the starting of my truck I preheated the engine and the cabin with Eberspächer the optional heater of "G" during half an hour.

The ruta-#15 from Colchane to Huara has very a good quality of roadway. It curves up to 4300 m of altitude in a desert landscape of great beauty under the morning sun. Contrary to the ruta-#11 traffic towards the Bolivian border was very sparse. Halfway between Taracapa and Huara a hill to 2 km is the archeological site of El Gigante de Atacama. The interpretative panels are very didactic. On the advice by Lonely-Planet, alas once again dithyrambic, I made the detour to visit Mamiña, pouf! I found a splendid bivouac at the top of a hill.

El Gigante, click the picture

Ruta-#14

On Sunday, August 14th I left the hill dominating Mamiña to go down towards the ruta-#5, Panamericana. At the crossroads between Panamericana and ruta-#A75 towards Pica I visited the Geoglifos on the hillside of Cerros Pintados. The museum presents interpretative panels reproduced by the gallery below as well as some Geoglifos pictures. I met a young French travelling into Chile. We spoke lengthily about my trip around the world. I made the dead end of the visit of Pica disappointed by Mamiña to go to Calama while bivouacking again in the desert.

En route, Panamericana, click the pictyure

Geoglifos Cerros Pintados, click the picture