Today, we are parked at the beach in Lota, Chile. We left Coquimbo on Monday 28th January and have been driving slowly south, in principal mainly along the coast with a few inland deviations.
While in Coquimbo we met a lovely family and enjoyed their hospitality and generosity both in their home and having Sunday lunch with them in a local restaurant ‘Don Mario’.
Our next area visited was Ovalle, this is a valley ‘Valle del Encanto’ where there is an abundance of pre-Colombian rock art in the form of hieroglyphics and pictographs. The drive into and out of the valley itself was unique in the sense that on both sides of the long valley you are driving on a height up from the valley floor and can see the rock face on the opposite side. The roads have plenty of curves and it was difficult enough to try and get some decent photographs.
Having overnighted in Ovalle, the next morning we went out to the canyon where the artwork was to be found. We entered into the park and spent several hours visiting the three areas where most of the rock carvings were to be seen. When we left the park later in the afternoon, we had three temporary passengers on board who were hitch-hiking a lift back to the main road. When we dropped them off, we went further inland on the local roads and enjoyed the more remote villages and scenes. We travelled south to Combarbalá from here we took the D71 back out to the main R5. We overnighted at the side of the road before we joined the R5. Our parking position was just on the landside of the mountains at the coast, that evening we saw spectacular views of the clouds slowing creeping over and hugging to the mountain tops.
Hieroglyphs
We used the R5 till we reached a place called Puchunchaví from this point onwards till the 5th February, we have used minor and on some occasions very local roads staying as close to the coast as possible. The main places that we passed through were Quintero, Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, San Antonio, La Boca, Pichilemu, Constitución, Chanco, Talcahuano, Concepcion, Coronel and to where we are at the moment i.e. Lota. We did not visit the big cities as the camper is too big for most of them and we pick items and/or places that we want to visit and keep to that shortlist. If we wanted to visit everything, we would be still here in years to come.
Just to mention a few points, from San Antonio to Talcahuano area, we took three days to travel. We used the most remote roads (tracks) and the camper was certainly tested to the extreme on occasion. The roads consisted of lots of peaks and valleys in very tight winding turns at the same time. On several occasions our top speed was only 12 kilometres per hour. A challenging prospect, for any driver! It would be a route that all ‘big car drivers’ or also known as ‘big toys for big boys’ would love to take up and encounter. Most of these routes were un-surfaced.
On one occasion coming out of a small low lying village at the water’s edge (this part of the road was surfaced) the road went straight up to about 500m with very tight hairpin bends with our car in lead and four others behind us, we stalled and then actually slipped back twice, all sixteen and half ton (16 ½ ). You never saw small cars reverse so fast to get out of the way lest we roll back and take everything with us. Jan tried several times to get the car to go forward but all we ended up doing was producing a lot of smoke. Yes, both of us suspected a big problem. Claire got out of the car to have a look and see where all the smoke was coming from; she also got the cars to move further back away from the camper to give Jan a bit more space in the tight bend to manoeuvre if he had to. He had another go and produced more smoke, then I spotted the cause, the left front wheel was spinning for all its worth and the right one was stationery. Once Jan catered for that and put the car into ‘six wheel drive’ and he was able to move forward again. He did so and drove up a few metres and pulled in to the right. When he and the car were ok, I went back down to the hairpin itself and got all the cars to come on up and overtake the camper. Then I got into the camper itself and we continued on.
Typical non surfaced road
Later on that day, in one of the other small coastal villages we saw a German camper, a smaller MAN than our one, the village was crowed and neither vehicle could stop to talk to one another. Jan and I recognised the camper but we still cannot place it. Silver/Grey in colour with orange or terracotta surrounds around the windows, with the word ‘Alemania’ across the front of it under the front window … do any of you recognise it?
Our next point of serious note was a place called Pichilemu which is renowned for its wave surfing. There is a lovely promontory just immediately south of the village called ‘Punta de Lobos’. We visited this site and stayed for an hour or two just soaking up the vibes. We were very lucky to get a parking place along this promontory. It was buzzing with surfers and visitors alike. The surfing was quite close to the rocks below and it certainly was not a sport in this area for the faint hearted. The view point itself was about 50m above the water. A lovely vantage point to watch the experts. There was a lovely beach below where the surfers themselves could get into the water and visitors in general could sunbathe and partake in general beaching activities.
On one of the local roads and spent the night by a lake ‘Laguna Torca’ and just further on from our parking spot at about 700m was a small airfield serving the village of Llico and surrounding area. This airfield was quite busy on both the evening we arrived and in the following morning before we left. We continued on an inland track for a little while the next morning and drove alongside another lake ‘Lago Vichuquen’. Some beautiful sights to be seen along this route without a doubt. When we reached the south of this lake, we returned out to the coastal route once more.
Just south of a small village called ‘Buchupureo’ we met and spoke to fellow Europeans, i.e. a French couple namely Jean Pierre and his wife Annie. They travelled to South America using Grimaldi Lines the same as ourselves but travelled down on the sister ship ‘Grande Francia’. They hope to return to Europe for personal reasons in March and come back to South America and continue travelling. Unlike us, they are using a camper based on a Landrover Defender and hope eventually to work north via Central America, Mexico and perhaps travel in the USA itself. We chit chatted for about a half an hour and then we parted company, they were heading north and we continued our route south.
One of the many waterways
At a place called ‘Boca De Itata’ the road along the coast stops and all the traffic has to go inland about 20km where a bridge crossing is located for all the traffic. After three days hard driving we used the main route 126 south as far as Rafael, we continued on this route all the way out to the coast again to a place called Tomé. Our plan was to camp here for the evening but after about 90 minutes or so, we decided to move on and find a nicer place. We did and finally we arrived at a place called Talcahuano. This is on a promontory north of the city Concepción.
It was quite late when we arrived but still daylight. We managed to park close to the water again. This is a lovely little city. The following morning we visited an ironclad battleship ‘Huáscar’ which the Chileans won from the Peruvians back in 1879. The ship has been restored and beautifully maintained by the Chilean navy to this date. One of the items that we saw on the way out to the ship was the ‘Phoenix Rescue Capsule’ (designed by NASA) that was used to rescue the 33 Chilean miners that were trapped in a mine in the Copiapó area in 2010. I include a photograph of this vehicle in one of the galleries. I have to say, this was a lovely visit to this naval base and to see all the artefacts on display.
The next day, Tuesday the 5th February, we finally arrived here in Lota. Our plan was to visit the local mine first and thereafter visit the museum and park.
We managed to camp at the beach the first night and on Wednesday 6thFebruary we spent a delightful day visiting a coalmine about 60m below sea level and the largest coalmine in Chile started in the 1850’s and was in full operation i.e. 1900’s to 1990’s. During our mine ‘Chiflon Diablo’ trip, the rest of our group comprised of an extended family of who all were very friendly and extremely courteous to Jan and me. Our guide ‘Pedro’ was exceptionally knowledgeable and informative. We were kitted up in a miners helmet and battery pack before we went below in a cage. The guide, Pedro, Jan and I were the first three to go below. Then the cage was sent up for the next few people. This happened a couple of times until the entire group was brought below. Then the tour started in earnest. The mine itself is now a tourist attraction and run by ex-miners. It was closed down in the 1990’s when it became uneconomic to keep it going. Politically, the mines were all ‘nationalised’ by Salvador Alliende who was in power in the 1970’s. Subsequently the mine in Lota was privatised in the 1990’s by Agusto Pinochet, where the coal was becoming exhausted and it was cheaper to import from Columbia, this combination spelled the death knoll for this mine. Now most of the power in the area is provided by hydro-electric power plant designed by Thomas Eddison about 14km away.
Talcahuano Harbour
In the mine area, there is a ‘film set’ built, it shows how the miners and their families lived long ago. In one little corner we noticed an ‘Orno’ i.e. oven where local women (mainly wives and daughter of ex miners) bake local bread ‘Pan Amasado’ and delicacies. To indicate the owner of the bread, they would create their nail impressions at the edge of the bread and/or make designs with fork prongs (modern custom). We were given samples and it was delicious.
We then moved onto the associated museum and park about 4km further up to road from the actual mine.
The museum was the original house of the ‘mine manager’s back in the 1880’s and is kept in excellent condition. The park we visited was truly a remarkable place and obviously part of the original property of the mine owner. So unexpected to see a beautiful park with all the trappings of wealth back then. It also was an education of the ‘philanthropy’ of the rich of the day.
The Lota bay area
Just outside the park entrance there was the usual stalls with items for sale. We noticed one table where there were selling small tubs of fish. We succumbed and bought two tubs. The first was of the local clams which were gorgeous and the second tub was of crab meat which we did not eat on the spot but kept in the fridge to eat for our lunch today. For such a small seaside town, Lota is full of history.
I will stop now and get this update on the air to you all. I will now attempt to get some more photographs prepared for the gallery.
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