Back to Antofagasta

Cafe Suiza

Saturday 5th January

We said goodbye to Pica but then could not find the route out to Ruta 5 southbound. We returned to the hotel and the landlady advised us that the southern route was very bumpy and to go the long way round. However, when we finally found the said road, it wasn’t that bad, plus it was bout 80 kms shorter.

From there on it was one long, mainly straight road to Antofagasta. We passed plenty of former Nitrate Oficinas, dodgy geoglyphs and roadworks. At one set of roadworks, a chap flagged us down and asked us for water (which we gave).

As we passed through Baquedano, we noticed a lot of houses and the school were in a bad shape and there was a lot of frantic work going on. We checked on the internet when we reached Antofagasta and there had been a 5.9 earthquake during the night.

As we reached Antofagasta, a sand storm blew up.


Back at the Holiday Inn, we had another room with a sea view.