ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE:  CROSSING AND SURVIVING ATACAMA IN 14 DAYS: I LOVE YOU!

When I began this bicycle tour in Lima, Peru, South America, and heading all the way down to Patagonia, one of the first thing came into my mind was Atacama Desert. The route I was taking from Lima was Pan American Sur Highway and about 1400 km later getting into Chile where the Atacama Desert began. Of course that was the beginning right at the border Chilean city Arica 56 km from Tacna, Peru. When you leave the city of Arica towards down south the route-5 begins with the Atacama Desert together.

         Scorching Heat, Atacama Desert and my touring bicycle.

                  Atacama Desert and Middle of Nowhere.

    The biggest question on my mind was how long will it take to get to the end of this Atacama Desert? I knew after the Atacama Desert I had to follow the same route-5 to get down to capital city Santiago, Chile. There were so many unanswered questions about Atacama Desert. You can only get limited knowledge and information online about this desert. Besides, I wasn’t driving through this desert, but rather I was bicycling. I’ve heard some of the difficult conditions I had to go through. But seriously, I was ready both mentally and physically. Over the decades I’ve learned my body very well and I knew its limits, abilities and capabilities. I knew I can cope with hot weather and heat for a long time, I knew I can go without water days by blocking it out from my mind, and I also knew I had an amazing leg power which I was able to pedal for 18 or 20 hours a day or more than 200 kilometers a day. Long distance was my passion and I love cycling many hours days and nights. I’m neither a bicycle racer nor a speedster, but because my high level endurance and agility, I can pedal and go to far places for long time. And my body was able to take sufferings from hard road conditions or whatever was an obstacle on my way. I had one of the highest levels of tolerance against hardship both mentally and physically. Perhaps this began at a young age when I was a long distance runner both in secondary school and High school. That endurance still carried me all the way to this age and I’m so thankful I still have that ability to continue without stopping for a long distance and for a long time.

        This video is from my head cam on you tube. Entering into the region of  Chanaral.

      Amazing view to the Atacama Desert. You got a love this place no matter what the conditions are.

         Atacama Desert from my head cam again. It's a hot day.

   On my earlier blogs in regards to South America, especially Iquique and Antofagasta ones, I mentioned about the routes I took all the way down to Antofagasta, but now I had to get back to the route-5 again. Getting back to the route-5 wasn't hard at all. As I exited the city and outskirts of Antofagasta, I began climbing the hills and the mountains to find the route-28 which was going to connect me with route-5. I got my first taste of cycling against intense high winds on route-28 at Atacama Desert. I’ve been on a windy road before in several places around the world. But this wind was something else. It was a kind where you can’t pedal more than 4 kilometers an hour. Basically this wind was pushing me backwards and I wasn’t able to go as fast as I wanted to. It was frustrating for several hours which I only gained 20 kilometers if that. Later in the afternoon winds shift its directions and this time it was pushing me from behind. Actually under this condition you can speed pretty well. But unfortunately, because of the high winds at the Atacama Desert almost every day, it took me 14 days to pass this hardcore obstacle (Atacama Desert). I’m not sure how windy it is now, but when I was crossing it during the month of late November and early December it was very windy. Still, there were days it was calmed and winds were shifting to every direction.

                     Hot Desert Atacama! Where do you think you're going?

   After getting through the short route-28, I was on route-5 and now I was in the heartland of Atacama. Here, I would like to take attention of every reader to the regions and provinces. Country Chile is made of 15 regions and 54 provinces. And keep in mind that there is also a region called Atacama. But please do not mix this with the Atacama Desert. Atacama Desert is different and begins all the way from up north from different regions and comes down almost near to the city of La Serena. Here is the disagreement I have with many writers including Wikipedia in regards to distance of Atacama Desert. Wikipedia and others would like us to believe that Atacama Desert is 600 miles (1000 km) in distance. Because Wikipedia said it was 1000 km in distance, now everyone thinks and everyone writes it is 1000 km. However, they’re all mistaken the actual distance of this desert. And it’s important to mention that none of the Chilean writers mentioned anything about 1000 km. So how does and why do Wikipedia and others in the west continues to insists that Atacama Desert is only 1000 km long. I’ve used my bicycle odometer, I’ve used my handheld Garmin GPS, and I've talked to numerous policeman and police women, and talked to many Chilean citizens including the truck drivers which they showed me the end of this deserts near the city of La Serena (not quiet La Serena) if that is the case this Desert is 1375 kilometers which I measured it and calculated in three different ways. And all three ways were accurate. It was 1375 kilometers. Sure enough, local Chilean government officials, Highway police and truck drivers say the same thing. So, I neither understand nor believe the statistics or mathematics of the Wikipedia. Perhaps we have a disagreement where exactly this desert ends. And I really think that is where the problem lays. However, I have to go with trusted sources which were locals and my own calculation in 3 different ways. And all were accurate.

     This is the region of Atacama. It's still the Atacama Desert, but this is the region and not to be confused with the desert. Country Chile is divided into 15 regions. My bicycle is resting.

   Atacama Desert is very rich in sources like copper, minerals, metal, iron, gold, silver, sodium nitrate, potassium, boron and lithium as well as others. Basically Atacama Desert is the backbone of Chilean Governments income and its economy. Chile really depends on this area and its resources as most countries buy all these products from Chile. Chile is the largest copper producer in the world and it has the world’s 28% of the copper reserves.  Because this desert is located right at the edge of Tropic of Capricorn, there isn’t much difference between the winters and summers. Night time can drop to -25 C and day time can go up to 25 C to 50 C hot. The solar radiation is extremely high in Atacama Desert and one must bring sun glasses and use UV protection creams. This is the driest desert in the world and Atacama is known with its only 1mm rain drop for every 40 years. But it is also a fact that there were times it didn’t rain for 400 years in Atacama Desert. This is the main reason it’s known as driest desert in the world.

        When I got connected with route-5 again, I was out in the open at Atacama Desert with sun splash, high winds and scorching heat during the day, windy and extremely cold at nights. Perhaps I was traveling in wrong season, but it really didn’t matter, apart from high winds, I still loved every minute of these conditions. I was actually smiling and looking forward to cycle the entire desert. Besides, I still have other cities, Santiago and Patagonia ahead deep down south. The hard part of this trip at the desert was actually this section I was just getting into. As I said this was middle of nowhere. There were no supermarkets, no fuel stations and no houses or villages for long distance. In the beginning I had no idea that villages, fuel stations, restaurants or even truck stops were this far from each other.

         Late afternoon hours at the Atacama Desert. Still Hot!

   Since I was cycling South America, and not driving a car, I carried at least three big bottles of water with me at all times. And usually I left them in my panniers as spares. And I would buy extra water to drink without touching those 3 big bottles. And mostly I would shop at the super market carrying raw food: Tomatoes, cheese, bread, olives, other vegetables and fruits. Most of the time I ate at the side of the road during the day while cycling. But at nights, I was at the restaurants trying out local dishes, cuisine and their cooked food. I enjoyed getting to know every country’s dishes and trying something new every time I traveled. But now this section of the Atacama Desert was about to change things around and make this journey super hard for me. I welcomed this challenge first night as I cycled I couldn’t find any store or restaurants open. First time I had to eat out next to my tent since I began to this South America tour. But the real problem was waiting for me the very next day as I didn’t have anything else to eat. Basically there was no more food left in my bags or panniers. I still had some water left, but even that was running low. That morning I woke up in my tent around 7:00 in the morning. I ate my last tomato and cheese sandwich that I made and drank half of the last bottle of water. After a 10 minute warm up exercises I packed my bicycle with panniers again and got on the road. Even it was early in the day, still, I was sweating already from cycling the stiff hills and canyons of Atacama Desert.  Cycling the hills and mountains always made you thirstier and hungrier. It was really intense how quickly you lose calories from this type of road and from an intense hot weather conditions. However, I was still able to block this situation from my mind psychologically and I wasn’t even thinking of water or food yet. But I knew soon or later I had to face to the reality and look for these surviving necessities. I cycled hard all day and still, I didn’t see any fuel stations, any houses, or any super markets.

         Basically there was no more food and water for me for at least till tomorrow morning. But because I am an optimistic and positive person, I decided to cycle and ride my bike until late at night. I said “maybe something will show up later…restaurant or a supermarket”. But I was wrong! I continue to cycle and hoping to find some place open, I lost track of the time and forgot what time of the night it was. I just didn’t realize it was 4:00 in the morning and here I was still pedaling and cycling like a maniac. I finally realized from hunger and thirst and freezing cold at night. My t-shirts were all wet from sweating which was even making me feel colder and my body was losing its temperatures so quick. I began to shiver, shake and I was getting the chills. It was time to stop. There was still nothing around. Not even a house. And at nights, hardly anyone drives in Chile. I was all alone on route-5 at the heartland of Atacama Desert.

   I set up my tent quickly at the side of the road out in the open. Since I was in desert out in the open wide, there were no trees to hide your tent from passers. Most of the times there were hills which I was able to hide and set my tent stealth. But not this time! I was at a flat section and nowhere to hide. I really didn’t care and I continue to set up my tent. I took all the panniers from my bicycle and placed them inside the tent; I took the front tire off my bicycle and placed the bicycle in the tent. And then I changed my wet T-shirts. Wearing a dry shirt made me more comfortable as I set my therma rest air cushion and opened up my 0- Fahrenheit sleeping bag. Just like that in 3 minutes, I was in my tent and in a sleeping bag ready to sleep. Of course I was very hungry and it was very hard to fall asleep. However, because it was already 4:00 in the morning, I knew it was going to be light soon. And because of my tent’s location was out in the open I wanted to wake up in a few hours and get on the road before someone stops by my tent and attempts to steal or do something else. I set up my alarm to 7:00 which was going to give me a three hours sleep then move on again and hope to find an open supermarket or fuel station or a restaurant. Because of tiredness, I fell asleep after awhile forgetting that I was very hungry.

   In the morning at 7:00 my alarm woke me up, but I still laid there to enjoy my sleep for 10 more minutes. However, I wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep more as I was really hungry and starving. And now I had no more water left. It was like desperation. I knew I had to come up with new ideas to find something to eat. And if I can’t find anything open to buy food and water, what was my next move? I finally decided that as I would cycle, I would look back at the flowing traffic and stop some of the long haul trucks to ask them to see if they had anything extra to drink or eat. After packing my bags, panniers and my tent, I was on the road again cycling. Right around 11:00 in the morning, I finally stopped and waited for the passing trucks and cars. I began showing and pointing out my empty water bottle to drivers as they passed by me. This continued for 30 to 40 minutes and finally this huge truck stopped. He knew I was in trouble by looking at my empty water bottle. When he stopped I ran towards the truck. And he opened the driver side of the door. Before I even said anything, he had two big bottles water on his hand and came outside of his truck. Of course I try to explain him about how thirsty I was, but he couldn’t understand English. So I try talking Spanish which I knew little. As soon as he handed one of the bottles to me I drank that so fast that he was just staring at my face. That bottle was finished in a matter of seconds. He then gave me the other water bottle and he also brought an orange juice bottle. I was very thankful. He said next town was still 140 kilometers away. This driver (Raul) was a great guy and very helpful. I couldn’t thank him enough. I wanted to pay him as I pulled out my wallet, but he just wouldn’t accept my money. He just didn’t have any food with him. After talking to him for 10 minutes, he had to depart and I got onto the road again cycling and not knowing where I was going to eat. I was very hungry! Yes, water and orange juice definitely gave me energy to continue, but still, I hadn’t eaten since 2 days and I was starving.

    I continued cycling on this hot day having a half bottle of water and a half bottle of orange juice. It was around 12:30 in the afternoon I looked ahead and at the side of the road I saw some construction crew and heavy equipments. I finally stopped! I was going to ask them if they had any food. I just have to admit that here I was in the middle of nowhere at the Atacama Desert and I was about to meet nicest people of the world. There were 8 construction workers who were working on their heavy equipments and getting ready to do something, but when they saw me coming at them with my bicycle, they all stopped and they began walking towards me as I left my bicycle leaning against one of the heavy machine.

  I asked them if they speak any English and their supervisor said yes, I finally explained them that I just didn’t see any super markets, fuel stations or any open store to buy any food. He told me that “yes there isn’t anything between these cities and stretch” And then he asked me if I was hungry, I said yes, then all these guys brought their lunch bags to me and offering their own lunches and foods. I just couldn’t believe these guys…how nice and how great they were. I said, no, I can’t take everyone’s food. They keep insisting to take all the food. I said I can’t do it. We finally sat down and had lunch all together. These guys were all young men in their twenties and early thirties and they had an amazing respect and manners. Their supervisor Jonnathan Quiroz, whom I still keep in touch with, is an angel and one of the best characters I’ve met around the world. I just couldn’t explain and describe how good and helpful these guys were. It just shows you, nationality doesn’t matter we still have good people around the world. These guys were also working at a mining place. As mentioned earlier Atacama Desert has the most resources and minerals, or else why would they be working at this location.

    After spending a few hours with these nice people, I got on the road again. And now I had enough water and food with me to last me a several days. That following evening I slept very comfortable and very well. I realized how terrible it was to be hungry and thirsty. We as human beings forget how some of the basic things are the most important things are. And just thinking about how millions of people around the world at times go very hungry for a long time. It is just sick and sad to think how these governments of the world spend billions and trillions on military spending to kill each other, yet, there are also millions dying from hunger. Just even thinking about it can make anyone sick and upset. The very next day when I woke up I realized I had been away from civilization for several days and I needed a shower. But as I cycled my face and my arm was itching. Then I just looked to find out my skin was peeling from the heat. And the next day my legs were peeling as well. This was first time in my life my skin was peeling since my childhood. My olive skin is usually very used to the heat and the sun and I can never remember it peel in the past. But it took me a good hour to realize I was in Southern Hemisphere where sun is extremely strong and its effect is twice worse. As I talked earlier, the solar radiation is so high in the ultraviolet spectrum making it must use UV protection creams. Every time I looked at mirror I just couldn’t believe how dark I got. Closest I came to as dark as this was in, Kununurra, Australia years ago. This was the tropical section which was the north-west part of Australia called Kimberley. And now, in South America in the desert, this was the darkest I got in my entire life and sure funny enough, I just couldn’t believe my own skin.

    From the start of Atacama Desert in Chile’s northern border with Peru, then down to bigger and important cities and towns Iquique, Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Chanaral, Caldera, Copiapo, Vallenar and more down south La Serena. But when you are in La Serena that means you’re clearly out of Atacama Desert. Now, these towns and cities are the main ones on the route-5 and route-1 that I took. Never mind the town of Taltal as it is out of the way. However, there are some other little villages and other towns if you do take the route-5 without switching to route-1. The most dangerous area is between cities of Antofagasta and Chanaral. This is the stretch where there is hardly anything. There are no super markets, fuel stations or restaurants. If you’re lucky, you may find a little house which is being used for as truck stop by a family who cooks and serves for their income. But other than that, that stretch is not a joke. This stretch is in middle of nowhere and it is without any civilization. But I kind a like it. By the time I got into the town of Chanaral, I was extremely tired and instead of camping, I decided to stay at a hostel and got myself a private room with bathroom. I stayed in Chanaral 2 days resting very well and swimming during the day by near a beautiful beach. Of course I still had a long way to go at Atacama Desert.

  By the time I was done with Atacama Desert my bicycle odometer readings showed 2,842 km. Of course this was the reading all the way from Lima, Peru. And the Atacama Desert from one end to another showed 1378 km. I was very happy to finish this desert and despite the skin peeling, still, I came out of Atacama Desert extremely dark. One of the most memorable times around the Atacama Desert came in the city of Caldera. I arrived to this city about 11:00 at night and none of the hostels or motels were open. And there were no place to camp. So I decided to sleep behind this huge Cathedral. But this time I didn’t use my tent. Instead, I opened my sleeping bag and of course my therma rest air bed under neat the sleeping bag. I locked my bicycle next to me on an iron bar door and took the valuable items in a secure place. I fell asleep about midnight and next thing I know something was licking my face. This was around 5:30 in the morning. I was afraid to open my eyes, but when I opened my eyes, there were up to 13 or 15 stray dogs standing over me and begging for a food. I had two loafs of bread and I slowly opened them from its bags then breaking both breads to a small pieces and began feeding these 13 hungry stray dogs. They were amazing and they had so much respect and manners. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Peru and Chile has a huge problem with stray dog population. And these dogs are very where. There were many times these stray dogs chased me on a bicycle almost in every city and every town and between in a country side. But I love them and whenever I get a chance I play with them. The strange thing about these 13 dogs in Caldera, they followed me to everywhere I went that day. I was taking photos and doing some filming and these stray dogs never left me alone. And they protected my bicycle while I was at the café having a breakfast. They were all lying down around my bicycle. That late afternoon, before I took off from Caldera, I fed these dogs one more time. Then I was on the road again. At Atacama Desert I’ve seen the shining sun every day; I felt the heat every moment of the day. I felt the extreme cold every night, I experienced the hunger and being extreme thirsty almost to the danger zone. I felt the heavy-high winds that I can only cycle and pedal 4 kilometers an hour. My entire body at this desert went into changing and different modes constantly almost every day. I’ve met some of the nicest people in this desert and despite the hard and intense 14 days in this desert, I still loved it and enjoyed every min ute of it.                         “Atacama I love you”