Dakar rider waves to me as he passes by
Tuesday January 12, 2010
10:00am
As I headed north out of Santiago this morning, it was a beautiful clear day with not a cloud in the sky. As I expected, it wasn’t all that easy to find Route 5 North, the PanAmerican Highway. I could see it on my GPS, and I watched as the bike passed over it, but you think they might put up a sign telling you how to get to it, NO. I stopped to ask a taxi driver, and he told me it was possible, his hand flew in all directions as he explained how to get on to Rt. 5. Anyways, I kinda got the general idea of how to find it, and after a little dead reckoning, there I was, heading north on Ruta 5 Norte. Piece of cake from here! Just stay on Ruta 5.
About an hour out of Santiago, I noticed hundreds people lined up all along the road side, honking their car horns, and waving Chilean flags and waving at me. People gathered on all the pedestrian overpasses. I thought to myself, how did they know I was going to be passing this way? They were so exited and enthusiastic. So being the nice guy that I am, I waved back. It was then that I realized, you idiot, they’re waving at the Dakar Rally participants. How did I know? I was on a motorcycle, many of the Dakar drivers were also on motorcycle…it’s all good!
Anyhow, I drove farther north for a while, then found a place where I could pull off the road and get some good pictures as the Dakar Rally passed by. There were motorcycles, 4X4’s, massive support trucks and even 4 wheeler ATV’s competing. Quite a sight! Something you don’t see every day.
My aim was to get to "Valle Del Elqui", near the city of La Serena, Chile. I had been to La Serena a few years ago, with my Aunt Eliana. She invited me to spend about a week at a beach side resort in La Serena, but for some reason, I thought it only took us about four or five hours to get here that time. Even though I stopped only for gas a couple of times and once to get a sandwich, it took me a good seven hours to get here! Guess I thought it was closer.
Once in the city of La Serena, I headed east, into the Andes Mountains following the Valle Del Elqui (Elqui Valley) incase you hadn’t figured that one out. As I drove farther into the valley, I came across a large reservoir called "Embalse Puclaro" (Embalse means reservoir) this looked like a nice place to stop and take a picture. Continuing on, I noticed it was now passed six in the afternoon, and I thought to myself, I might want to start looking for a place to stay for the night if I didn’t want to pitch a tent. The town of Pisco Elqui was about seven miles away, and I had read that it was an interesting town to explore. So, I’m in Pisco Elqui at a nice little cabin for the night. Tomorrow I will explore the Valley a bit more before heading farther north.
On another note, I was thinking, as the day drew late and I rode farther and farther into the ruggedness of the Andes Mountains, this is a strange feeling riding a motorcycle alone in some pretty remote parts of South America, not knowing where or if I would find a place to stay for the night. It kind of puts the sense of Adventure Riding into perspective. Sorta puts the “Adventure” in Adventure Riding!
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