San Pedro de Atacama and beyond
If you have read some of my other blog posts from Chile or follow my instagram stories, you may well know that Chile is not our favourite country - not just in South America, but in the world. Not only have we given the country many chances, but we decided to go back once more, as to not miss out on San Pedro de Atacama - the highest desert in the world. But first, let me explain about our arrival to this town.
We last left off, when we decided to cross the Jama Pass from Argentina to Chile, a decision that we began to deeply regret as soon as the sun went down. As we felt the cold begin to cut through us, we noticed that the roads went steeper and steeper, to the point where our bike was jittering, ready to give up. It was not yet accustomed to the altitude, much like its owners. You see, if we got stuck up here we would have had a hard time finding anywhere protected from the wind, to set up our tent, plus there was not a single car passing us for hours. It began to get scary!
We continued slow and steady, hoping the road would eventually go downhill, afterall we had gone from 4,200m altitude at the border to 4,850m at the highest point, and it seemed to stay at this high altitude forever. You see, San Pedro de Atacama is at a low altitude of 2,500m, so we HAD to go down at some point - or so we thought. After hours of struggling with the bike, the cold and the altitude, wondering if we should just give up and camp, we eventually came to the last 40km of road, which plummeted straight down to the desert town like a rollercoaster - it was the craziest thing we had seen. So, onwards we pushed, arriving at our hostel exhausted at 10pm.
We last left off, when we decided to cross the Jama Pass from Argentina to Chile, a decision that we began to deeply regret as soon as the sun went down. As we felt the cold begin to cut through us, we noticed that the roads went steeper and steeper, to the point where our bike was jittering, ready to give up. It was not yet accustomed to the altitude, much like its owners. You see, if we got stuck up here we would have had a hard time finding anywhere protected from the wind, to set up our tent, plus there was not a single car passing us for hours. It began to get scary!
We continued slow and steady, hoping the road would eventually go downhill, afterall we had gone from 4,200m altitude at the border to 4,850m at the highest point, and it seemed to stay at this high altitude forever. You see, San Pedro de Atacama is at a low altitude of 2,500m, so we HAD to go down at some point - or so we thought. After hours of struggling with the bike, the cold and the altitude, wondering if we should just give up and camp, we eventually came to the last 40km of road, which plummeted straight down to the desert town like a rollercoaster - it was the craziest thing we had seen. So, onwards we pushed, arriving at our hostel exhausted at 10pm.
While in San Pedro we planned to do a few of the main attractions like the geysers, star gazing, Moon Valley etc, but found out that many other attractions were very costly and it seemed as though Bolivia had even better attractions at a much lower cost. Sure, we were crossing the border to take on the famous Laguna Route in a few days, so why bother spending the money here? - Again, or so we thought!
During our few days in San Pedro, we explored Moon Valley, which was a spectacular landscape that could be visited for a cool price of $11 (approx) each, went star gazing, which cost $35 each, and avoided all the rest. While we were here, we had been lied to repeatedly, something which we should have expected from our last experiences in Chile. A so-called guide at our hostel told us wrong information about Moon Valley and we nearly missed the chance to visit it, while the tourist information and guide at the Moon Valley reception all gave us false information, meaning we paid to see the region, but were restricted to half of it because of closing times. Not to mention a waiter trying to scam us and a receptionist at our hostel also giving us false information about a tour.
This began to frustrate us and we were eager to get out of San Pedro as soon as possible. In all honesty, the hostel we stayed at was very affordable, friendly, and comfortable, and the stargazing experience was truly magical, so it wasn't all bad - but after the experience that was about to come, little did we know this would be the straw that broke the camels back.
During our few days in San Pedro, we explored Moon Valley, which was a spectacular landscape that could be visited for a cool price of $11 (approx) each, went star gazing, which cost $35 each, and avoided all the rest. While we were here, we had been lied to repeatedly, something which we should have expected from our last experiences in Chile. A so-called guide at our hostel told us wrong information about Moon Valley and we nearly missed the chance to visit it, while the tourist information and guide at the Moon Valley reception all gave us false information, meaning we paid to see the region, but were restricted to half of it because of closing times. Not to mention a waiter trying to scam us and a receptionist at our hostel also giving us false information about a tour.
This began to frustrate us and we were eager to get out of San Pedro as soon as possible. In all honesty, the hostel we stayed at was very affordable, friendly, and comfortable, and the stargazing experience was truly magical, so it wasn't all bad - but after the experience that was about to come, little did we know this would be the straw that broke the camels back.
It was the last day in San Pedro and we had stocked up on food in the local supermarket, which was of course terrible quality and expensive - welcome to Chile. We planned to drive the Laguna Route, which would begin at the Chile/Bolivian border and continue on to Uyuni, Bolivia. The road was notorious for being isolated, bad quality and a big challenge for many, albeit with sensational views and otherworldy landscapes. We decided to go for it, so we prepared with food, extra fuel, water and a sense of adventure. But someone was about to out a stop to our dream.
Remember the 40km steep road downhill, which led us to San Pedro de Atacama a few days before? Well this morning we had to drive UP again, making it from 2,500m to nearly 5000m in 30km - just crazy. When we arrived we approached the Aduana (customs) and began to get very lighheaded. Carrying on, we tried to get the paperwork done fast toget back on the bike and move on, but this was not going to happen. The authorities told us that we could not cross this border as a foreign owner of a Chilean vehicle, and told us we needed to drive ALL THE WAY BACK to Argentina and cross from there - a cool 1500km detour.
We argued for a while, with whatever energy we had, since the rules were not clear and they had let many people cross before - we could see this on our iOverlander app. They still refused and off we went, back to Argentina. After driving for two hours back to the Jama Pass, we approached the Aduana once again, only to be told that we could not leave Chile AT ALL, as foreign owners of a Chilean vehicle - something which was completely illegal and had never caused an issue before. Throughout Patagonia, it is necessary to cross between Chile and Argentina every few days to explore the region, and while we were there, we had zero problems - UNTIL NOW. It seemed quite odd? Not only did the Aduana try to actively find issues with our documents, but when we gave them a logical answer, they would then hunt for something else, which eventually led to them finding some issue with one paper.
The funny thing is the issue with the said paper had nothing to do with crossing the border to Argentina, and it was a paper that they didn't even need to acquire in the first place. The whole thing seemed fishy and we wondered if there had been communication between the last Aduana and this one. Who knew? We debated back and forth until they finally allowed us to leave Chile for one month - yes ONE MONTH, even though we are legally allowed to take our moto out of Chile for up to 180 days every time. After a stressful situation, hunger, and altitude sickness, we agreed just to get stamped out of this horrible country. Next up was the Aduana Argentina, a place that was full of smiles, friendliness, and genuine welcomes, oh how these two countries could be so different!
Remember the 40km steep road downhill, which led us to San Pedro de Atacama a few days before? Well this morning we had to drive UP again, making it from 2,500m to nearly 5000m in 30km - just crazy. When we arrived we approached the Aduana (customs) and began to get very lighheaded. Carrying on, we tried to get the paperwork done fast toget back on the bike and move on, but this was not going to happen. The authorities told us that we could not cross this border as a foreign owner of a Chilean vehicle, and told us we needed to drive ALL THE WAY BACK to Argentina and cross from there - a cool 1500km detour.
We argued for a while, with whatever energy we had, since the rules were not clear and they had let many people cross before - we could see this on our iOverlander app. They still refused and off we went, back to Argentina. After driving for two hours back to the Jama Pass, we approached the Aduana once again, only to be told that we could not leave Chile AT ALL, as foreign owners of a Chilean vehicle - something which was completely illegal and had never caused an issue before. Throughout Patagonia, it is necessary to cross between Chile and Argentina every few days to explore the region, and while we were there, we had zero problems - UNTIL NOW. It seemed quite odd? Not only did the Aduana try to actively find issues with our documents, but when we gave them a logical answer, they would then hunt for something else, which eventually led to them finding some issue with one paper.
The funny thing is the issue with the said paper had nothing to do with crossing the border to Argentina, and it was a paper that they didn't even need to acquire in the first place. The whole thing seemed fishy and we wondered if there had been communication between the last Aduana and this one. Who knew? We debated back and forth until they finally allowed us to leave Chile for one month - yes ONE MONTH, even though we are legally allowed to take our moto out of Chile for up to 180 days every time. After a stressful situation, hunger, and altitude sickness, we agreed just to get stamped out of this horrible country. Next up was the Aduana Argentina, a place that was full of smiles, friendliness, and genuine welcomes, oh how these two countries could be so different!
Here we were, stamped out of Chile and into Argentina once again, with over 1,000km detour and backtracking ahead of us. Oh and did I mention that this meant we could not do the Laguna Route on our motorbike after all. It was time to figure out a solution and regain some energy for the next few days of driving towards Bolivia.
First things first, we took a room at the YPF hotel, where we could relax, enjoy some English movie channels, and plan the coming days.
What a whirlwind of events in just a few days.
First things first, we took a room at the YPF hotel, where we could relax, enjoy some English movie channels, and plan the coming days.
What a whirlwind of events in just a few days.
