Hello again. After a little hiatus of about three quarters of a year and a quick work assignment in India in between, we are back in Southamerica and this time we have our own car with a tent atop.

Back on our first trip we tried to rent a car on short notice, but it did not happen, due to prices and our lack of equipment we would have needed. So while we were on the break of our three months travel Stefan took the time to find us a ride and even better find us a ride that by itself was in need of getting from A to B and we were happy to accommodate. So our second trip was set to start in Punta Arenas and end in Calama.

We basically took the most direct route towards Punta Arenas – Munich; Madrid; Santiago; Punta Arenas – and then the day after we took posession an almost brand new Suzuki Jimney. After the handover the first stop was for groceries and off north we went. The goal for the first day was the Parque Nacional Pali Aike and then on to Puerto Natales. Due to our lack of knowledge of how far the little one would actually get us on one filling of gas we took a detour of about 3 hours to fill up our gas tank, only to realize, once being back at the crossroads to Pali Aike, that we were basically at the same range then before the detour. Anyway up at Pali Aike we prepared dinner and the tent for our first night.

The second day after visiting Pali Aike we moved onwards to Puerto Natales, but after about 150 km, a coffee stop in the middle of nowhere ended up becoming dinner becoming just our second night out with no one there besides us and some Guanacos. So basically after two days we realized, what we were looking for, at our last trip – get out of the bus where it looks nice and just stay there and move on – was exactly what we got know and it was great. To experience the vastness of space in that particular stretch of land. I mean in Central Europe the most you ll have to walk to to find at least a house or a bunch of them curled together in a village could be 10 – 20km. There it felt more like 100km. Strange feeling. Very much enjoyable – strange feeling.

Crossing the boarder into Argentina at Paso Rio Don Guillermo and instead of following Ruta 40, just turn left right after the boarder crossing, and we found our self on another patch of dirt road with nice views of the southern parts of the Andes.

Get up, enjoy breakfast, pack in, drive, enjoy the landscape, have coffee, drive a bit more, be awestruck by the landscape, have some more coffee, select a spot to park the car, prepare dinner and bed, sleep repeat. And that became our routine for the next 9500 km we drove through Chile and Argentina. From about 50 days we got the car we spent about 6 or 7 in lodgings, all the other days we have been either wild camping or at an actual campsite with some amenities like running water and a shower. Some of the camp sites i declared nudity zones, due to the fact that there was no running water but a very cold lake which served at least some degree of bodily hygiene – oh yeah and it is a rather interesting feeling being naked in nature, like shedding some of societies rules ;-).

After the small stint in Argentina which led us to El Calafate we took the southern most boarder crossing back into Chile to Cochrane, to drive the Carretera Austral up to Puerto Montt. Basically we wanted to see the landscape we saw from the ferry by car. And we were not disappointed. We did have rain and wind, and at least on one day it got so wet that we opted for sleeping in a room then our tent, but hey that was to be expected, and after the rain comes the sun.

Two weeks had already gone by and we were not even close to the end of Patagonia let alone Calama but had still about 6000km to go. Basically we had to skip some parts. Which was from the north of Patagonia towards Valpariso. Driving is different when you decide to do a long haul and you “need” to reach a place.

And then slowly but steadily it was up to the Atacama, found some nice camping spots drove through a mine, visited the VLT (the european southern observatories very large telescope) and reached San Pedro de Atacama. Lovely Town, good Pisco Sours, very touristic though. So after a few days of exploring the surroundings, we went of on our last big circle. San Pedro to Salta and back again following the “tren de las nubes”. The transit from the meager Atacama into the lush and green province of Salta was quite something. Found lovely public run camp sites on the Argentinian side of the Andes. However one pinch of salt in Argentina was money. Back then the conversion rate was 1:40 but the ATM´s only gave 4000.- Peso and still wanted to have between 400 – 800 Peso in service fees. We tried about an hour different ATM´s until we found one that was willing to disperse 6000.- Peso.

Coming back into Chile and San Pedro we did visit the Geysers Del Tatio north of San Pedro and then it was already time to bring the car back to Calama. One flat tire was all we had in terms of trouble, and that one happened short before El Calafate, so way way south. Spending a few days in Santiago was a good ending to our trip, but as always time is never on your side, and there will be things you might want to experience, see but just simply do not have the time for.

From Punta Arenas to Calama we covered 9500km in a straight*ish line. We visited two countries. And even though we have seen a lot we have not seen much, and I am pretty sure that it will be the same thing with our currently planned trip.

In 2019 the Chileans protested and after a fashion did get to the point where they elected a new government and started the process of getting a new constitution. While we were in Chile the protests were ongoing. We did not experience anything negative and we felt that the Chileans took care of the their tourists. We did see demonstrations and burning barricades and smelled tear gas. The only thing we can say is that we hope the Chileans get what they had hoped and fought for.

Hitchhiking to the next journey.
Till next time, happy hacking everyone …