I booked a sleeping bus for my trip from Arica to La Serena. Well a
rather uncommon thing occured. The bus, a Volvo, had a problem with it's oil
pump and we stopped in the middle of the desert three hours south of
Arica. This is not as bad as it sounds as there there many car, truck and
bus passing by. I asked our conductor how long he thought it would be until
another bus came by, he said 2 hours. Well, we were surrounded by sand and
mountains, so I decided to go for a hike. I just walked straight up the
"hill" (which later turned into a mountain!) thru the sand for about an hour.
I kept thinking I was reaching the top, but each time I reached the "top" I
would see yet more to climb. Finally I took this self portrait and headed
back to the bus.
I spent the day in La Serena and caught another bus to Santiago where
I spent a few days working. Then I took off for a 3 day hike in the
local Andes range. Here is a panoramic shot with my cheap camera of a
valley I reached at about 4000 meters. Yes, a valley at 4000 meters!
My friend Claudio joined me on day #2. Here he sits with me under
the shade of a rather large limestone rock next to a stream. The
sun was brutal and the shade heavenly.