2023 11 Locura Chile 8 getting rid of the dust
We were at the kiosk at 8, who's owner had promised to serve breakfast the day before. We had to wait a bit before the gent who wore Bolivian traditional cloths and spotted a Australian didiridu and a Peruvian wooden flute hanging from the ceiling was ready. But it was worth the wait. A great grilled meat and mozzarella cheese sandwich plus home ground coffee of assorted beans and then a jug of what he called jugo natural, a mixture of lemon juice, ingwer and other herbs colored with red turnip juice. The horses were dosing at the parking lot tied to diverse trees and finishing our breakfast we walked the horses down through the next 3 villages on the tared road. At the side if the road was a dug-out channel clothed in rubber sheeting that run water all the way down to the Bodem of the valley. The same construction was also visible on the opposite mountain side, except that at one point the Channel must be broken, cause the water poured in a huge waterfall down the sheer cliffs. We reached the Bodem of the valley in good time and began to assent on the Maine road up to Pisco Elqui. We were stopped by a gent in a horse labeled truck that started questioning us about permits and such. Meret was insisting that she had taken care of all permits, but the gent insisted us to follow him to the regional office just up the road.
Luckily the Lady at the office was much more accommodating and remembered having talked to Bernardo and so all was needed was to get the permit in written form and of course pay the small fee. In meantime the horse gent was talking to Meret about where we had crossed the Cordilleras and seemed impressed. He ended up getting us another horse girth; for our packhorse had lost some weight and needed one. One hour later, Bernardo had meanwhile been shopping for meat and beer and such, we reached the campsite where we had dropped of some hay, the day prior to our departure. We took care of the horses and had a beer, before we showered and took a dive in the swimming pool. Washing our clothes by hand with dishwater soaop and hanging them up to dry, Bernardo hat prepared a wonderful assado, while I talked with an Chilene Gentleman that chatted me up at the bath house. He was Italian from Lago Como near the Swiss border and was retired traveling with his Chinese made camper up and down His home country. We invited him and his wife to the assado and had a wonderful evening.
We were at the kiosk at 8, who's owner had promised to serve breakfast the day before. We had to wait a bit before the gent who wore Bolivian traditional cloths and spotted a Australian didiridu and a Peruvian wooden flute hanging from the ceiling was ready. But it was worth the wait. A great grilled meat and mozzarella cheese sandwich plus home ground coffee of assorted beans and then a jug of what he called jugo natural, a mixture of lemon juice, ingwer and other herbs colored with red turnip juice. The horses were dosing at the parking lot tied to diverse trees and finishing our breakfast we walked the horses down through the next 3 villages on the tared road. At the side if the road was a dug-out channel clothed in rubber sheeting that run water all the way down to the Bodem of the valley. The same construction was also visible on the opposite mountain side, except that at one point the Channel must be broken, cause the water poured in a huge waterfall down the sheer cliffs. We reached the Bodem of the valley in good time and began to assent on the Maine road up to Pisco Elqui. We were stopped by a gent in a horse labeled truck that started questioning us about permits and such. Meret was insisting that she had taken care of all permits, but the gent insisted us to follow him to the regional office just up the road.
Luckily the Lady at the office was much more accommodating and remembered having talked to Bernardo and so all was needed was to get the permit in written form and of course pay the small fee. In meantime the horse gent was talking to Meret about where we had crossed the Cordilleras and seemed impressed. He ended up getting us another horse girth; for our packhorse had lost some weight and needed one. One hour later, Bernardo had meanwhile been shopping for meat and beer and such, we reached the campsite where we had dropped of some hay, the day prior to our departure. We took care of the horses and had a beer, before we showered and took a dive in the swimming pool. Washing our clothes by hand with dishwater soaop and hanging them up to dry, Bernardo hat prepared a wonderful assado, while I talked with an Chilene Gentleman that chatted me up at the bath house. He was Italian from Lago Como near the Swiss border and was retired traveling with his Chinese made camper up and down His home country. We invited him and his wife to the assado and had a wonderful evening.
We had a 0 day next day to give the horses a rest. We went siteseeing in Pisco Elqui and rested up.