Day 76. Tuesday, 12th November, 2024. A day in Taltal on the Northern Chilean Coast. 17 Miles, 28 Kms.

Morning

I was awoken during the early hours of the morning by precipitation on my face. Our vents were wide open. A shock, as rain was the last thing we expected in these desert conditions. In fact I’m surprised how barren the landscape is, as there seems to be a frequent sea mist. There is no vegetation whatsoever, though. Except in Taltal’s pretty central square, which is obviously watered. Once we rose, which was slowly, there was water on the top of the Caranex tent, so there was definitely some rain. 

Today’s activities were dominated by the fact we needed to do laundry. I’ve run out of underwear and our bedding is in need of washing. As we have been in desert conditions for some time, there has been no spare water available for hand washing. So, first task for the day was to find a laundry. 

Laundromats here are not “do it yourself”. Your washing is weighed, you pay by weight, and washed, dried and neatly folded for you. It is a slow process though. At the laundromat by 1100, at first I was told it would be ready by 7pm, or tomorrow. I asked if it could be done faster. Eventually it was agreed I could collect it at 5pm.

What to do for the next 5 or so hours? We had plenty to occupy us.

First, shopping. There were a number of small supermarkets, so I visited 3 of them. They basically stock the same things and I could only find rolled oats, not whole oats and no Greek or natural yogurt, only sweetened ones. I did manage to get some chicken and pork chops, to supplement our diet of eggs and vegetables.

Afternoon

We needed to find a fuel station to top up our diesel and also fill our petrol can. We use petrol for our Coleman cooker. There was a queue, as a tanker was refilling the garage’s tanks, so we had to wait. No problem, as we had plenty of time. There was also free air, so Dennis reflated the tyres. 

By now it was time for lunch, so we drove down to a spot by the ocean and had cheese and tomato rolls and tea. I wanted a loo, so we decided to go to a nice coffee shop we had seen earlier. When we got there, however, it was closed. 

Walking around the town to try and find either a toilet or another cafe, we wandered through the central square. There was a lady locking up the public toilets and she wouldn’t let us use them. Apparently there was no water. Water, or the lack of it, seems to be an issue here. 

Across the other side of the square we came across the town library. We thought we would ask if there was a toilet we could use there. The 2 ladies in charge were very sweet. One lady took me to the ladies and showed me it had to be flushed with a bucket. No running water here either. When I returned Dennis was chatting to the other lady, in English. It turn out she was an English teacher.

Progressing down the street, we came across a little cafe selling coffee and ice creams. I had a coffee and we were both naughty and had ice cream sundaes with big dollops of cream on top.

Dennis was worried about leaving Poki so returned for her while I finished my coffee. 

Taltal seems a very gentle sort of town. It isn’t wealthy, but everything seems to function in an orderly manner and the people are friendly. Chile is a lot more expensive than the other South American countries we have visited so far.

We still needed to get water. We were directed to a supermarket selling 6 litre bottles. We bought 4 which should keep us going for a few days. Returning to Poki, we emptied them into our tanks.

By this time it was after 4.30, so we thought we would go back to the laundry and see if it was ready, which it was. Having sorted it out and put it all away, we set off to find a camping spot for the night.

Dennis had found a place about 40kms further down the coast, so off along the coast road we went. It is a seriously inhospitable coastline. Barren hills on one side of the road and a very rocky shoreline on the other. 

Before we had gone too far, we came across a flat bay with a large camper truck parked in the middle. We decided we would camp here too and drove over to the camper to ask if they would mind if we shared the beach. 

It turned out to be a German camper. We stopped to talk to the gentleman who was standing outside. He wasn’t very communicative. He was flying a drone. Whether he was worried about getting the drone back, or whether he didn’t speak much English we couldn’t establish. However, we drove to the far side of the beach and set up camp.

Evening

After a very dull day, it was a sunny evening. We walked down to the water’s edge. There are many sea shells and sea weed. On the white, guano covered rocks there were a few penguins. Only properly visible once we got the binoculars out. The sun set, beautifully, behind the rocks.

Hopefully, the gently breaking waves will lull us to sleep.

I can’t check, as we have no WiFi. (It only seems to work within, or close to, built up areas.) I think penguins go off to sea for a period of time. Once they have reared their chicks on land, they spend time at sea catching fish and fattening themselves up again, to cope with the next breeding season. Presumably the rocks get covered in guano when they are all on land raising their chicks.

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