Nothing does and should last forever. But that 3 weeks of Iquique would in its endspurt speed up that much was a surprise. Simply neglecting the date of departure we were relatively overthrown by the few remaining possibilities to see some of the Atacama desert. Luckily Hans would agree once again to be our driver and guide.
So one day one would take the road via east and soon later could marvel at the “el gigante”. The biggest geoglyph ever found. A geoglyph – for those wondering- is a painting by scrape- and scarify technics in the desert sand. In this case a figure with quadratic head. The paintings are assumed to be several thousand years old, nevertheless the prove is missing, also their function is unclear. Still impressive, Senor Gigante.
With Pica we pass an oasis at the foot of a second rise of the kordilleres. We sip fresh Mango – and unknown fruit juice. Especially nice with temperatures like these. You wouldn’t think that the slowly rising relief will bring us to over 4000m. The panorama at the “salares de huasco”, the salt lakes at the bolivian border, is just breathtaking, in the truest meaning. A small cerveza later we torkle pretty well. From 0 to 4000m – that’s something. The flamingos and Lamas stand straight, despite their thin legs.
Not even some funny pics of dancing gliders can scare away the daemokles sword of departure. But there’s an end to everything. Still… hach..