Day 12 – Saturday, February 7, 2026

here is a line in the musical Evita which says "it seems crazy, but you must believe, there was nothing calculated, nothing planned". This could be my motto for this, abs actually all, my biking trips. In the in the morning I chatted with a friend and told herl, that the Ataxama desert was still about 1,000 km away.

...1ljust 15vkm later 5 km , I saw a sign welcoming me to the Atacana region....

The night was really peaceful, I made a photo of the playground (includingmy private camping) - and the beautiful flowers decorating this settlement.

The day was quite tough, wtwo two never-ending ascents. I rode 117 km abäns ascended 1,500m. Ihave included a photo of thr varren, but beautiful surroundings - if you zoom in, you can see rhe road wibding up. A najorr highlight was a tree with dozens of parrots, twittering (Xing? 🙂) loudly.

I guess the "real" Atacama is indeed far away, with elevation people get sick at. Still, it was so hot my water ran out mire than once (despite me carrying about 7 liters. A nice memory - in sign of the Chilean generosity- was a truck driver, who not only gave me water, but aldo chesese, bread and a piece of fruit. Gracias, amigo! I also rode by a large observatory.

The last 20 kilometers were all downhill, I rolled into a large town called Vallebar...

...Let us pause for a second. The words of my Dad echoed in my ears, he told me a lot of accidents happen in the last mile of a trip, so I was extra cautious. Still, I was rolling with about 30km/h downhill with my weight (top secret) and my luggage (rouglhly 20 kg), two dogs jolted at me, with a speed that would put Usain Bolt at shame. One, coming from behind and below me, sped up so much it was suddenly in front of me, the other slightly behind me. There was also quite a bit of traffic, so the margin of error was minimal. I applied emergency brakes and shouted/screamed so loud, that it startled the dogs for a split second. I thought they had given up, no, they cane for a second attack. I screamed even louder, I don't think I had been that loud this century - then they gave up finally. I had to laugh at myself for this - but it was not an immaterial event.

In town, I am staying in a nice cabin akitchen and a separate bathroom with a pool right in front - which I haggled down tof €40 - a good price ...looking forward to tomorrow!