Day 19 – Saturday, February 14, 2026

I greeted the rays of the morning sun and drank an excellent cup of hot chocolate at the visitor center, paid by EU taxpayer money. Many thanks, my fellow EU citizens!

Good morning sunshine!

The Head of Security allowed me to stay there

Then around 10 am, about 40 visitors arrived — by individual cars. (I was eagerly eyeing which one might drop me to Antofagasta, as my bike was not functional.) We had an energetic and enthusiastic tour guide, who told us many interesting things about the European Southern Observatory. There are four large telescopes, each of which weighs 23 tons and is 8.3 m in diameter. Impressive. These can work individually, but can also be joined together to create a combined image. Such combinations allowed for the first exoplanet to be photographed.

One of the four main observatories

There are smaller telescopes around the four main ones, sort of like R2D2 (from Star Wars)

An observatory from the inside...

Ongoing maintenance

A large mirror

Impressive was the staff’s quarter with a swimming pool and huge plants; it has served as the scene of a James Bond movie.

The staff’s quarter, with a swimming pool (in the driest place on Earth...!)

Also cool was to see the top of Ojos del Salado, with 6,893 m the tallest active volcano in the world.

A huge volcano (blurry pic, max. zoom, 200 km away, sorry!)

While I enjoyed the tour, the thought of getting to the next big town, Antofagasta, loomed in my head. What came out was a typical Balazs-like solution.

In my group was a German lady, Annette, who was there by rental car; however, it was a relatively small one. There was also a Chilean family with three children — they had a pick‑up truck. Here is what happened: my bike itself fit in the truck of the family, however, the children had no space. So I asked Annette to drive the children and myself; with the family leading the way, we were sort of a convoy — no, in a desert, it is called a caravan.

Fate, it seems, was with me, as this was an especially unfriendly patch of road. I had so far enjoyed riding in the desert (well, except for the 50 km or so that I hitchhiked), but here, the atmosphere changed. Moreover, I thought that dropping from 2,400 meters would be all downhill, but no — there were huge inclines. Riding there would surely not have been fun. There was also a disgusting industrial area, with a combination of smoke, dirt, mud, oil — I am glad I avoided that.

The family was really nice; they made sure I got to a bike shop that was still open on this Saturday afternoon. The father also helped me schlepp all my stuff to the bike shop. Many many thanks!

I have never been to a bike store where the manager was so patient, empathic and welcoming. Understandably, with Sunday a day off, my bike would be ready earliest on Monday. This meant I had two days of idling time in the city.

This sign I saw in a cafe — taken from the car

The town, as far as I could tell, was made up of a couple of parts:

1. Southern area — this is where I arrived; it is a modern residential area, with beaches, malls and new housing; there is also a huge — and beautiful — park
2. Historical center — colonial buildings, but also houses a huge plaza
3. Industrial zone — Antofagasta is a mining town, so there is a large port along the coastline
4. Bazaar — there is a large “bazaar”, an area full of smaller shops and restaurants
5. Northern area — older residential area
6. Outskirts — rather shabby area, right at the edge of the desert

It was a nice, well‑maintained and clean hotel close to the beach that I booked, but I made the mistake of booking it in the northern part of the town. (I actually mixed up two hotels belonging to the same chain — there was a downtown hotel and an “express” hotel outside — and I managed to book the latter.) So I took buses to get around, which was quite adventurous — but uncomplicated at the same time.

The beach as seen from my hotel window — it was in an unspectacular area

In the evening, I set off for a walk from my hotel to downtown.

There was a funny thing that happened. I texted Omar, who had helped me find a bike mechanic in Los Andes a week earlier, and told him I was in Antofagasta. He told me it was a pretty town, but I should not be walking on the streets of the northern area after 6 pm. I looked at my watch — it was 6:05 pm. And where was I? In the northern area of town.

Oh well, yes, there were a few questionable folks, but nobody bothered me.

February 14 is Valentine’s Day and pretty much every couple was walking with heart‑shaped chocolates, balloons, artificial flowers. The vendors were delighted about the business.

Seems to be popular in Chile, too

I loitered around for over an hour or two, then took a bus back to the hotel, showered and slept.