Day 14 – Monday, February 9, 2026

My cabin was real comfy, I thought to stay one day and relax there, but thenI also wanted to explore the world.

Comfy cabin

This little settlment was anything but developed, but still had a nice wibe to it.

Colorful area

I had big plans to leave early, but it was only around 8:30 that I got to the saddle.

I could write a lot, but it should suffice to say it was a desert road, I would not recommend it for everyone. I had to keep my spirits high, sometimes it appeared the road would never end - you looked ahead and it led to infinity. (Once, riding towards Szeged from Budapest in my native Hungary, I had such an experience).

The road to infinity

Ten kilometers later, it looked the exact same

Sometimes it was sand everywhere

I welcomed this flurishing green vegetation!

I was glad to meet a living creature - a large bunch of whateverthenameis, growing onto the surface of the road. Life finds its way! AI tells me it is Lantana montevidensis, also called Trailing Lantana.

Life finds it way everywhere...

This one was particularly large

...and more life...

Overall, the surroundings - even though I was riding close to the ocean - was anything but welcoming. Yeah, this was the ocean area of the Atacama Desert - not the most inviting places of all.

So I reached a byway to the byway I was riding on and the area became friendlier - I was now riding on hte coast, with either completely or nearly empty beaches - incredible. In other places, such a coastline would be full of hotels, bungalows, campings - for about 35 km, there was just pure nature.

Not too many folks

To my surprise, after all this barren area, I reached a coastal wetland. It’s the only significant bird‑rich wetland in that stretch of the Atacama coast.

Platform for birdwatching

Black cat, white cat

There was a bird watch platform - and to emphasize its importance, an huge vulture was sitting on the top of this construction.

This vulture was watching me from the top of the man-watch building

I picked one such empty beach for a swim, or at least a dip. Such an action is expensive time-wise. You have to lock your bike, find your swimming gear, walk to the beach, change, go in for a few minutes, then reserve the above, with having sand all over you (correct, there were no showers). It was still nice to be freshened up. I must admit I did not go in for too long, for the fear or rip tides, any dangerous sea animals, etc. No one could have helped me if something went south in thbe water.

Is there anybody out there?

Riding through a beach called Bahia Ingles, I reached the town of Caldera, where I had dinner (an otherwise tasty piece of chicken I could have had anywhere else in the world).

Church of Caldera

As I was riding in town, I saw the only Hungarian word I had seen on this entire trip - and that used in the wrong context. On the fence on a hotel, was the word "Welcome" written in various languages. In Hungarian, it should be "Üdvözöljük" or "Isten hozta". The way it was written here, "Fogadtatás", means "Reception" or "how something is received", something similar. I entered the reception and told them about the wrong word, they had no idea what I was talking about.

A decent attempt at welcoming Hungarian guests

I started looking for a accommodation, again, prices were sky-high (e.g. in Italy, I found better deals). I decided I would not give serious dollars (i.e. pesos) for this place and had to backtrack to Playe del Ingles for some 5 kilometers (and back that on the following day) for a rather crappy campground - it reminded me of a camping on Lake Balaton in the Seventies. They dare charge €15 for no hot water, dirty toilets, no internet, no washing machine - yeah, Eastern European standard some 50 years ago.