Day 15 – Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Similar to the previous day, I had grand plans, meaning to cover lots and lots of miles.
It took me quite a while to get ready, then I had to backtrack to Caldera. There I found a supermarket - pretty much the first one I had visited on this section of the trip - where I ended spending over half an hour and bought so much junk that my bags would literally overflow.
About to set off, at a pretty town square at the center, next to the church, I smelt freshly brewed coffee - another half an hour gone. Still in town, I saw a queue, not knowing what they were waiting for, I stood in line. A sweet petite lady was serving yummy bakery stuff, I bought something everyone else did - "folded" it is called.
Popular bakery
Petite lady - note the Xmas decoration behind her (in February)
Finally, I started rolling. Soon thereafter, I saw a sign to "Santuario de Granito Orbicular", pointing to "something" about a mile of unpaved road. There I took a wrong turn, but then I found what I was looking for. It was a 180 million year-old granite rock formation, with unique orbicular textures, caused by cooling of magma. As luck would have it, a lizard was also paying a visit there, to the joy of the two year-old Michael, son of a lovely couple.
Amazing rock formation...
...right on the beach...
A lizard on the top of the rock
A friendly family with 2-year-old Michael, who never looks into the camera
At the granite stone was a QR code for a cool video of Caldera tourism board, if interested, you are welcome to watch it: (https://youtu.be/bEYETIgSUPc?feature=shared). Anyhow, someone did tell me the beaches in this area are the best ones in Chile.
Way behind schedule, I rode on a pretty road.
It was a pretty road I was continuing on
It was then saw a sign for - a zoo...Who would consteruct a zoo in the middle of a desert?? I first thought to ride on, but then curiosity got the better of me and I stopped. Then I understood - it was a large field of granite rocks, which are continously eroded by the wind.
Wind eroding granite rocks
Amazing
Great forces!
I made a dozen shots, marveled at the artistic Kraft of Nature. In front of me were sandy, desert-like mountains. This unique landscape is caused by the combination of the Atacama Desert, the Humboldt Current, and the rapid rise of the Andes mountains.
Looks like a pyramid in front of the mountain
Never have I see formations like these
The ohterworldly rock formations on the side of the road continued and the creative folks painted these to make monsters or other artistic formations.
Quite creative...
This one, too
Donald Duck or Donald Trump?
I set a goal to reach the next big town, so that at least I could make 100 kilometers. However, 10 km or so shy of my internal goal I spotted a sign for Hippie Beach. Well, I am living a bit like a hippie anyqay, so I turned around and took the turn-off. It was a neat village with a rocky beach - here I found a very friendly family spending their summer in a hige tent, with all luxuries (a generator running TV, a full-sized kitchen, there was a toilet, bathroom, etc). I asked them if they knew a good spot for camping - they invited me to pitch my tent in their covered patio.
My tent in front of the huge tent
Inside the huge tent, after dinner
Just to nod again to the Chilean people - after pitching my tent, they invited me in, where hot tea and a nice sandwich was waiting for me. Gracias, such generosity!
So ended my biking day, with 97 km and 800m of ascent - a touristy day.