Day 21 – Monday, February 16, 2026
I had a bit of a restless night - preparing Plan B's, Plan C's, etc, should they not manage to fix by bike. Check-out time from my hotel was noon and by pure coincidence, a few minutes before twelve, I got a joyful message from the bike shop that the bike was ready!
I literally jumped on a bus that pulled in right in front of the hotel and a quarter of an hour later, I re-met (is that a word?) my bike. A huge thanks to Katari Bike Shop in Antofagasta!
I was really grateful for having a working bike again
There were some errands that I could have easily taken care of in the morning (purchasing food - and more importantl - water, sunscreen, replacing my lost sunglasses, changing money, etc.), so it was only around 3 pm that I left town.
The view from the bike shop - pleasant!
Hmmm...interesting...or not?
Antafagosta did not show its prettiest face. There were grey clouds above town and it was an incline I had been dreading since I arrived two days prior. Worse, the road led me through a slum of sorts - something similar I had seen close to the airport in Santiago. Here a man in a car decided to be my bodyguard, he was driving slowly behind me, telling me where to turn (and where not to). When I stopped at a shope to get some bread, he waited paitently, even telling me to move my bike closer to the curb.
The town ended abruptly and I was in an unfriendly, greyish desert area (something similar to the area I had driven through when arriving at the city on Saturday). It was steep uphill, going up to about 600 m of altitude. From here, there was a drop - but also winds of orcan strengtht started howling - and I reached a huge flat yellowish desert. Noteworthy was seeing that the clouds all got stuck in the mountains - they did not dare to enter the flat desert.
Clouds hanging over the hills - not over the desert
So now I am back on PanAmerican Ruta 5, heading north and again there are two-by-two lanes.
At 7 pm, I spotted a petrol station. Checking ny map, the next sign of civilization is 40 km away - and that uphill - this I did not want to risk. I started asking the stuff at the station if I could pitch my tent. First, it was a definitive no, but hey, we are in Chile, I have not heard the word "no" all too often, suddenly it swayed over to "yes". So I became a nonpaying camping guest behind the petrol station, with very friendly lorry drivers striking up conversatiosn with me. There are a gleaming clean bathrooms and modern showers with hot water (abd Dyson drier) for €0.80 and free Wi-Fi. In Playa del Ingles, I paid €15 for a camping without any of these luxuries
My tent at the petrol station
. To my surprise, I slept really well, waking up just once, when a huge lorry departed in the middle of the night.