Day 28 – Monday, February 23, 2026

For whatever reason, I did not sleep well that night. From the long ride and the short nite, it was only around 9:30 by the time I got ready - having "enjoyed" my breakfast of one slice of ham, ome slice of cheese and two bread rolls. Oh, yeah, and half a butter.

Tocopilla failed to impress me - it has a thermoelectric plant and an industrial port in the middle of it. A highlight was the small baby with the mustache pacifier. I then then set off in the direction of Iquique, some 220 km away. At the edge of the town, I realized that I failed to fill up my supplies at the last supermarket for 220 km, so I had to circle back a couple of kilometers.

Central Tocopilla

Real cute!

It was not a good decision time-management-wise. As I was riding out of town, I a road worker stopped me(just before me, cars were able to pass through) and told me I would have to wait. For how long? Roughly two hours, was the answer. Darn.

And two hours it would really turn out to be. At one point, all vehicles left the work site and drove up the hill where I was waiting with the road worker, the flagger. They all took their cellphones to make a video and - suddenly - BANG!

Yes, I witnessed a controlled explosion.

BANG!

An hour later, all the broken rocks were cleared by simply dumping them in the ocean, then the "all clear" signal came. It was then, however, that I started chatting with a motorcyclist, an elementary school teacher from Antofagasta - one of the things he told me there would be absolutely no populated areas for the next 200 km or so.

It was quite an interesting area. I suddenly saw a bunch of vultures, apparently protecting something. Then I discovered what is was - the remnants of a whale.

A vulture trying to look threatening...

...trying to protect this whale carcass

Contrary to what I had been told, there were indeed signs of settlements. First, I found a kiosk at the edge of a small village and filled up my supplies again, then there was a sign to a restaurant at another small seaside village called Caleta Urco. Little did I know rhat this place would be mmy final destination for the day.

This tiny seaside village, Caleta Urco, had incredible inhabitants

I did not find a restaurant, only a private house selling freshly made empanadadas. I was warmly welcomed, offered a seat while it was getting ready and a glass of cold Coke. I paid, wanted to leave - but they kept on saying something about a "boat".

Then I understood what they had been implying. They invited me to join the youngsters of the family to a boat outing! It was so tempting, I could not say no.

And soon we sailed out to the sea.

An amazing outing!

The best part came: most of us jumped in for a refreshing swim I asked them about the whale cadaver - oh yes, there are plenty here. We almost hit a sea lion when leaving, well, I guess it was curious. They were friendly, funny and in a great mood - we spent close to two hours out there.

Preparing for a jump

Barren hills behind the coast

Next to the beach were tents similar to one on Hippie Beach- and I felt really good here, so decided to pitch my tent on the beach. I am not going to admit that I rode just 50 km today. The boat ride, though, was priceless...

Seagull

The bay of Caleta Urca, with a boat on top of the cliffs

What a country this is...