Day 153
I arrived at the the border at around half past seven in the morning and it was relatively quiet.
The border post was a joint operation between Peru and Chile but there were no signs to indicate which were the immigration windows or which were the customs windows. However after a bit of messing about I eventually found the Peruvian immigration window and got stamped out of Peru but I had to complete a small form in duplicate with my bike details on it and this also got stamped.
I was given one of the copies and I was told to give this to the Chilean immigration officer. I then found the Peruvian customs window and got my TIP cancelled without any issues and at no cost.
Then I found the Chilean immigration window and the policeman at the window spoke perfect English which was the first time that I have spoken English since leaving Santa Marta almost one month ago.
I got stamped in to Chile and I was given a paper slip which I was told that I would require to produce along with my passport when it was time to leave Chile. Then I had to give him the small form given to me by Peruvian immigration which he then stamped and returned to me. Then he welcomed me to Chile and told me to go to the customs window.
At the customs window they gave me two large identical forms to complete for my TIP and then told me to return to the window when completed.
Once I did this I was given one of the TIP forms after it was stamped and signed by the customs officer along with the other small form which he also stamped and signed. This large form was apparently my TIP which did not cost me anything.
I then had to ride the bike to the customs office where I then had to remove all of my bags and put them through the x-ray machine before putting them back on the bike. Once this was done I then had to find another customs officer and give him the small form which he then signed to say that my bags had been checked. Then I rode to the exit where I had to give the small form to yet another customs officer before I could enter Chile.
Although it was a bit more form filling than I was used to all I had to produce was my passport and bike registration document. No driving licence or copies of anything else were required. It was all done in just over an hour however there were no facilities at the border to change money or buy a SiM card for my mobile phone. When I asked about this I was told that I could get what I needed in the city of Arica which was about 25 miles away.
When I got to Arica I could not find a bank nor a mobile phone shop but I spotted a large shopping centre where I was able to find an ATM where I withdrew some cash. The cash machine would only allow me to withdraw 100,000 Pesos (about 100 USD) and it charged me 8,000 Pesos (about 8 USD) for the privilege.
I stopped at a petrol station just on the edge of the town where I bought a coffee and asked about buying a SIM card. I was told that there was a market further up the road where I could buy one. In the petrol station was a big glass case in which was a vintage petrol tanker.
I arrived at the market where I was able to buy a SIM card at a mobile phone stall with 30 days and 50 gb of internet for 5000 Pesos (about 5 USD). This is when I found out that Chile is in a different time zone to Peru and it is 2 hours ahead of it so when I left the border at what I thought was 8:30 am it was actually 10:30 am in Chile.
On my way out of town I very fortunately spotted a sign that informed me that the next petrol station was 270 km (170 miles) away!
I had refuelled the previous afternoon in Tacna but as I had already done about 50 miles I had to turn around and return to the petrol station to refuel. I found to my surprise that petrol was 1.35 USD per litre in Chile which was about double of what I have paid since arriving in South America.
As I rode out of Arica on Route 5 the road rose up on to a high dessert plain for about 30 miles and then descended in to a valley and then it rose on to another plain for another 30 miles before descending in to another valley where I found a customs checkpoint. It was located in a very small hamlet in the middle of nowhere and luckily for me there were a couple of places to eat where I was able to buy a coffee.
Once again I was enduring strong head winds which was not only tiring to ride in but I also knew that they would also increase my fuel consumption which was a concern for me as the maximum range of my bike, including the reserve, on a good day is about 210 miles. I set off again and this time when I climbed up on to the plain I stayed up there for the next 100 miles. The wind was horrendous and every so often it would blow mini sandstorms across the road.
At one point there was a 10 mile diversion off of the tarmac road on to a dirt road and one of these sandstorms hit as I was on this. I ran in to it but immediately I had no visibility and I had to stop not knowing if if anything was coming in the opposite direction. Suddenly a car appeared in front of me and luckily it was going slow enough to see me before hitting me. Then about five seconds later the sand was gone and everyone could see the road again. Close shave!
At 160 miles after leaving Arica I saw the turn off for the city of Iquique on to Route 16 where I needed to stay for the night as there was no other place to stay for the next 250 miles however there was no petrol station. I decided to push on and as I dropped off of the high plain down the side of the mountain I saw the city far below.
When I arrived in Iquique I stopped at the fist petrol station and refuelled having done 187 miles and having used 11 litres of my 13 litre tank. Then I found a place to have a cup of coffee whilst I looked on-line for somewhere to stay. I then paid for my two cups of coffee which cost me over 10,000 Pesos (over 10 USD).
Once I had recovered from the shock of having to pay USD for a cup of coffee I found my way to my hotel which cost me 27,000 Pesos (about 27 USD) for the night. It had secure parking and hot water but it was very overpriced in comparison to most of the hotels in which I had previously stayed on this trip.
I then went out to get some more cash and to have a walk about the city. Like most other places I found it to be reasonably clean and tidy in the centre but outside of the centre it was more of the usual squalor. I then found that because of the two hour time difference from Peru it was by that time a 7 o’clock in the evening and almost all of the shops were closed as were all of the banks. However I managed to find an ATM that was open and once again I got stung for 8,000 Pesos for taking my own cash out.
Once back in my hotel I checked the on-line maps and I found that the following day I was going to encounter another stretch of the main road South on which there was no petrol, this time for about 240 km (150 miles). I then went to sleep not looking forward to enduring another day similar to that which I had just endured to get to Iquique.