The desert becomes the beach: From Iquique to Antofagasta, Chile.

Jose suggested we take the coastal route to Antofagasta. Thank you Jose.

Shirley and Ken were with us until lunch at Tocopilla.  They then headed inland to Calama where Shirley will board her homebound flight tomorrow. We will miss her very much.
Hasta luego, Shirley.

Dick and I are staying here in Antofagasta until Ken rejoins us on Sunday.

We rode the coast route with pleasure. Each bend brought a new vista of the sea and of the rugged rocky hillsides spilling rocks which must be a road maintenance nightmare.

These hills are alive.

 Somewhere over there is home. We dipped our toes in the Pacific.

 Surf waves rolled in all along the coast.

This fish was the freshest we have eaten in months. It was delicious. I am working on an hypothesis that the food cooked with love always tastes better.
Here is the loving cook today.

These hills are criss crossed with roads leading to mines. The world's largest copper refinery is in Calama, not too far away from here.

 Often the roads were curvaceous today.  Other times we swooped along straight roads.

 An almost pristine beach in northern Chile.

 This afternoon I realized that my back was warm. The sun was behind us as we travelled south. This is the first time the sun has been behind us since we turned round and headed south at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
We crossed the  Tropic of Capricorn at 2.30pm today just north of Antofagasta, Chile.

A symbol of the shipping industry installed on the promenade in Antofagasta.
We had noticed many mines on our trip from Iquique. Some minerals are shipped from northern ports but most are shipped from Antofagasta.
Antofagasta is also the main port for landlocked Bolivia.

We rode 410km today. 32,662km since Vancouver, 4880km since Quito, Ecuador.