Staying at the National Park overnight after being in beautiful Bahia Inglesa is the biggest disappointment for us. The camping site and the facilities are terrible and I wonder why we paid 5,000 peso each to be here (which is about $10.00 AUD each) . The bathrooms are filthy and with no running water and no toilets working. *Note to self; check these things before agreeing and paying the amount… We pack up early the next day as we are keen as mustard to get out of this place. I think we thought it was going to be a National Park like what we have in Australia, well looked after full of trees, nature and the coastal beach (which was the only thing that saved this place from being a wreck) but instead it was full of rubbish dating back to 2008, cigarette butts and loud noisy people who all arrived after we had set up camp. And then I ate something that didn’t quite agree with me and for the next 12 hours I wasn’t the best. And I can tell you its a horrible place to be in what with no running water and no working toilets!!!!! If only my mother could see me now… Thank god for sanitizer and tissues that’s all I’m going to say on this matter… Taltal here we come!!! It’s a good two-hour ride from where we are and all is going well till we arrive at our destination. It’s a dump!!! With a brigade of evil, mean, biting dogs who greet us on our way into town. Most of the time when arriving into a town we get the odd dog or two who try to out run the motor bike but are harmless and usually stop after a while, but not in Taltal. These dogs are horrible and scary and attack David by biting his motor bike boot. Unfortunately the only way to get rid of them is to kick them off as they are literally attached to the bike. Every corner we turn there are more dogs waiting for us. It’s almost like they have prearranged this attack on us. And when we think we have outsmart them they are hiding in bushes and behind fences waiting for us to arrive. I seriously haven’t seen anything like it and while I am screaming and laughing on the back of the bike David is swearing and kicking these dogs off his foot and away from the bike. Its crazy and it baffles me that they aren’t even scared of getting caught under the front wheel. So while the local towns people of Taltal watch this comedy affair we drive into a service station to escape, fuel up and decide to get the hell out of this joint!! The day isn’t going well so far and we decide to push on and go to Antofagasta which was going to be our next destination anyway. It’s another two hours from Taltal and the time is 1130 already. The days go by so quickly. So we take the coastal road to Antofagasta and we are feeling better in no time. The views of the water and rocks are amazing and the road with all its curves and turns is great to ride on.
When we arrive into Antofagasta I am surprised as to how big the city is and we try to find some hostel accommodation so I can feel normal again. I’m starting to find the whole finding a campsite/hostel a little stressful and usually I try to do some homework the day before but not this time. After rocking up to a few different hostels and getting no answer we finally find the one for us. Hostel Herbe Suite. Owned by a Harley Davidson motorbike fan and is happy to see us in our riding gear and takes David around the back to show him his bike. Its kind of cute how the guys like to discuss and share bike stories, I silently chuckle to myself. It’s a great hostel, close to shopping complexes with great WiFi , clean rooms, toilet paper and steaming hot water. We have found any place with toilet paper and hot water to be one hell of a luxury and something that we only get on the occasion. It’s usually bring our own loo paper and enjoy a cold or luke warm shower and that’s on a good day camping..
