After our last adventure in Bolivia, we have now officially entered Chile. In that sense: Welcome to Chile! Our 13th border crossing since we landed in Mexico, 15 months and over 32,000km ago.
Despite regular border crossings on our journey, it is always a small highlight and an experience that fills us with anticipation to enter a completely new country for the first time. Shortly after the border, San Pedro de Atacama, the desert city of Chile, awaits us.

City center of San Pedro de Atacama

As the name of the town suggests, San Pedro de Atacama is located in the Atacama Desert of the same name. It is a real oasis settlement, with only stones, sand and rock formations for many kilometers around San Pedro de Atacama, but no other settlement. The water supply is equally precarious and the entire village is supplied with water from two rivers. Impressive and also very special. At times we feel like we are in a modern western film as the village center is made up of low buildings in characteristic adobe construction, with wooden signs indicating the name of the location. This gives San Pedro its very own charm. We are somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, the place is quite touristy and accordingly, the supply of everything a tourist’s heart desires is good. Fine restaurants, hotels and bazaars for both small and large budgets. It also holds a real fascination, as we are in the middle of a surreal lunar landscape. On the other hand, the place is very dusty, dry and apart from the extremely expensive tourist traps, there is not much else to see. Not far from San Pedro is the so-called Moon Valley – Valle de la Luna – which is so characteristic of the landscape on the moon that even NASA first tests its new instruments here in the Atacama Desert before sending them into space.

Cozy days

After the infrastructural dry spell of Bolivia, and especially the lagoon route, we spend a few leisurely days in San Pedro de Atacama. We enjoy good coffees accompanied with something sweet and let the time pass a little to replenish our energy reserves. San Pedro is just the place for that. We have seen so many highlights in close succession on the lagoon route that we decide against excursions around San Pedro de Atacama. We deliberately don’t visit the Valley of the Moon, the Valley of Death, the rock formations or, in general, an excursion into the desert. After all, we have just come from a dusty drive through desert-like landscapes. And incidentally, we now have to devote ourselves to our campervan Ben again.

Some attention for campervan Ben

Our diesel particulate filter (DPF) is full for the second time due to the bad diesel from Bolivia on the one hand and the high altitude of the Andes on the other. So off we go on a long drive to clean the DPF and explore the north of Chile. So, somewhat unplanned, we see Calama, Humberstone and Iquique on our round trip in lower regions so that our DPF burns out properly again. The good diesel in Chile helps considerably. Even before we reach our first actual destination, Humberstone, everything is back to normal. Due to the availability of good mechanics and spare parts, we just do one more service: an oil change and a fuel filter change. Now we are ready for the thousands of kilometers on our journey through Chile and Argentina. However, we also realize why Chile is often referred to as the Switzerland of South America when it comes to mechanics – the prices are similarly high. An extremely stark contrast after having lived very cheaply in Bolivia. On the other hand, the service is completely different and really inspires confidence when the workshop is equipped with the right tools and the right machines and not just one and the same tool for everything.