We both slept better than any other night of the holiday so
far. We got up just before nine and were beginning breakfast when a bus turned
up and a load of school kids tumbled out. Within seconds they were kicking
about a football and generally haring about.
The women who accompanied the children set up stall on the long benches
and immediately lit a BBQ. The kids were
told to line up and each was issued with a litre of fruit drink, a cake and a
cereal bar. They then picked up their
swimwear and headed off to the pool having applied sunscreen. It was all well organised.

We ate breakfast, washed up and then used the showers. It was a tale of opposites. Joan had no hot water and Kevin nearly
scalded himself. The Valle de Socos is
famous for its waters. The campsite had tinas, which are individual inside
baths where you can relieve various medical conditions allegedly by soaking in
the water. As it was already approaching
midday, we gave them a pass and headed north with the intention of reaching
Bahia Ingles about 500 kilometres north.
By now the women were cooking sausages and chicken and mixing salads.

Initially progress was good, but the vehicle is sluggish
uphill. The route ran alongside the sea
and we passed through the city of La Serena.
Just past there, we began to climb the Cuesta Buenos Aires, that
zig-zagged uphill. At the top there was a sign for a Mirador at Punta Colorada
so we pulled over to see what the view was.
It wasn’t much. We ate a sandwich
and headed further uphill and saw a sign for the beginning of the Atacama
Desert – the driest place on earth.

Then – pop – a noise from the engine and our motorhome
ground to a halt. We pulled in and tried to have a look what was wrong. We could see there was an emergency phone
about a kilometre away so Joan covered up and set off along the arid and dusty
road whilst Kevin guarded the vehicle. Unfortunately
the emergency phone wasn’t working so it was a trudge back. We had seen an Aire de Servicios near where
we had lunch so we decided to walk together back to that. Kevin was hitching and eventually a big
Cristal Beer lorry gave us a lift. It
was farther than we thought.

He took us to the office of the emergency services there and
the two paramedics made a phone call.

A few minutes later an ambulance turned up with two blokes
who drove us back to our motorhome. Joan
rode with the driver whilst Kevin and the other guy sat in the back of the
ambulance. One looked under the bonnet and saw that a pipe which feeds oxygen
to the engine had come off. He re-attached
it with a plastic cable tie. Much
huffing and puffing ensued. The men rang
the hire company and there were several long conversations. There just isn’t AA/RAC equivalent breakdown
here. The main debate focussed on
whether we should try and get the car back to La Serena or go ahead to
Vallenar. We were precisely half way
between the two. The chaps valiantly
tried to start our car again but it was clear it wasn’t going far. More phone calls took place. The guys got it
to move at about walking pace. The
paramedic drove it at a snail’s pace to a place where we could U-turn, with the
ambulance riding shotgun. Once heading
towards La Serena it was downhill and the vehicle picked up speed. The emergency guys left us at the Aire de
Servicios with the promise that the hire company was sending a pick-up from La
Serena, about 75 minutes’ drive away. It
was now 6 pm.

By 8.45 pm it was getting dark and there was no sign of a
recovery vehicle so Joan went to speak with one of the emergency crew at the
Service area. Just as she had explained
our predicament, a truck turned up. Typical!!

The motorhome was winched onto the back of the truck and we
set off down to La Serena some 90 kilometres away. The speed of the driver was somewhat
perturbing as was his propensity to use his phone. But he was a nice guy and explained that he
was taking the vehicle to the garage in the morning. He asked us where we wanted to stay and said
there were some cheap hostels near the garage.
We didn’t want those! He passed us his phone and we searched Booking.com. We chose a hotel that is part of a Chilean
chain aimed at business travellers. We have used this chain a couple of times
before and know they are comfortable with decent WiFi.

It was eleven o’clock by the time we checked in. The bar and the restaurant had just closed
but we were told there was a restaurant on the promenade that served after
midnight. We immediately went out to
find it. It was an Italian restaurant
with very elegant décor. Never has a
humble pizza vegetariana tasted so good. Midnight passed and it was Joan’s
birthday …. But not quite as planned.