11. The Maintenance Day on The Coast
Day 155
I didn't have to get up too early today as I have only 310 km of easy riding. All my bags were packed already so I had a nice breakfast. I strapped my bags on my bike and I said goodbye to San Pedro. It was a nice morning with very little traffic heading westbound. I came through here three weeks earlier. About 100 km west of San Pedro just by town of Calama. There are huge, solar panel farms and also wind farms there. Good place to have them, if not here where else.
The road was nice and smooth and I set my cruise control to 120. From Calama westbound the road was even better. A perfect tarmac. The scenery was a little bit boring though. There was nothing to look at, just desert. I haven't seen one tree between San Pedro and the coast which was growing on its own. Only a few trees in small towns and settlements. The road ever so slightly descents towards the ocean. The top of the road today was 3400 m and I will end up at the sea level in Antofagasta. It didn't take too long to get to the coast. I rode 320 km in three hours and 30 minutes. It was quite hot in the middle of the desert but not ridiculous. In about 40 km from the coast, the temperature started to drop. There is a mountain range along the coast so I didn't see the ocean until I was 4 km from the beach. There is a great descent to Antofagasta, and all of a sudden there's a great beach and the Pacific Ocean in from of you. You can smell the salt air of the Pacific. I was really looking forward just to that. The desert was great, but I love the ocean, love the smell of the air, and I love the sound of the surf.
It was too early to check in to my hotel, so I went straight to the bike shop. I no problem finding it. And there was the owner, Luis. He has one leg in a brace, just hoping around, leg supported on a small stool on wheels. One of his bikes hen was working on fell, and he tried to save it. Well, he didn't, and the bike fell on his foot breaking it. Now he has to wear the brace for two months. That of course doesn't stop him from working on bikes. He is a one-man show, he is the owner, the mechanic, the cleaner, department manager and the PR person. Terry was there yesterday and told him that I'm coming today so he had pretty good idea what needs to be done. He told me to come back in a few hours and we'll go from there.
I went back to the hotel and tried to check in. I was still too early. I went to the restaurant I had lunch on the terrace on 14th floor of the hotel. I'm staying at Hilton here in Antofagasta. I decided to treat myself a little bit. This is a first nice hotel in five months so I think I deserve it. Certainly my body needs it. The price is pre-reasonable over here, it is $100 per night. Compared to crappy places in the middle of nowhere, it is actually pretty cheap. Just the breakfast is worth at least $40. Terry was still in town and staying in the same hotel. I sent him a message and he came to join me for lunch. He'll be leaving tomorrow south towards Santiago and Patagonia. I checked in the hotel after the lunch, and got my bags off my bike. I rode about five minutes to the shop.
The Luis’ shop is in no way, shape or form affiliated with BMW. However, there are about 20 BMW motorcycles in the shop. He has everything he needs to do any repairs. He also have a tire changing and balancing machine there as well. Three racks full of quality tires are behind the bikes. We talked a bit and made a plan of actions what needs to be done. I picked the tires I want and that was a first course of action, then oil, filters and few other minor adjustments. We scanned the bike’s computer for fault codes, but everything came out green. Awesome. Interestingly enough, when BMW dealer needs some parts he calls Luis! Kinda strange, it should've been the other way around. But thanks to BMW dealer inefficiency Luis has a lot of work. When I came to the shop, he was already waiting for me and started to work on my bike right away. What a great service. The otherer bikes are from local owners, whose bikes don't have to be done at this moment. He takes care of transient bikers like me first and it is an awesome service. He told me that his son competes in bike rallies and there are four guys from Antofagasta competing in the next year Dakar rally, which starts in three days. It looks like he's very popular guy, there are guys stopping by the shop all afternoon. And the guys come in, pick up a rag or a tool and start helping on my bike. At one point there were four guys working on it. We've got everything I needed done in a few hours. The bike is fully serviced now, and I am free to roam the world again knowing that my bike is at 100%.
I went back to my hotel, texted Terry and went for a dinner downstairs. A great local restaurant with great food and great beer and even had a DJ playing great tunes. It was an early night for me. I was kind of tired. But I feel good that everything was done and everything worked out.
Today is my off day. Meaning, I am not riding anywhere. I'm catching up on the blog and will post few sets of pictures as well. I had a great breakfast in the morning sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the beach front and the ocean. I even found a Starbucks not too far from here so I will go there in the afternoon.
The plan for tomorrow is to cross the border to Argentina. It will be an ambitious day, about 650 km. I will go back to San Pedro the same way I came here yesterday and then continue through the mountains towards Argentinian border and further 200 km into Argentina.
I will tell you all about it in the next blog.