Left about 9am and
continued north and off map. We were heading for a yellow road. Fantastic colors and
wash outs some we could still drive through some gulches too deep
and/or steep and we had to go around.
After 2 days of off
the map driving we got to the yellow road and back onto the map. We
turn inland and went through another dead mine. We were hoping to
get to the lake but the road had been blocked and although we could
get around there didn’t seem to be an easy option to get down to
the lake and into the mine.
Drove back out and off the other end of the
yellow road and onto a sealed road near the mine. This mine is called
Minera Escondida (which means 'hidden' in Spanish) is a mining
company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama
Desert, 170 km south-east of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is
currently the highest producing copper mine in the world.
We were quickly
pulled over by mine security and when we explained where we were
going he led us to the office. There after much discussion and map
drawing as they could not read ours we again followed him through the
mines roads and then he let us continue. We gave him a kangaroo
bottle opener and told him he was a friend of Australia. The road we traveled was exactly the one on our map so not sure of the
confusion.
We stopped shortly
after our escort had left and checked our emails. We have had no Internet for 2 days and hadn’t seen another car since the other mine
two days ago. Just as we stopped, Jose rang to report that he had indeed found tyres for us and wanted to know what
we wanted to do. We replied the we would read his email and talk later
tonight.
Continued on through the traffic lights and out of the mine. We lost Internet at
the top of the hill at 3272m alt, so came back down to 3259m and parked
just of the road. We both have work to do with Internet.
John sent Jose to confirm that we would purchase 6 tyres. Two tyres to be shipped to Iquique north of here on the coast, and 4 tyres will
be kept in Jose’s warehouse. The tyres are costing A$375 each,
cheaper than in Australia. Jose is a legend!
55km’s north 130 k’s 3272m
55km’s north 130 k’s 3272m