Heading to Jama …..

Arica is a port town, near the sea the morning started covered with fog, it looked like cold but I believe it was the humidity that made things worst.

I decide to test the heated vest and the connection with the dimmer. I know it worked in Calgary but with all the stuff that happened with the fan problem, I disconnected the cables in my search for a short circuit (when the fuses were blowing). I do not want to find a surprise in the Andes when is cold and far from big cities; no issues , it worked just fine.

The ride started climbing as I was leaving the coast behind me, large dunes with carves road, like Peru, until I reach a plateau. As usual the temperature started raising but not to the point that will convince me to take some liners off. The roads crosses several canyons, if you go through them you have to ride down the side almost 11 km down, cross the flat area and climb another 11 km up to reach again the top.

If the road goes from west to east, then is warm; on the contrary, when you head to the sea, you can see the fog entering the valley and temperature drops substantially.

In some cases they have use some of the natural inside the canyons to build roads that looks like runing on top of old rivers

The road is also filled with this kind of monuments that....I'm not sure wjat they mean but I'll check

My next stages is San Pedro de Atacama, last city before the border with Argentina in, what's looks like one of the most beautiful crossings to Chile in the Cordillera de los Andes, the Jama pass. If you want to read something about it in real English (not spanglish) you can check here :

74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:https://www.enjoy-argentina.org/jujuy-destinations-jujuy-paso-jama.php

I have already checked in Internet the potential lodging alternatives in San Pedro and Susque, will see how it works....highly likely internet will not be available in Susque (I believe yes in San Pedro) therefore, I'll pass the “dark side of the moon” and then make the comments and pots pictures (I hope). 
 

jorge