The next destination is a good 1,400 kilometres and almost 24 hours by night bus south of the Atacama Desert. In cool La Serena on the Pacific, the fog hangs lower than under the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Behind it, the hot and dry Valle de Elqui rises to almost 4,800 metres to the Argentinian border. The two together create the rocket motor for Chile’s number one strong wind spot.
The Embalse Puclaro is a small reservoir in the vine-covered valley 50 kilometres behind La Serena. The wind is thermal and blows on a gigantic 300 afternoons a year with an average of 25 to 30 knots. Hidden Lines was a guest here. Vicuña is the last lively centre before the Argentinian border, 170 km away, and has a population of almost 2,500. (more…)
The Author
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.