After two weeks inland — canyons, salt flats, high passes — the day finally turns toward the ocean. The route cuts west to the coast rather than continuing up the interior desert, trading the bone-dry Panamericana for a road that runs alongside the Pacific most of the way into Iquique.
West to the Coast
The 8:00 am departure from San Pedro de Atacama retraces the road toward Calama, the copper capital of the region and the last significant town before the desert opens up in earnest. Fuel at the Shell station on the way through before picking up Ruta 24, the Ruta del Loa, heading due west. The road is fully paved and direct — 155 kilometres cutting straight across the pampa toward the coast, a welcome contrast to the switchbacks and gravel of the weeks prior. There is little out here beyond distance and horizon; the desert this far from any oasis is simply empty, the ground the colour of old bone.