Today is a transit driving day - we are on our way to Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar. We are up, have breakfast, load up the truck and are ready to get away just after 9 AM (only a bit late today). The only problem is that we cannot start the engine. While we have been sitting here for a few days, the battery has drained (too much music maybe ....). We try to reverse push start it, but there is a Land Rover behind us, so that does not work too well. The Encounter group is here, so we go ask Jeff if he can give us a jump start. After maneuvering his truck into place and attaching the cables (with a few sparks flying), we are once again up and running. We are off just before 10 AM.
We drive all day long through the Atacama Desert - beautiful, but barren landscape. We have lunch on the side of the road. In mid-afternoon we stop in Antofagasta to do some cook group shopping. They have a huge, modern supermarket there. We stock up.
Shortly after 6 PM we pull off the road and drive up a valley to go look for a bush camp. It is a great spot, with the only problem being that it is flat and wide open. The ladies have a look of dismay on their faces. But Sam wanders off with the shovel and after a short way find a dip in the otherwise flat land to dig a latrine.
As it starts to get a bit cool and the wind does not die off, we build a fire and gather around it. We begin to drink some of the wine that we have picked up in the supermarket. It becomes a bit of a wine tasting and we start to compile a list of the wines that we have tasted and a taste and value for money rankings for each.
After dinner we spend some more time around the fire enjoying the wine (even though we have just finished off what we had expected to be a few days supply) and the great night sky.