We were up early for breakfast and loaded in the minibus by about 9am. We headed north for about 1 hour before we hit the windy mountain pass that seemed forever to climb. The minibus started to make a hissing sound as we reached the top and our driver pulled over and gave us the bad news. He called for back up because he wouldn't take us any further even though he just filled up with more water.
The next 2 hours we were roasting by the side of the road hopefully picking out the cavalry only to be disappointed by another white van. We did however have a nice set of companions from the van who gave us mate and biscuits.
By the time the new van came we were all hoping not to be the next carcases for the vultures to pick at. Wouldn't you like to bet who the new driver was? Yes the one and only Speedy Gonzales from our last encounter. He greeted us with a smirk, probably because he knew it was us that complained about him a few days before.
We drove on to Caleta Punta Choros. Here, we took in the views of Gaviota, Chañaral, Choros and Damas islands, the later three of which are part of the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve: a protected territory covering some 2,000 offshore acres where the Humboldt penguin has been known to nest. We soon had to jump into a wooden motor boat and sail across to the rocky shores of Gaviota and Choros islands, happy home to sea lions, sea gulls, pelicans and the like. After about an hour of getting too close to the big swirl and boat crunching rocks we disembarked on Isla Damas, to spend the afternoon relaxing on the white-sand beaches of La Poza and Tijera.
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