I have crossed countless rivers on my trip so far. Many of them had huge river beds but none of them had any water. I don’t know if that’s due to the season or if the climate has changed so drastically overall. Also I have been told that rivers get diverted simply because water is quite important here.

This here also used to be a huge river below.

Not only the landscape changed constantly. Also the architecture had changed. All houses outside of bigger towns now looked the same. They were all snow white painted brick cubes.

This of course is to reflect the sun and reduce the heat.

On my way along the coast I found a site where there used to be a gold mine and the infrastructure still partially exists. It seems to be a bit of a tourist attraction out here in the middle of nowhere but I was the only one there in the late afternoon.
The agecent town seemed completely empty also. Siesta is not a joke here. Which I completely understand. On a sign I could have read what the silos are for but I did not have the willpower to do so in te heat. Not only is the heat uncomfortable, it also makes you so much more tired.

Distances seemed very vast now. I could ride an hour without seeing a single human beeing. Understandably in this wide space of emptyness where nothing grows.

I was climbing up a hill on a great little road which really only offered space for one vehicle in many uncomfortable spots with a long drop on one side. But the road offered a fantastic onto the valley I had come from.

After passing the hill I was surprised to see that in fact there was a lot growing on this land. The main purpose of the vally on the other side seemed to be growing fruits and vegetables. There were countless green houses as far as the eye could see right in the desert.

Another hour closer to the coast I finally reached San Jose. A place I wish I had stayed at longer. It lays in a national park and it was easy to see why. After having passed through all of San Jose -which is a very moderately sized village- on the other side there are no paved roads anymore and this is where you can find the most beautiful spots.

The village itself looked idyllic as well.

The only problem was that this being a national park camping would be prohibited. There were quite a few official camp sites a bit outside of San Jose but none close to the village and well quite frankly they were a bit expensive for my taste. 20Euros and up for a night (which is not extraordinary unfortunately but I did not want to spend that much). There wasn’t really any obvious spot to camp in the national park though. Not a single tree and no flat ground that wasnt covered with rocks. I explored a few offroad paths and ended up reluctantly choosing this one spot which was quite exposed on a hill.

I decided to wait for the sun to set to pitch my tent. I was going to get up before sunrise to take down the tent again in order to not be discovered in the national park. Until the sun had set I ate dinner which consisted of fish, bread, and a partially fermented whole pineapple. I had bought it fresh for a special low price offer the day before at a supermarket only to find out afterwards that it was not priced as advertised. The heat in the black panniers had not been particularly good for the fruit but after paying a lot I did not want it to go to wast. It was still refreshing after another exhausting day and I felt fit and willing to face the possible congestive consequences the next day.

Once more I had a fantastic view of the night sky and the moon provided just enough light for me to set up my tent in the darkness. Exhausted I fell onto the my matrace. At least the night would be somewhat cooler this close to the coast.