I decided to take remote, dirt roads along the Andes Mountains. My GPS didn't work due to poor signals in those areas, and asking directions to the locals -- given my Spanish skills -- was a futile effort. I relied mostly on printed maps and the Andes Mountains that run North-South!
30% of my ride was dirt roads. Remote land, unknown language and beautiful nature. Couldn't have asked for a better adventure.I visited the Space Observatory in Combarbala. Chile is one of the driest and darkest places on the planet; home to many space observatories.
Since it was a Monday night when I visited (that too during winter), I was the only one and hence ended up getting a private tour. I was happy that they didn't cancel the tour as it was just me. I was told by the guide that I was the first Indian visiting the Observatory. Feels nice, such things! I could see 2 arms of the Milky Way with naked eyes along with inter-galaxy nebula (Clouds of dust). The sheer number of stars, the darkness -- something I had never experienced before. Through the telescopes, I got to see Saturn and its rings quite distinctly. Not just that, Saturn's largest moon Titan was clearly visible as well!
When you ride motorcycles, sometimes bad things can happen. On a remote dirt patch of Ruta Antakari (Ruta means route), I locked my rear wheel and had a fall. I wasn't hurt at all -- thanks to my gear -- but the bike didn't start right away. Since it was a 
downslope, I went a few kms with the engine shut off. Finally, I was able to start the bike somehow. As they say, atheist until the airplane starts falling :) I had no signal on my phone, the last vehicle I had seen was around 3 hrs ago and I was around 15-20 kms based on my rudimentary map estimate from the nearest town. In the middle of nowhere near the Andes Mountains -- alone!. Well, I survived
As it was winter in Chile, the mornings were cold and foggy. But I loved every bit of it. It was around 5 deg C and after an hour or so, the cold got to me :)
On the last leg of my ride, I took the Pan American Highway (The longest road in the world stretching from North America to South covering approx. 30000 kms). I rode around 500 kms on it from La Serena. The views of the Pacific on most sections are simply awesome! Jake Silverstein wrote in 2006 - "a system so vast, so incomplete, and so incomprehensible it is not so much a road as it is the idea of Pan-Americanism itself"!
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