Iquique and the Ghost Towns

From Arica I headed south to the coastal city of Iquique, another place famous for its surf. It's also where the large earthquake hit a few weeks ago. I was a bit unsure about whether to go, because I wasn't sure what state the city would be in, but I'm glad I did because apart from some pretty hefty cracks in the roads (which could have been there before) there was no sign of any disaster. I'm also planning to go to Valparaíso next week, where there was a fire shortly after the earthquake. What's going on, Chile!? It´s basically the Big Olive from Hercules. 

I had two nights in Iquique, and the first day I just spent some time exploring. There are some lovely Georgian buildings in the centre, and a very nice central square. But the beaches are also nice. It wasn't warm enough to sunbathe, but I did have a good wander up and down the front. 

It's interesting actually. Iquique sits on the coast, but you have to climb a steep road to drive out to the desert above, and a semi-permanent haze seemed to hang heavily over the city, but the desert above was clear with deep blue skies. It was the same on the way there from Arica. At one point we descended into a sandy valley which was full of mist, but the land above was bathed in sun. I guess the humidity gets trapped in the valleys. 

My second day was the reason I even stopped in Iquique. I did a tour to an oasis town called Pica, but what I wanted to see were the old deserted mining towns on the way. We stopped at Santa Laura and Humberstone, which are both worth seeing. 

These were once self-contained towns where thousands of people lived and worked mining the nitrate-rich desert. This export is what Chile's economy was based on for decades, until Germany developed artificial nitrate, and the mines, and towns too, were abandoned in 1960. The desert sands took over and now the buildings are empty shells of rusted corrugated iron and fraying wood. 

Wandering round them was fascinating. It's not often that I'm that grabbed by historical sites, but I loved these towns, especially the larger Humberstone. The living quarters were particularly atmospheric. Maybe I've seen too many psychological horrors but when I came across a playground near the old school with an empty swimming pool, still with diving boards hanging over nothing, and a swing-set with one swing remaining, I could almost hear the screams of playing children. Very creepy indeed. 

You can take a tour from Iquique that includes the ghost towns, or you can take a bus or colectivo to Humberstone and then catch any bus to Iquique from the bus stop outside, but buses can be few and far between to get back. They're absolutely worth it though. They're like nothing I've ever seen before. 

The Holy Grail

Yesterday I found English Breakfast tea in a supermarket in Iquique. In the random Waitrose section right next to the cheese-flavoured noodles.

I am so happy. I will never leave home without it again.

Tacna, Peru to Arica, Chile by Bus

Yesterday I left Peru and the five weeks there behind me, and entered a new country! I was really excited to go to Chile, if only for a change of scene. But also I can't wait to explore the Atacama desert.

I got a Flores bus from Arequipa to Tacna, which was advertised as taking five hours, but actually took six. The journey south was through very rugged terrain at times, the road clinging to the sides of valleys seemingly made entirely of golden scree. Then we went into the desert proper, and I had my first views of all-encompassing, horizon-hugging nothingness, only broken occasionally by the waltz of power cables across the landscape. 

I met a very nice couple on the bus, Amy and Cody, and they were going to Arica as well, so we tackled the border together. Arriving at Tacna you need to cross the road to the international bus station and find one of the many people asking if you want a colectivo to Arica, which is basically a taxi which they fill with people and then go. It cost us 20 soles per person. 

They take your passport from you to print off a small form which you need at Chilean immigration. Keep that safe! 

It's 20km to the border from Tacna, and then a further 20km to Arica once you're in Chile. Despite being directly south, Chile is in a different time zone, and due to daylight saving time we lost two hours, despite my iPod insisting Chile was only an hour ahead. There is a digital clock when you go through to prove Apple wrong. 

Then our driver took us to the bus station in Arica and dropped us and our bags there. The three of us bought tickets for our onward journeys, Amy and Cody to San Pedro, and me to Iquique for this morning. 

We walked along the beach, just in time to see a gorgeous sunset, and had dinner near the main plaza. Arica is a really relaxed surfing town, and I liked it a lot, even though I was only there for one night. 

It was also really nice to be back at sea level, as for the last four weeks I've been at least 2,500 metres up in the mountains. But oddly I didn't feel any different, other than not being out of breath after taking two steps. I guess I had properly acclimatised to the thin air, which I suppose is a good thing. 

Right now I'm lying on a very comfortable sofa by a window overlooking the front patio of my beach-adjacent hostel in Iquique, and tomorrow I'm doing a tour to the nearby mining ghost towns and oasises. No complaints my end.