Good Choice

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After San Pedro de Atacama we decided to break our journey to La Paz with a stop in Iquique. Turns out to have been a good choice. It was nice to be back down at sea level and to be able to have some warmer weather. The beach at Iquique is really nice with huge waves rolling in from the Pacific, the weather was perfect and there was a good choice of cafes and restaurants, it was great to have some fish after all the chicken and meat we´ve been eating lately. The highlight though was about 45km out of town. In the 1930s and 1940s there was a nitrate - I think that´s what it was, boom in this area. A processing factory - Santa Laura, and town - Humberstone were built to meet the demand. After a synthetic substitute was invented demand disappeared and the factory and town were abandoned in 1960, they´ve been left untouched ever since. It´s amazing to spend a day wandering around and in the abandoned houses, factories, hotel, swimming pool, theatre, sports grounds etc. To get back to Iquique we had to take pot luck and stand next to the road and hope a bus would stop, fortunately one did after about 20 or 30 minutes.
Next it´s an overnight bus journey back into Bolivia and back up to altitude in La Paz.

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Photos

Hide and Seek
In one of the abandoned houses.

Fancy A Dip ?
Iron swimming pool made from a salvaged shipwreck.

Big Wheel
Atsuko amongst some of the machinery.

The Factory
The main building at Santa Laura.

Santa Laura Site
View from the main factory.

Off The Rails
Old steam engine slowly rusting away.

Theatre
View across the main square.