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Iquique
With a wonderful wall of sand dunes behind it and the pacific sea in front. Oh dear, not too much to say about La Serena. I think it might have been a better experience if we had of stayed at a better hostel, or if we were into surfing, but as it was just another beach town that turned out to be a little disappointing, much like Mar del Plata in Argentina. We did a day trip to the nearby town of Coquimbo which is a fairly small industrial town with an active fishing port and mining conveyor belt for shipping and an international world cup football stadium which kind of stands out! A real shame as the coast line that we passed on the bus getting there was absolutely stunning.
We had high hopes for Iquique after La Serena and after spending 16 hours on a bus to get there we were pleasantly surprised. It is a nicer town and the beaches were a lot cleaner than at La Serena. The hostel we booked was also much nicer and only one block away from the beach. The town had a lovely main plaza and an interesting duty free shopping mall which is absolutely huge and very random the way the shops are laid out,
Humberston swimming pool
This enourmous pool made of steel for the workers in the middle of the desert, amazing. electricians next to underwear, music next to car parts shops and very busy understandably.
We took a local bus to the nearby ghost town of Humberstone, an old mining town that closed down once synthetic nitrates were developed. This town is quite interesting because of the size of it, and because it was quite a posh mining town. There were 3000 workers, some with families so it wasn't a small place. Founded in 1872 and closed by 1960, it is quite eerie walking around the place, and interesting to see the old equipment and facilities that were provided. They had a church, market, theatre, a huge swimming pool, basket ball court, tennis court, hotel, hospital, school, bar everything a healthy community would need not just single male workers stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Arica was a short 4 hour bus ride through the desert. A lovely beach town with a nice pedestrianised main street and lovely coved swimming beaches. We spent 6 nights here mainly as Mark wanted to spend a bit of time fishing and we needed to stop and organise ourselves for our onward journey to Bolivia. Mark very nearly didnt get to fish as
on the second morning he left early in the dark whilst I was still asleep and got confronted by a would be mugger. Unfortunatly for the mugger Mark could tell that he was just using his finger as a pretend gun under his T shirt, so he just laughed at him "told him to get a job, buy his own fishing gear and that he was a disgrace to Chile" and carried on his way.
We went to an archeological museum which featured a time line of indigenous people from the area dating back 5000 bc. They used mumification and have some of the oldest mummies in the world 7000 years, a very interesting and slightly eerie place to be.
I can't quite believe that we are a third of the way through our trip and three countries down!
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karen squibb
non-member comment
Very Brave !
Well done Mark for spotting the finger and sending the guy on his way - nothing should stand between a man and his sport !! Loved the latest blog and interesting photo's - keep them coming !! Carry on enjoying the trip of a life-time x