Iquique

After Putre, I made my way down to Iquique, a popular beach destination for the Chileans...maybe a wanna-be Fort Lauderdale....but honestly, not my idea of a fun beach resort. The town resembles Arica but much bigger and with towers along the coast, not very charming. Apparently, Chileans also flock to Iquique around this time of year for its duty free shopping...gotta load up for Xmas.

I ended up taking a day trip in the valley to see the old Nitrate towns which used to be managed by the English: Humberstone and Santa Laura. It turned out to be a festival in Humberstone, with ex-inhabitants coming back to visit and celebrate their time there: dances, music, expos. Talked to some of them- fascinating: the segregated lives of Chileans miners and the English owners, the richness of the industry (also seen downtown Iquique with its beautiful old houses), the mechanics of the mine, etc. Also tasted local foods (priorities, priorities), gotta check the name of this one specialty: poached peaches in juice with grains. So refreshing in the desert heat!

The tour also consisted of stops in neighboring towns to check out the churches (La Tirana) & thermal baths (Pica). And yes, believe or not, I went in....it was more like a big swimming pool dug in rocks with bamboos all around...but as soon as it got crowded, I was out of there...who knows how often this water gets recycled...plus it´s warm...germs germs germs!!! Another highlight was all the fresh fruit juices, mango-papaya... can´t skip that.... but sure can skip Iquique though...way too commercial! Plus my hostal was on this noisy street...I think there was some sort of bordelo across the street with music blasting until 3am...I was glad to be out of there. The joys of hostals, $8 a night!!