Iquique: The Coastal Desert Town

Posted by hilaryeggers on September 7, 2010 · 1 Comment 

As promised, my travels are picking up again. Chile is such an incredible country to travel in.  It is a country with a mind-boggling range in climates; you’ve got Patagonia in the South, the Andes mountains in the East, and the Pacific Ocean along the western coast. In the North, Chile is hemmed in by the Atacama Desert, our destination this past weekend.

The first stop this weekend was Iquique, a town with the unique property of being located both in the desert and on the Pacific coast. Our trip began at 4AM Friday morning. That was rough. Also, through a series of misunderstandings, several of our group (including our supervisor/ trip coordinator) were not able to get on the flight. After several frantic phone calls, the rest of us decided to go ahead to Iquique and meet up with the others later. Such is travel in Chile. We arrived at the airport a few hours later, from whence we were whisked into town by our lovely guide Andrea and settled into the Hotel Gavina. This place was absolutely gorgeous; it sat right on the ocean, with incredible views of the city, the desert, and the ocean.

Eventually, everyone on the trip arrived safely and we spent the day touring around the town. Something about this town felt more Chilean than Santiago, which is something that I have often noticed about the smaller towns here. While Santiago is caught up in the hustle and bustle of western homogeneity, towns like Los Vilos and Pomaire are still rooted in their “chilenidad.” With Chile’s bicentennial on the horizon (September 18th), national pride is at an all time high. It is telling that for this momentous holiday, nearly everyone is leaving Santiago, the capital city, to go to the smaller towns in North and South.

A couple of examples of “chilenidad” in Iquique:

Llamas and Alpacas just hanging out in the middle of town

Children dancing la cueca in the street

Fishing boats in the port of Iquique

After a day of touring, we all headed back to the hotel for some naps. Even though we were all pretty worn out, a few of us managed to rally and go out on the town. We went out for some AMAZING seafood at the restaurant Neptuno. I ordered “locos,” a type of abalone unique to the region, and some of the best crab dip I have tasted in my life. After dinner, a few of us caught a cab to the club Costa Varua, what appeared to be the only discoteque in Iquique. A good time was had by all, though getting back at 4am made for some rough travels the next day, which began at 8am.

We gathered for breakfast at the hotel at 8, then set off into the desert. We stopped at a few abandoned nitrate mining towns, which were more than a little spooky but presented a fascinating peek into Chile’s mining traditions. What I found most interesting though were the ancient Aymara geoglyphs carved into the hillsides and sand dunes (the Aymara are a still existing indigenous tribe of Northern Chile). These massive glyphs are still a mystery to many archaeologists today, their meanings have yet to be fully understood.

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, in a rather wonderful way. Later that day we arrived at Pica, a small oasis town about 3 hours from Iquique. We had a nice lunch there, and then everyone split off to relax for the remainder of the trip. We went out for seafood again that night, but everyone went to sleep soon after to make up for the previous night. The next day was spent lounging by the pool, tanning, swimming, and eating some of the most delicious oranges I have ever tasted. We headed back to Iquique after a relaxing day in the sun and hopped on our flight home, this time without any major hitches. Although, I did throw a minor fit when yet another cashier gave me grief for paying with a 10 luca (the equivalent of a 20 dollar bill). Seriously, every time I try to pay with one of those here, the cashier whines about making change and rolls his eyes when I insist on paying that way. This has happened at restaurants, in cabs, in clothing stores, it has even happened to me at a Jumbo, the Chilean equivalent of a Walmart. It should not be so difficult to get change for a twenty. It’s some of the little things like this that I will not miss when I am back in the States.

Nevertheless,  my time here is flying by way too quickly. The next few weeks are going to be packed, and I’ve realized that I only have about three weekends left in the city of Santiago– I will be out traveling for the rest. Next weekend I will be off to Mendoza with my friends Sophie and Allison, as well as a new addition to the crew! Evie, one of my best friends from high school, is arriving on Thursday for Stanford’s Santiago exchange program. I am so excited for her to join me on my travels for the remainder of my trip and can’t wait for her to get here.

¡Hasta luego amigos!

Filed under Tourist Activities