PLAYING TOURIST IN IQUIQUE

Monday, March 1, 2010

All of a sudden we ran out of days in February and start to realize that we only have one more month left. But there is still so much I want to see.
First I must focus on my work, our budget and bank accounts. I don’t seem to get to it, but am determined to let the inviting outdoors for what it is and spend some time on the computer, while Ramiro is getting the windows of the car tinted. “For safety reasons” he says. Now no one is able to look inside and see all our belongings. At least the cost here is about one tenth of what it would cost at home.

I never knew we had so many friends who think about us. Most of the morning is spent on replying to e-mails. Everyone has been so concerned about us and the family. We really appreciate all the inquiries and messages of concerns.

We move all our belonging to the new room. This room is even larger; It has three beds. Now we finally have a bed for this third person that has been traveling with us all this time. It’s name is U, and has no gender. It is constantly in trouble. It never agrees with us on anything and gets the blame for everything; When Ramiro can’t find his keys, U must have put them somewhere; If we take the wrong turn in the city, U told us to do so; U constantly forgets to lock the trunk; If we run out of toiletries, it’s U’s fault. But we decide to leave U in the room for the next few days and enjoy ourselves here in Iquique.

What a beautiful place this city of 216,000 habitants is. It’s more or less divided into four parts, not counting the airport several miles south.
The most southern part is modern, with high rise buildings, casinos and nice, white sandy beaches and lots of entrainment. It’s where most of the traffic is. I prefer to stay away from this area. Next is the somewhat older residential area, shops and hotels; Downtown is more towards the north, followed by a large port, serving both the mining and fishing industry.
Like in many cities, it’s the downtown area that’s the most beautiful, but what I really like about it, is the large boulevard, closed for ALL traffic. Calle Baquedano runs for a full 12 blocks. Its centre is lined with palm trees, benches and salt sculptures, with on the ground beautifully shaped grey stones. The wide sidewalks are made of wood. On both side of the street are beautiful restored buildings, the facades perfectly lined up with each other. They are mostly Government buildings, schools, hotels, musea, institutes of some sorts, restaurants, law or accounting offices or residential homes.

It looks like at one time the railroad station was here; The tracks are still there, the covered wooden benches are just like they were in the late 1800. Along some of the buildings or patios run beautiful wooden railings.

We visit the theatre, built in 1890. Designed by Bliederhausen and constructed mainly from wood, in less than one year. It must be the mild climate that has preserved this building so well for all these years. Some of the seating areas have been restored, but the majority is original.

We do an enormous amount of walking and it is so hot outside, that I finally convince Ramiro to use the hotel swimming pool with me. How refreshing that is.




TUESDAY
Day two in Iquique starts with the morning on the computer for me.

Today the regional museum is open for visitors. It is located in an enormous large three story home, built in 1892. The museum which was born in 1960 moved here in 1980. To honour it’s 50th Anniversary, they upgraded a large number of the displays and produced large banners with details on many of the displays in Spanish, French and English.

Many of the rooms are dedicated to the history of the Chinchorro Mummies.
The Chinchorro were fisherman, who moved from one place to the next. They must have spent time it the mountains as well, as much of their clothing and dwellings were made of Vicuña hide.

The mummies displayed here are believed to be the oldest in the world dating back more than 6,000 years.

This type of mummification is different from other known techniques. All flesh and living tissue was removed from the body. Bones were taken apart and later tied together again with string, made from animal hide of plant fibers. It is possible that all living tissue and organs was consumed by the tribe.

Another displays show a mummification of a young 18 year old women, sacrificed to the gods together with a younger female of approximately 9 years old.


Many of the tools and clothing, which have been incredibly well preserved teach us a lot about the lifestyle of the Chinchorro.
A sort of turban would be applied to a baby’s head the moment they were born, shaping their tiny heads in a narrow elongated form.

One of the displays show a clay urn which was used as a baby grave.

Other parts of the museum show a large part of the mining industry.
This is one of the most interesting musea I have ever visited.

We continue to walk to the most northern part of the third section of the city, past Pratt Square, past the port and the marine museum and navy buildings, When we run out of city, we spot a small restaurant along the beach. It’s called Española. If it is at the beach, it must serve seafood. We order a platter of mixed seafood. None of which is still alive luckily, and wash it away with a Pisco Sour.

We leisurely walk back along the rocky beach, searching for unique shells, watching the sea lions and the pelicans and strike up an interesting conversation with an old fisherman and his wife.

Now we still have to walk back, but we enjoy the promenade along the beach so much that we walk right by the street where we are suppose to turn into, towards  the hotel. We backtrack for at least 10 blocks and arrive at the hotel just in time to take a shower, put on some clean clothes and drive to the Rotary meeting of the Rotary Club of Huaquiguie; A club that was chartered only 2 years ago and does things totally different than what we have seen at other clubs. The only formality is the standing at the opening of the meeting with a message, “in name of the President of Rotary International, and the singing of the Chilean Rotary song at the end.

The remainder of the meeting is a discussions about Rotary in Canada, Youth in Rotary and the need for Rotaract and Interact Clubs. Ramiro does most of the talking. The conversation changes to the recent earthquake and what Rotary in Chile is doing. There is a lot of critisism for the Government, not sending in the army immediately, and a concern over how citizens of the affected area show a culture of thieves and criminals, which Chileans are not. I am asked for my opinion and express, that situations such as this, bring both the worst and the best out of the people. People are desperate, scared and concerned. Others stay calm and do what ever they can to help others. I wonder, however, how a country that has been progressing so well and is no longer considered an underdeveloped country, will get itself back on the economic scale. How will the people who lost everything get a chance to start all over again. What type of help will they receive from the Government?

After some discussion how the club plans to send  a container of clothing to Constitucion, I ask about the large photo of a group of small school children, which is part of the Club display. The conversation changes to a more positive topic. Rotarians are eager to talk about their primary school project in the mountains, which they started when they formed this club two years ago. The village of Sibaya is a three hour drive from Iquique at an altitude of 3,000 Meters ASL. Most of these children have never left this agricultural area, have never seen a city, or a beach. Let alone a MacDonalds. Twice a year the clubs brings these children to the city for a weekend of fun.
Most do not speak Spanish, only their native language of Aimara.
The club likes to do more for this school and has set aside some money for scholarships to allow these children to further their education.They need computers and books. The club is afraid, that with the recent earthquake funding for the school may be delayed and we discuss a visit to the village and see if there is a possibility our clubs are able to help.

WEDNESDAY
We stay another day in Iquique, I am actually slowly starting to get caught up with the things I needed to do and spend some time to talk to my family via Skype. While Ramiro enjoys his complimentary breakfast of bread and jam, uses the computer in the business centre and reads through out guidebook for possible places to visit in the afternoon.

You would say  that once you have seem one mine, you’ve seen them all. Apparently not so, as we find out this afternoon.
We’ve done everything we could on foot, but for this excursion we need to take the car.

After a quick look at largest dune in the world within a city, on the east side of town, we drive up into the mountain inland for 45 km to Mina Santa Laura. From the distance is looks like a pile of scrap metal, but as we get closer, we are able to imagine the vibrant town it once was.

Santa Laura Mine was commission by the Peruvian Government, when is was still part of Peru. In 1887 The London Nitrate Company took over and modernized it in 191 with some equipment from other mines. 500 people lived in the village with their families. There was a basket ball field a small square and a market.
The great depression forced the British Company to close down. By this time this are was under Chilean rule and the Chilean Government took over.

Santa Laura Mine was commission by the Peruvian Government, when is was still part of Peru. In 1887 The London Nitrate Company took over and modernized it in 191 with some equipment from other mines. 500 people lived in the village with their families. There was a basket ball field a small square and a market.
The great depression forced the British Company to close down. By this time this are was under Chilean rule and the Chilean Government took over.
From the ore in the mountains, the mine extracted Nitrate, Iodine, Sulfur. The ore would be ground and conveyor belts transported it to large boilers, which extracted the minerals through high temperatures. The mine continued to operate until 1960.
In 2005 UNESCO declare this property a World Heritage Sit. With funding from various organization involved in the mining industry they have been able tor restore much of the buildings.

The Tumberstone mine across the road however is much more impressive.
It once housed 3700 inhabitants. The mine was originally built in 1862 and over the years expanded to a city, complete with hotel, theatre, school, church, department store, hospital and even a large competition swimming pool with a metal lining.

This mine is  known for its initiation of the Shank System in 1870. A new way to extract minerals from the rocks.
Most of the houses are still in reasonable good shape. Little by little the buildings in this town are being restored into beautiful historic buildings.
Within the city, a small museum displays a large variety of wooden windows and doors, some 3 meters (10 feet) tall.
This mine was also declared a World Heritage Sit in 2005.

 THURSDAY
We have seen almost everything we wanted to see in Iquique, but are not yet, ready to move on to Arica. We decide to move to the southern part of the city, to the Military Hotel, where the Rotary Club meets. With the holiday season over, this hotel offers ridiculously low rates and excellent, professional service.
Now we are able to see the other part of the city. We cross the road and are on the beach, which is almost deserted, now the children are gone back to school.

Large banners are hanging over the road. “Levantemos Chile” (Lift up Chile).
Enormous food boxes are planted in the malls and stores for food donations to be shipped to the area in the south of the country. The list of items include. Diapers, milk powder, rice etc. We want to buy a large supply if diapers, but there are none left.

We walk for hours, enjoying the quiet boulevard. We pick up some finger foods from the grocery store, for a quiet evening in our room, which overlooks the ocean. I really look forward to a relaxing evening, I am exhausted from all that walking.
Just as we sit on the bed with the TV on, a glass of wine in our hand and our munchies spread out. The room starts to shake. Oh, my God, what is happening? Ramiro stays calm. “Put on your shoes, grab the key and your purse and leave the room”, he instructs me. In the mean time all hotel guests are in the hall. “Did you feel that”? “Was that an Earth quake?” I just came back from Santiago and am Paranoid”. Everyone reacts in shock. I just want to go outside. I am terrified. I want to go home.
Outside life goes on as usual. Those on the street never noticed a thing. After a short walk to calm down, we return to our room, where the TV is still on, reporting on the progress (or lack there of) the various area are making from last weeks disaster.
The program is interrupted by a report, that a 6.6 quake struck Calama. (which we left on Saturday). This one is not related to the previous earth quake, but a separate one from the mountains, 100 kilometers deep. This was the shake we could feel here 150 km north. As if that is not enough, we hear about the earthquake that shook Taiwan. What is going on here? I don’t feel as comfortable here anymore as I did before and think about home. It’s better to try to keep our mind of things and enjoy the evening. We better have another glass of wine to relax the nerves. There is nothing we can do.