Radisson Hotel Iquique

... and had a bar, ping'pong table, pool table, outdoor seating, all these surfboards to rent, great decor, and just good backpacker vibe. we stayed there 2 nights, but our days were mostly filled with more logistics as we realized that we had not planned how we would make our 30 hour tour to southern chile,.....the buses with ¨bed like chairs were all filled so we ended up booking a flight ...

... and directions follow a daily pattern, this is where all morning flying is done and afternoons, when the wind then blows from the south, are spent at another site called Palo Buque, 17km south of the city. This second site is suitable for complete beginners, which since I had forgotten much of what I learned more than 2 years previously in the UK, is where I felt ...

... our packed lunches and took a picture out of the car window - very lazy! After this we decided to visit some Geoglyphs on the way back to Iquique. Felt a bit sorry for the ticket man as this site was in the middle of nowhere also. Quite interesting but unfortunately there was no information to explain what they represented or who had bother to do them. They were mostly human and animal forms and a few geometric shapes ...

... term travel together, there was the documentary filmmaker.. the list goes on and on. Everyone on that boat seemed to have an interesting story. One thing about Patagonia - because it´s so far south - is the enormous strength of the sun due to the thin ozone layer. Many times on the Navimag I would step out on deck for just 5 minutes and despite the clouds - I would feel my face sizzling. I´ve been to southern destinations a lot, but none of them ...

... un-housed travellers, displaced garbage and the better looking canine sorts. If you are reincarnated as a poodle in Chile........move your little curly fairy legs as fast as you can; you are in for a hiding!!!! I survived the night and returned to the previously shut hostel to take my place. I slept the day!!! By the afternoon, I was awoken, if not by the smell then by the monotonous sound of that ****ing hippie that thinks ...

... to stay in Iquique for Christmas. It meant being around friends, so it didn't disappoint us too much to miss out on Salta. After booking tickets back to Santiago for 6.00 pm Christmas Day, Claudio (who is a part time tour guide) and Claudia took us to the Iquique Palace. It's not so much a palace as a beautiful old house on the historic Ave Baquedano but it was nice to see inside one of these buildings anyway. We had lunch and ...

... the last thing I wanted was a nice sunburn before a 24 hour bus ride to Santiago. Brian spent a lot of time in the water body surfing - some of the waves were absolutely huge! One day a big seal swam right by him. It was amazing. He'd pop his head out of the water with a month full of seaweed, look around and dive back down. Up until the seal we hadn't seen any significant sealife so we were surprised when on the same day Brian got stung by a jelly fish ...

... und es wird bestimmt warm werden, vor allem in der Wueste. Da unser Guide nur spanisch spricht, ist heute mal wieder ein Intensivkurs in spanisch angesagt. Unsere ersten Stopps sind die verlassenen Staedte "Santa Laura" und "Humberstone". die Staedte wurden etwa 1960 aufgegeben, da das hier hergestellte natuerliche Nitrat, durch das kuenstlich hergestellte vom markt verdraengt wurde und somit kein Bedarf mehr bestand. In den Staedten findet man alte ...

... is in the Chilean Air Force and works as a helicopter mechanic. At the air force base in Iquique that night there was a big party and he had a spare ticket so invited me along. Not one to say no to a party I gratefully accepted. Quick dash back to the hostel to change and Alejandro and his mate came to collect me. I thought it was very strange that Alejandro was driving a taxi when he collected me and got a bit ...

... and quite soon reaching Humberstone, my first destination.

The ghost town of Humberstone was built in 1860 when the nitrate mining was at it's peak - causing villages to dot around the mines, such as Humberstone and Santa Laura. Both towns are located 48 km east of Iquique. The town was full of life in the olden days, but now it's completely abandoned, with the buildings experiencing the toll of time, though many of the houses are in surprisingly good shape - the ...