I arrived in the Chilean coast town Iquique around 3 am. Luckily, the bus company let us sleep in the bus until 7, so I didn't have to look for a hostel in the middle of the night.
Iquique is located right between the Pacific and the desert. There are reminders to conserve water everywhere, and the hills just outside the city appear quite barren.
The beaches, on the other hand, are really beautiful, with nice waves and plenty of people surfing (or trying to).
On one of the stonier parts of the shore, there was a series of small rocky islands populated by pelicans:
Iquique's main boulevard is lined with colonial houses, where the people who got rich on saltpeter mining showed off their wealth. On its entire length, the boulevard is a pedestrian zone, with palm trees in the middle and extra wide wooden sidewalks. After all the somewhat ugly, noisy and cluttered Bolivian cities, I especially enjoyed strolling along this wonderfully calm and clean street with its airy architecture.
On one end of the boulevard, it leads onto Plaza Prat. Colonial architecture continues on the plaza. There are a few old wooden tram carts, benches with roofs overgrown with flowers, and the magnificent municipal theater on one side.
The plaza is named after Arturo Prat, the Chilean national hero who died in the naval battle of Iquique. The battle was part of the Pacific war that resulted in the loss of territories, including access to the Pacific, for Bolivia. On the Chilean side, of course, people are generally happy about the outcome of the war, whereas in Bolivia, people always mentioned it with a sort of disgruntled teeth-clenching.
Iquique is located right between the Pacific and the desert. There are reminders to conserve water everywhere, and the hills just outside the city appear quite barren.
The beaches, on the other hand, are really beautiful, with nice waves and plenty of people surfing (or trying to).
On one of the stonier parts of the shore, there was a series of small rocky islands populated by pelicans:
Iquique's main boulevard is lined with colonial houses, where the people who got rich on saltpeter mining showed off their wealth. On its entire length, the boulevard is a pedestrian zone, with palm trees in the middle and extra wide wooden sidewalks. After all the somewhat ugly, noisy and cluttered Bolivian cities, I especially enjoyed strolling along this wonderfully calm and clean street with its airy architecture.
On one end of the boulevard, it leads onto Plaza Prat. Colonial architecture continues on the plaza. There are a few old wooden tram carts, benches with roofs overgrown with flowers, and the magnificent municipal theater on one side.
The plaza is named after Arturo Prat, the Chilean national hero who died in the naval battle of Iquique. The battle was part of the Pacific war that resulted in the loss of territories, including access to the Pacific, for Bolivia. On the Chilean side, of course, people are generally happy about the outcome of the war, whereas in Bolivia, people always mentioned it with a sort of disgruntled teeth-clenching.
