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Iquiqui, pronounced ikeekee and not ikweekwee as we discovered at check in where the girl on the desk laughed out loud. Not the slightest attempt to conceal her derision let me tell you. Note to self.............on return send letter to airline complaining about rude girl.
So then Iqueque. A town which has expanded a lot recently,is built on a very attractive bay and makes it's money mainly from servicing the local mining industry. Population about 300,000, decent hotel and some nice restaurants nearby. The view of the bay at night was quite spectacular and as pretty as any I've seen anywhere. We have just one full day here in order to see the mining areas and also the geoglyphs in the hillside which hundreds of years old. To do this we take the quaintest looking train (see pic) British design from1920,s which is quite comfortable and has a dining car. Rather grateful for this as we set off at 8.30am and don't get back until 8.00pm. The train takes us up what looks and feels like the mountainside above the town but is in fact a huge sand dune. The mining region is about the size of Wales. In the main all is flat and a dull beige colour being mixture of sand and clay (this is still desert remember) stretching almost as far as the eye can see. In the far distance the scenery is a bit like the Scottish highlands but of course without the colour. The guide spoke mainly about the mining which was done late 19th early 20th century and consisted of nitrates for gunpowder and fertilisers. The mine owners then were usually English and they also built the railroad which was used for transportation of workers and the mined products. Unsurprisingly the miners had a grim existence. Not only were the conditions very hot and harsh but their pay was made in tokens rather than real money. Anything they bought therefore had to be bought from the mine owners shops and of course they had no real money to send home to their families. In the main they died there. The only evidence of this history to remain is the rubble on the landscape, the bare remnants of few old buildings and the cemeteries. We left the train to visit one cemetery which had about 500 graves. Rather shallow ones too. Some were still visited as could be seen by the paper flowers left but most were abandoned. Many of the miners came from Bolivia. Left their families to come and make some money and probably never heard of again. The walk we made from the train was just about 500 metres but a bit precarious. The ground was completely roasted and dried out by the sun and creaked and cracked as we walked. It was like walking on a frozen lake. At one point the surface had given way and left a hole several metres deep.
The whole day was really a bit unnecessarily long I thought. Mainly taken up by the long and slow train journey there and back. We learned on our return that 100yrs ago the town, port and the mines had all belonged to the Bolivians but Chile seeing it's worth stepped in and took it for themselves. There was then a war which Chile won and still today there's no diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Both of us pretty tired by the end of the day so shower, super and bed. Tomorrow we're off to the town of Puerto Varas a town about 1500 miles south of here (two flts) in Chiles lake district an area called Llanquihue.
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Peter Brydon Hi Lucy, Peter here, Thoroughly enjoying your holiday comments you will have to start up as a courier when you return. Particularly like the farming aspects. More farming pictures please! Give me a cal when you return...