DAY 20 Feb 1 - Iquique, Chile

Iquique, with a population of over 200,000,, is the capital of Chile’s northern most region, Region I, comprising the provinces of Arica, Parinacota and Iquique. The name is derived from the native Aymara language, Iqui-ique meaning “peaceful place of rest”. This colonial 'village' was firstly establish in the 16th century. Traditionally the city's attractions have been, a mild climate, commerce, the Atacama Desert, natural and archaeological treasures. Today, however, the town's focus is more on its glitzy casino and mall, and duty free shopping. It is sometimes called “The Miami of Chile” for its high front beach hotels and condominiums. As a holiday destination people come from all over South American attracted particularly by its duty free status..

It used to be part of Peru before the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). This major war was a conflict between Chile and the alliance of Bolivia and Peru. It was also known as the "Saltpetre War," and arose from disputes over the control of territory that contained substantial mineral-rich deposits. On November 23, 1879, the Chilean army managed to conquer the area. Ever since, the city has prospered by the success of saltpetre exploitation and commercial fishing. As a result it never stopped growing.

The map opposite shows the enormous amount of land that Chile 'confiscated' from Peru and Bolivia as a result of being victorious in the Pacific Wars. Bolivia suffered most by losing its direct access to ports on the Pacific coast.

The large scale exploitation of saltpetre began in the early 1800s with the purpose of making gunpowder and fertilizers. The first saltpetre shipments were exported to Europe and the United States, making the region become known worldwide. However, it was a 25-year-old Englishman called Humberstone who arrived here in 1875 that revolutionized the extraction of salt, not only in his own saltpetre works, one of which was named after him and has now just become a museum in the dessert as is shown in the picture above, but also for the whole industry in the rest of the country. Trained as a chemist and a successful businessman, this skilful entrepreneur succeeded where many others failed. He perfected and uniformed the extraction process and introduced new and economic production methods.

During the desert’s nitrate boom of the 19th and early 20th centuries (pictured below is the hulking skeleton of the Santa Laura mine), Iquique was Chile’s major export port. Following the decline in nitrate prices during the 1930s and 1940s, the city stagnated.

At present, not only is this the largest and most important city in Northern Chile, but it is also one of the most beautiful in the country. It lies 1,250 miles from the capital, Santiago de Chile, and about 2,000 miles from the city of Puerto Montt which we will visit in a weeks time.

It is located on a rocky peninsula in the Atacama Desert, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Its anchorage is protected from the open sea by the low, barren offshore island of Serrano, which is connected to the mainland by a stone causeway. Founded in the 16th century, the city was partially destroyed in 1868 and 1875 by earthquakes but some wooden houses from that time still stand.

Iquique has one of the largest duty-free commercial port centres (or Zona Franca) in South America known as Zofri. There are around 1.5 square miles of warehouses, banking branches and restaurants there.

Iquique’s history dates back to pre-Columbian times when the native tribes lived by the sea and collected guano (bird droppings) or settled in the interior regions where hot springs and Andean snow run-off provided water for agriculture. Although the city was founded in the sixteenth century, there is evidence of habitation in the area by the Chango people as early as 7000 BC. They left behind their ruins and their petroglyhs for modern study.

Last night we again gave up on the main restaurant and just went up to the Lido for a very light dinner. In my case some Dutch herrings with chopped onions, some lovely pea and ham soup complimented finally with a selection of exotic fruits suggested by one of the very attentive Balinese waiters. Maria also ate a light meal as she was feeling a tiny bit queasy....lets hope it is not the dreaded GI (gastrointestinal) illness coming on. We understand that the number of passengers reporting sick today has increased dramatically with three crew members also affected and all confined to their cabins for 48 hours.

The Black and White Ball has now been postponed pending the cessation of GI infections. Although this was originally supposed to be a formal night it was changed at the last minute to tonight for donning the 'monkey suit' for me and a suitably glamorous outfit for Maria. We have, incidentally, received an invitation to sit at François Birarda's, the Hotel Manager, table tonight and hopefully that should be fun. Our own table mates will think we have deserted them as this will be the third consecutive night we have been missing!

We entered port around about 7.00 am and soon noticed that a couple of Chilean Navy Ships were just leaving port to go where I do not know although all was revealed a little later. The ship in the photo is, I think, another Chilean naval vessel which was soon docked opposite us. A naval honour guard and small band stood to attention and a Chilean national dancing troupe strut their stuff all in a way of a greeting the visiting sailors. The ship must have a VIP Admiral on board, I thought, to warrant all this special attention. The only other vessels in sight were fishing boats.

By 7.30 the sun rose over the mountains that surround this pretty little town.

Fortunately nothing has been planned for today in the way of any trips because we now both seem to have been overcome with the GI infection. Maria has been blowing hot and cold all night and will have to spend more time in bed today. While I am not as bad as her, having had these symptoms the night before, I too have a very queasy tummy. I'll look after her today and hopeful we will be back to normal tomorrow. I gave Maria some dry toast and cup of peppermint tea for breakfast and hope that settles her stomach a little bit. I know, I know she could have got a better breakfast in prison than the one I gave her today!!

This is the nearest we will get to the town today. I think they have put up a few little shops selling Pisco Sours I bet too!

Earlier this morning I phoned down to the front desk informing them that we would be unable to join François, the Hotel Manager, for dinner tonight. This of course meant that I would not now, unfortunately, be able to contribute to even better Anglo-Franco relations!

The photo is of us in slightly better form taken yesterday morning.

So that seems to be it for today, no nice tours round this very interesting area of Chile, but will update in the next blog if there are any more developments.