Iquique is a port city in northern Chile that came into being during the height of saltpeter mining in the Atacama desert. Like the saltpeter mines and refineries, the city started out in Peru and was captured during the War of the Pacific.
In the early 1900’s the city was the location of a historic massacre. Thousands of saltpeter mine workers and their families marched on the city to protest working conditions in the mines. In response, the Chilean army opened fire on the protesters killing as many as 2000. We learned about this at Humberstone, but I was surprised there wasn’t more about it in the city itself.
This morning we boarded a plan headed to Santiago, Chile. We had decided to skip the rental car for this part of the trip, so we needed transportation to our lodging. Our ride-of-choice tends to be Uber, but there was a slight problem with that here in Santiago. Ride services like Uber are against the law. But, that doesn’t stop them from running. So, we had to walk to one end of the parking area, through a gauntlet of taxi drivers wanting our business, to get to a specific area where Uber drivers pick people up. There we connected with a driver from another transportation service who offered to match the Uber price. In retrospect we should not have connected with a driver in such an informal way, but things worked out just fine.
Santiago is the capital of Chile and also its largest city. It was founded by Spanish conquerors in 1541, and has been the capital ever since. The city was destroyed during an attack from indigenous tribes shortly after it was founded, but it was slowly rebuilt.
After grabbing some breakfast at the hotel we headed out for a very busy, and incredibly impactful, day.
Our first stop, one of the homes of Pablo Neruda, was not far from the hotel. The sum total of what I knew about Neruda going into this visit can be summed up as follows…he’s a poet. I had heard of him but had not read any of his work or had any clue how influential he was.
Valparaiso is a port city about ninety minutes away from Santiago. Because we were so close, it made sense to take a day out to see the city. We hadn’t rented a car in Santiago, so our mode of transportation for this trip was a bus. This is a very popular route with multiple bus company running routes every 60-90 minutes. The bus was very comfortable and the trip cost us each $12 round trip. You can’t beat that.
Stray dog chillin’ at the bus stop
During the first half of the 20th century, Valparaiso had it’s heyday as a shipping port and stopover for cargo ships making the trip between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
We started the morning in Valparaiso. Breakfast, a quick goodbye with Tracy’s relatives, a walk downhill to the bus station, and we’re on our way back to Santiago. We decided to take a bus from a different carrier for the trip back to compare comfort between brands.
Our Valparaiso Airbnb
Mural across from bus station
View from the hill
It’s been a crazy nine days in Chile so far. Deserts, mummies, wars, artist communities, poets, human rights. It’s a lot to take in.
For our final day in Chile we decided to spend more time in downtown Santiago. Our first stop was the area around the Presidential Palace, which was bombed during the military coup. There is a small sign on the side of the Ministry of Nation Defense building documenting it’s use as a torture facility during the Pinochet regime.
Presidential Palace
Two time president
Ministry of National Defense
Presidential Palace
Across from the Presidential Palace, in a small park, there was an activity taking place that on the surface seemed normal enough, but after looking more closely I found it somewhat disturbing. The military was out for a community event. Chile is very proud of their military and they like to show off from time to time. No biggie. But as we got closer we could see there were multiple ways the military was pulling young children into the act. Uniform dress up, sitting on the tops of tanks, etc. It’s a PR and recruiting tool aimed at children. Not cool!
We made our way further into the downtown area looking for lunch. We ran into a performing troop along the way with some interesting puppets.
We spent the rest of the day wandering through various parts of the city, taking in as much as we could. Later we had another great meal in the neighborhood by the hotel and settled in for the night.
Our time in Chile is coming to an end. It’s been a fantastic ten days, and I hope to return some day. The last few weeks have been better than I could have ever imagined and I feel blessed to have made this trip.
But, we’re not quite done yet. It’s back to Paraguay and on to the last phase of this adventure.
