This area is blessed with the clearest skies in the world with no more than 20 cloudy days in a year. This area is home to many observatories many with the worlds largest telescopes. The area of interest here can be easily covered by foot. Places of interest include, the Barrio historic. Here you can visit the Muelle Salitero, a national monument built in 1872 by the Melbourne Clarc Co. This pier was where they loaded the saltpetre for shipping around the world. Another place to visit is the Downtown centre with the Plaza Colon surrounded by big old trees. There is also the Torre del Reloj (clock tower), it is a small replica of London’s Big Ben. There is also a Cathedral here as well as a Municipal theatre. Another interesting building is the Ruina de Huanchaca, a silver foundry, constructed in 1873.
Antofagasta is also the largest city in northern Chile, this bustling metropolis is uniquely located in the middle of an arid desert - the Atacama, which is one of the driest deserts in the world. Antofagasta was part of Bolivia until being captured by Chile during the War of the Pacific in the late 19th century. In 1904, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed between Bolivia and Chile, which fully transferred the terms of the country. Today it is known as the La Perla del Norte or the “Pearl of the North”, for its economic significance, which is mainly due to copper and nitrate mining,
The shuttle took us to the centre of the city or the Plaza Colon. Here we strolled the pedestrian streets taking us to the central market (Mercado Central) and then back again stopping at the free wifi location of McDonalds. This city has many interesting stores to wander and browse around in. Our target was the elusive fridge magnet which most cities and towns have an abundance of here not so much. Using google translator a gentlemen taking his daughter to lunch at McDonalds was able to not only point us in the right direction of where we might find one but in the end escorted us to the seaside vendors down by the marina fish market some 8 blocks away - nice guy, and yes we did find one at a very good price. Back to the ship for another after 3 lunch followed by trivia and some down town before dinner and the show. Another great day in the 27 degree sunshine.
A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Quote of the day: “The world is a book and those who not travel read only one page” - St. Augustine
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