Iquique, Chile

Iquique seemed like a desert forsaken city when we were researching it the night before.

However when we got there we were pleasantly surprised.

Very clean and really beautiful. Lots of wood used in the building here. The designs look very much like New Orleans French style with upper story porches.

We walked along this road not really know where it would end. It ended at this beautiful beach.

We spent a fair amount of time they enjoying it, along with some local people.

Then we walked a couple kilometers to the Esmeralda replica of a ship that sank in 1879 in what was called the War of the Pacific. It's become a national Chilean act of heroism (the captain and most of the sailors died). Now Chile controls Iquique whereas Peru controlled it before the war. Chile started it. Very interesting history we'd never heard about.

Touring the ship was interesting.

Mitzi purchased some churros from this fellow. She had found 2,000 pesos at the beach, but we needed to pay 3,000 pesos. So she pulled out a few dollars and through those in. The seller tried to give her the pesos back and they had a play exchange. She insisted he keep the pesos and the dollars and he was very happy with that arrangement.

Mitzi also purchased some kittens that made by this lady in the purple shirt in felted wool. She had another fun exchange where she didn't speak English and Mitzi didn't speak Spanish, but she let the lady know she loved her art and the lady was very happy with that.

We had low expectations for Iquique. However like they say, don't judge a book by it's cover. It's been one of the more fun and interesting places we've been so far!