Day 15 – Iquiqui, Chile

Viking Octantis docked early this morning in Iquiqui, Chile, so a crew member could be transported to the hospital. I hope it wasn’t too serious. Iquiqui is one of Chile’s premier beach resorts and is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Pampa del Tamarugal, a vast plateau within the Atacama Desert.

Tim and I once again selected different tours. He picked an optional excursion, “Santa Laura & the Atacama Giant,” to see a mining ghost town and the world’s largest geoglyph, while I selected another optional excursion, “Humberstone & Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs,” to explore the heritage of the Atacama Desert. This was the description:

Explore the history and heritage of the world’s driest desert, the Atacama. Embark your coach for a scenic drive across the Chilean Coastal Range and into the Pampa region of the great Atacama Desert. This desolate landscape became a conflict zone during the 19th century as three South American nations—Peru, Bolivia and Chile—fought over its resources. Stop in Humberstone, an abandoned mining town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, you will learn about the all important nitrate industry and the communal Pampino culture. The dry, desert climate has preserved the ghost-like town and you will see the workers quarters, the factory plant and the railway. Next, you will drive toward the Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve. See the Cerro Pintados geoglyphs—monumental drawings of animals, people and geometric symbols that have been carved into the surrounding hillsides. Admire the ingenuity of the bygone indigenous cultures that thrived in these difficult conditions.

As I was boarding the motorcoach, I suddenly panicked when I realized that I had left my phone/camera charging on my desk. There was no time to retrieve it, and I felt as though I had left my right arm behind. How could I possibly remember what I would be seeing today without photos? I had to force myself to calm down and enjoy the ride to our first stop.

We drove through the city of Iquiqui, which looked very interesting from an architectural perspective, and soon began our climb into the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth, where not one drop of rain falls. Brown was the only color for miles, and I had never seen any landscape like it. Although the sky was overcast when we left the ship, our guide promised that the sun would be out shortly, and he was correct.

Atacama Desert - Brown Everywhere

After about 45 minutes, we arrived at Humberstone, one of the two best preserved company towns that abounded in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert from the late nineteenth until the mid-twentieth century. Here, thousands of people from Chile, Bolivia, and Peru lived and worked in this hostile environment, processing the largest deposit of saltpeter, or sodium nitrate, in the world. Until the invention of artificial fertilizers, sodium nitrates were in high demand by farmers across the Americas and in Europe. These company towns witnessed the birth, growth, and decline of an industry that brought great wealth to Chile and was the cradle of its labor movement.

Scenes from Humberstone (photos courtesy of iStock by Getty Images)

While I visited Humberstone, Tim visited Santa Clara, a similar operation. These two sites complement each other and comprise the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works UNESCO World Heritage Site. While Humberstone’s residential and service areas are better-preserved, Santa Laura’s industrial area is better conserved. I was especially interested in our tour of the living quarters and public buildings at Humberstone.

Our excellent guide explained that the towns were run by companies from Great Britain. Life for the workers was grueling, and living conditions were dismal. Four men were assigned to a single room and shared two beds. Two worked the day shift, while the other two worked the night shift. We saw those rooms, as well as the separate living quarters for families.

Due to the extreme hardness of the soil, there was no sewer system, so toilets consisted of a can, and that was true for everyone who worked at Humberstone. Company executives, who lived in better accommodations, however, may have had a porcelain pot instead of a tin can.

Surrounding the main square were communal buildings and other facilities, including a church, school, store, hotel, and even a swimming pool. Our guide pointed out the ceiling in one of the community buildings, which was comprised of palm fronds. It was so interesting to realize that although the ceiling was partially open to the sky, that was not an issue since it never rained in the Atacama Desert.

Humberstone Entrance, Church, Community Building Ceiling, Parish House, School, and Swimming Pool
(clockwise from top left)

Pay was in the form of tokens, which could only be redeemed at the company store for extremely high prices, reminiscent of the coal towns in the United States. Demand for better conditions and greater social justice led to the creation of workers’ unions, which played an important role in the introduction of the country's first labor laws.

Company Store

We didn't visit any of the industrial buildings, but we did see various equipment around the site.

Assorted Equipment at Humberstone

Thanks to Carol, who graciously shared her photos with me, I was able to add these additional images that illustrate life at Humberstone.

From Humberstone, we continued our drive through the desert and began to see more trees. The Atacama Desert is home to a few varieties of trees that have adapted to its harsh conditions, including the resilient Tamarugo, a few of which we saw at Humberstone. These trees have a unique ability to extract water from deep underground.

We finally reached the Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs, the main reason why I had selected this excursion. Geoglyphs are ancient artworks that are drawn into the landscape, and the ones at Cerros Pintados, or “Painted Hills, “are a series of more than several hundred that were created by pre-Hispanic Andean peoples on the region's barren hills between 700 and 1500 AD. It is believed that these geoglyphs served as guideposts for caravans crossing the Atacama Desert from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.

The geoglyphs represent geometric, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic figures, and most were created by scraping the surface material from the ground, thus producing a contrast with the natural hillside. Our guide told us that there are hundreds more geoglyphs on the other side of the hills that were not visible from where we stood. The Pintados Geoglyphs Archaeological Complex has been included on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs

Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs - Overall View of the Site

Arrows and Animals

Animals and Geometric Figures

More Animals and Figures

More Arrows and Various Figures

Simply Amazing Artwork

Thanks to Carol and Bob, Carol’s husband, for sharing his photos of the geoglyphs.

While I was admiring the Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs, Tim was marveling at the Atacama Giant, the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic geoglyph in the world. It’s too bad there was not enough time for both of us to see the two sites.

Atacama Giant

After returning to the ship, we were entertained on the pier by a local band and dancers. What a nice send-off from Iquiqui!

Farewell to Iquiqui!