Drive to Iquique.

So interesting while we used to plan for a 50 - 70 km day we now looked at a500 km day because we had a truck.

The drive was v. Interesting and the best way for me to describe it would be ... Think Mad Max movie. Dust, huge trucks, industrial machines and dust and trucks. And more dust.

Once in Iquique we were back on the coast and things were less dusty. Getting to the city was interesting because you travel over the enormous dunes one, the Dragon, has a knife edge top.

It was a new experience for us to actually arrive at a destination without being totally exhausted. We strolled around and even took some time to play in the waves at the beach.

Nitrate Ghost Town

Chile had a booming nitrate export until synthetic nitrate hit the market and the depression during '30s, leaving the industry in ruins and the nitrate company towns vacant.

Humberstone Nitrate town on the outskirts of Iquique was one of the many towns and we strolled thru the town with its company housing, theatres, stores and yes even a basketball court!

Our visit was punctuated with an actual earth quake!