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Wednesday, 27 April 2022

Iquique

During the Easter long weekend, Claudio and I went on our first "big trip" of the year to the beautiful city of Iquique in the far north of Chile.

We were actually debating between going to Arica and Iquique, as we knew we wanted to spend the long weekend in one of the cities with tropical beaches, but in the end we chose Iquique, because the beach just looked so amazing in the pictures on the internet. To be honest, I was expecting the beach to be the main highlight of the weekend, but we ended up being surprised by how many other fantastic attractions we discovered in the city and the surrounding area. Overall, it was one of the most memorable and fun trips I've taken here in Chile.

The trip didn't get off to the greatest start - we arrived late in the evening, and then had to switch hotel room, because the bathroom door managed to lock itself from the inside. What made this especially annoying is that I'd already unpacked most of my backpack, so I then had to pack it all up again, and then unpack again in the new room! But we told ourselves that the next day would be a new day, and that it would be much better. And fortunately, it really did turn out to be much better!

We started Saturday morning having breakfast next to the hotel swimming pool, surrounded by palm trees. It was already nice and warm and sunny, so we knew it would be a great day for sightseeing and spending time at the beach.




The first place we went to see was Playa Brava, which was just across the road from our hotel (the Holiday Inn Express). It's quite a deserty-looking beach, surrounded by sandy-coloured mountains. I was pretty excited to be there, as it was actually my first time visiting a tropical beach! 









Next we walked round a peninsula to arrive at Iquique's most famous beach, Playa Cavancha. This is the place that appears at the top of Google Images when you search for Iquique, and it was what really convinced me we needed to go there, as it looked so much like Miami! It's a really long crescent of beach next to the city's main avenue, with tall buildings at both ends. 










One of the nice things about Playa Cavancha is that it has one of those big signs that are fun for taking pictures with, just like the ones we saw on our trip to Valle del Elqui.








We also saw some interesting buildings near the two beaches, including a Greek-looking building next to the hotel, and a couple of very traditional buildings by Playa Cavancha.







We had hired an SUV for the weekend, which turned out to be a great idea, as it made getting around the city and beyond really easy. So after our walk on the beaches, we got into the car and headed for the historic centre of the city. 

The most important part of the historic centre is Plaza Prat, and its focal point is Torre del Reloj (the clock tower).




There are various historic buildings in the square.





For us, the most impressive building was Casino Español, which is built in a kind-of Andalucían/North African style. The outside is pretty, but the interior is amazingly elaborate and beautiful.





Another important part of the city centre is Calle Baquedano, a street of historic buildings in a range of different colours. Claudio told me that in the past, Santiago had lots of these sorts of buildings too, but it's become so modernised over the years, whereas Iquique has stayed more traditional in terms of architecture.









Next we went to see some more history by visiting the ship, La Esmeralda. This is a place that actually isn't in my Chile guidebook, but Claudio told me it was very important to visit it, because of its role in the War of the Pacific in the 19th century. Iquique, along with Arica, actually used to be part of Peru, while Antofagasta was part of Bolivia, until all these territories were won by Chile during the war. The real Esmeralda was actually sunk in battle, but a true-to-life replica has been built as a museum. It was really interesting to look around the different parts of the ship, which have been recreated exactly as they were in the past. Being there was like taking a trip back into history.










On one side of La Esmeralda you can see mountains and desert, and on the other side you can see the ocean. We were fortunate to spot these three impressive pelicans right next to the ship!





Our next stop was Mall Zofri, part of the Zona Franca de Iquique, a big duty-free area and one of various reasons why Iquique is a popular holiday destination! In fact, it was a deciding factor in us choosing to go there, as Claudio is a big car fanatic and expert, and he wanted to see the tax-free cars on offer there. So after having lunch at the mall, we went to do some car sightseeing, but unfortunately a lot of the garages were closed due to the public holiday. However, we were still able to see a selection of cars when driving past, which was nice.

Then we drove up some very steep roads to the dunes that surround the city, which was a little bit scary! Once we'd found a place to park the car, we climbed up one of the dunes in order to see a panoramic view of the city and the Pacific Ocean. It required a bit of an effort to get to the top, but it was definitely worth it, as the views were incredible. Iquique is on the edge of the Atacama Desert, and from the dunes, you can see desert, mountains, city and sea, so it's quite a unique landscape.









No trip to the beach is complete without swimming in the sea, so that's exactly what we decided to do next. We went to leave our stuff in the hotel and then walked back to Playa Cavancha. It was about 5pm by the time we got in the water, and in hindsight it was probably a bit late to swim, as the water was starting to get quite cold. Although it was the first tropical beach I've swum at, it wasn't really the best beach for swimming that I've been to - there was a lot of seaweed, jellyfish, and tall waves. In fact, at one point, we got caught up in a huge wave, and I was submerged underwater for several seconds, which was pretty scary! But all the same, we had a really fun time!

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel. Claudio went out to a car meet near the hotel for a little while, but apart from that we had a relaxing evening. It had been a long day of walking, climbing, swimming and sightseeing!

We had already seen most of the sights of Iquique, so the following day we decided to make the most of the SUV and go on a road trip into the desert to see some of the sights there.

But before we left the city, we went to see Estadio Tierra de Campeones, Iquique's football stadium, which was a place Claudio particularly wanted to see.




Then after we came back from the desert, we went to see the cathedral. I's difficult to get a decent photo of it, because the street it's on is quite narrow, but it's very pretty and colourful.




To sum up, Iquique really is a city with a bit of everything - sunshine, beaches, history, architecture, shopping and desert. We both really loved our time there, and found it to be the perfect destination for our Easter vacation. We would definitely go back in the future!

Next I'll be writing about our trip into the desert, during which we discovered even more of Chile's interesting history...

Sunday, 10 April 2022

Life in Chile: Update 1

I've now been living and working here in Santiago for several weeks, and things are starting to go more smoothly. (At last!) A lot has happened since the first post I wrote since moving here, and so I'll be writing about all of that today...


Our New Apartment!

The most important thing that's happened is that Claudio and I have finally found an apartment! And we've now moved in and have mostly furnished it, though we've still got a bit of work left to do to make it perfect.

It has been a really long and tough process for us to get to the stage where we're at now - first we had to find somewhere to rent, which took ages, and since then we've had to furnish it completely, in addition to sorting out problems with the internet connection.

But we're really happy to have our own place at last. The apartment is starting to look really good, and what makes it even better is that it's in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago, which was our first choice in terms of the area where we wanted to live.

We've faced a lot of challenges over the last couple of years, so it feels like a big milestone for us to finally be able to move in together as a couple, and especially to have such a nice apartment just for us. I know that a lot of other people reach this stage earlier in life, and I certainly expected it to happen sooner for us, but the fact that we've had to have so much patience and perseverance to get here makes it feel even better. ❤


Parque Araucano

For obvious reasons, we haven't really travelled much lately, but we did spend a evening in Parque Araucano, one of Santiago's nicest parks. It was the evening after we'd applied for our apartment, when we were waiting to find out if our application had been approved, so we wanted to do something to take our minds off it.

Parque Araucano is actually known as Santiago's version of Central Park, as it is in a rectangular shape surrounded by skyscrapers, just like the famous park in New York City. It is a very picturesque place to walk around, and it also has some food trucks if you want to have dinner there. We ordered a delicious curry from an Indian food truck, which I enjoyed a lot, because I'd been missing the curries from back home!









Indian Box

Speaking of Indian food, we visited a very special Indian restaurant last night, called Indian Box. We had driven past it a couple of times, and had been impressed by how it looked like the Taj Mahal, especially when lit up at night. Then I looked up the menu online and found out that the restaurant was 100% vegan! So we decided that we would go there to celebrate once we finally had our apartment.

And last night we were able to do just that! We had a really great evening there; the food was amazing, and the décor really gave us the feeling of being in India. We'll definitely go back in the future!










Our Travel Plans!

So far, my time in Chile has mostly been filled with necessary tasks that needed to be done in order to set up my life here, meaning that my plan of having a year filled with travel hasn't quite been put into action yet. But that's going to change very soon!

Next week, Claudio and I are going to spend the Easter weekend in Iquique, a city in the far north of Chile, not far from the border with Peru - in fact, it actually used to be a part of Peru prior to the War of the Pacific. So it's going to be kind of like a trip abroad without actually going abroad. (One of the best things about Chile is that it has basically every time of landscape and climate imaginable, so you can go on almost any type of trip you like, without leaving its borders). We're very excited to spend Easter sightseeing in a new city and relaxing on a tropical beach!

As for the rest of the year, I really want to see as much of Chile and South America as possible. In Chile, I most want to visit Torres del Paine and several other areas of the south of Chile. And regarding the rest of South America, I'm very determined to make it to Machu Picchu and Rio de Janeiro this year. I would also like to spend time in the Galápagos Islands and Cartagena. My work is currently online, and I'm hoping to keep it that way, so maybe I'll be able to fit in a couple of "workations" in exotic locations, as well as making the most of bank holidays and time off.

At the moment, leaving and coming back to Chile is a bit tricky due to all the Covid restrictions, so any foreign trips might have to wait for a couple of months. But I'm hoping to go to the south of Chile next month, and after that, we'll see what the situation is like.

But of course, first of all, we've got our trip to Iquique to look forward to! I'm so excited to go there, and I'll be writing about it very soon!