ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE: THE CITY CAN DO!

There aren't only a few words can describe this beautiful port city, but rather so many words even not enough to say about Antofagasta. This city has long and broad sea strip, it has the presence of Atacama Desert and the coastal mountain range which really killed me while cycling in and out of this fabulous city. It has Chile’s one of the busiest port and this city is surrounded by the mineral-rich Atacama Desert plateau which took me 14 days to cross with my bicycle. Because of the 19^th century mining boom, especially the nitrate mines which brought so much profit for the region. This mining boom also brought so many European settlers to Antofagasta. And today anyone who is visiting this city clearly can see the European feel in its creative architecture. If you really want to see this city’s remarkable history and its mining boom, then one has to visit Museum Regional and its amazing exhibits. As I mentioned on my earlier blog, it is also worth to mention it here that Antofagasta used to be a Bolivian city. But after the War of Pacific, Chile invaded, took control and added Antofagasta to its new map.

                    Sea Strip which is a 20 km stretch north to south

    

                      Antofagasta's famous and Chile's one of the busiest port

       Cool and a breezy day in Antofagasta, Chile. High rise sea strip continues.

This city also has a 20 km beachfront which developed a year round beach resort. And who can forget Portada, a huge rock located north of the city and the sea has eroded into a dramatic natural arch. Some of the best beaches of Antofagasta include La Isla Santa Maria, Juan Lopez and the remarkable Mejilonnes. This city is one of the most expensive cities in Chile, but yet, at the same time, it has the highest GDP per capita in Chile.

                      Antofagasta, Chile. City that works very hard.

Antofagasta and its region completely dependent on its mining activities copper, nitrate, and iodine and of course its busy port. Good economy also brought an intense construction business region for its fast steady growth and development. Just cycling one end to another end north to south and cycling city center as well as west to east showed me clearly an amazing new building and lots of high rise condominiums as well as offices. But most of the high rise buildings were located at the sea shore from north to south. They were in ocean front with a beautiful view to Pacific Ocean and city’s port. On this road north to south sea strip is about 20 kilometers and they even had a bicycle path. As I cycled this 20 kilometer stretch I enjoyed the view both to these high rises and to the Pacific Ocean.

               City tour from my head cam. Antofagasta video.

City center area and its building were much older than those new build high rises by the sea shore. My eyes easily identified the European architecture at the center area. People were friendly, talkative and extremely lively. Energy was definitely visible at faces of people. As usual, like any other place I visit or pass by, I always talk to many locals and made a few friends. Of course this always helped me to get to know the city better as the locals gave me many different useful inside information about the city. Over the years as I traveled many continents, cities, towns, villages and regions, one thing I learned: Make contact with locals. And no matter how much information you read about the place you were traveling to, still, getting inside information and inputs of locals were more useful and better.

                              Antofagasta city center shopping district

                      Antofagasta, Chile city center area.

                         Fresh fruit everywhere in Antofagasta

                        Antofagasta newsstand and its papers

     When I left the city of Iquique earlier, on the way to Antofagasta, I still followed the route-1 and passed by another Pacific Ocean Chilean port city Tocopilla. Of course all these wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t switch the routes from route-5 to route-1 by using the route-16. The main reason I am giving out this information to readers just to let them know that as you begin traveling from Peru and Chile border city of Arica, you enter into the Atacama Desert and you travel on the route-5. Whether you’re traveling with car or bicycle as I was, it’s better to switch to route-1 later to see these beautiful three Chilean  Pacific Port cities. It is really worth it. All three cities are nice and I strongly recommend for anyone to visit them. And later after you pass and exit the city of Antofagasta, you will have to take route-28 to connect with route-5 again. As I was cycling and on the way to Santiago then down to Patagonia, I had no other choice but take the route-5 again. But this route-5 will take you back into the Atacama Desert again and right after Antofagasta and after entering back into route-5 (Atacama Desert) will start a huge nightmare for bicyclists. The reason is obvious: middle of nowhere and the distance to find food and water is far away. My next blog will cover the survivability for water and food in the desert, as I had no idea there were no towns or villages between. I wasn't the only one in trouble. Three Swiss motorcyclists were looking for a fuel (gas) station as they were running very low on fuel. Adventures of driest desert in the world Atacama was about to begin. My next blog is all about Atacama Desert.

            Atacama Desert, Chile.  Killer conditions.