Our Calama Home

This is our house. I'm standing in the road to our house near our neighbor's driveway. We also have a neighbor across from us and behind us. The other side of our property has a security fence between us and the river, El Rio Loa.

This photo is taken standing in our yard and looking back from where the previous picture was taken. This is a front view of the house. To the right is the fence and then the river. This is the view from our front door and looks at the back of our neighbor's house which is where my exercise buddy Odessa lives. The gardeners take care of all the yards and mow once a week. This is the view looking at the front of our house and looking to the right where the security fence is and the river. This is a picture of the "river" where people gather on the weekends to camp and party. This is the view when you walk in the front door. The kitchen is to the immediate left and the dining room is the second door and after the dining room door is the entrance to the living room. This is the inside garden. The waterfall (that stack of rocks in the corner) does work but you have to keep the hose running in it as it doesn't recirculate but instead drains immediately. This is our living room. We got the fake tree at the South American version of Home Depot. Don't let that furniture fool you -- it may look nice but to sit on it -- it is hard as a rock. This is the dining room. Larry uses it for Spanish classes on Sat. a.m. We've yet to eat in there. This is our kitchen. The dishwasher is below the oven. The oven has been converted from a 110 v appliance to a 220 v. I was having trouble baking and ultimately was told that because the oven was converted, I was suppose to be using "timed bake" instead of "bake". When I was using "bake" the oven was essentially working as a broiler from the bottom burner. We're also not able to calibrate the heat correctly so I now know (with the help of an oven thermometer) to set the oven at 300 if I want it to cook at 350. No wonder I was having trouble with my cookies when I set the temperature at 350 and it was cooking them at 400! This is a picture we took upon our arrival and demonstrates the lack of height on our kitchen counters. This is our little kitchen eating area showing the entrance to the office to the right. This is the "office" area with a sliding glass door leading to the enclosed patio area. This shows the view from the back of the house. We were provided with that neat table but the chairs (which are being used outside to protect the herb seeds I planted from Daisy --you'll see her picture shortly), didn't have any cushions and we aren't able to find any here for the chairs. Thank goodness for the South American version of Home Depot where we bought a couple chairs complete with cushions! We've also bought the plants you see on the left of the patio. These big windows open like a sliding glass door so we open them when we barbecue. The roof is made of fiberglass with a trellis-type material over that. A lot of dust, etc., does come in here. Here was the truck that finally delivered our "air" shipment 7 weeks after we had arrived. There was one 4x4x4 box in this truck which had driven from Santiago to deliver the "air" shipment. They arrived at around 7 p.m. on a Sunday. We were glad to finally get our "stuff".

This is Daisy. She was taken in as a puppy by a former expat who made arrangements for her care when he left. She has a dog house up by the guard shack and they feed her up there. She has adopted us though so spends a lot of time at our house. Larry thinks this is the perfect way to have a dog!

This is the gymnasium. It is located in the compound. This is where I spend each weekday morning. My new favorite exercise machine is the eliptical. Larry gets up at 4 a.m. on Wednesday to use the gym before going to work and is able to use it as well on the weekend. We really appreciate it!

Okay, now you have an idea of where we live.

Iquique, Chile

Thanksgiving weekend we learned that there was a Chilean holiday (Immaculate Conception Day) on Monday, December 8, so quickly tried to figure out someplace to go. Iquique (e-KEY-keh) won. Our trip began by heading west towards the coast where we spotted this electric train high above us.

We arrived at the coastal community of Tocopilla (about 2 hours later) and then turned north and drove along the coast the entire way to Iquique. We came upon the Tocopilla Golf Club and were so tempted....

Check out the view from this hole!

Upon checking in at the Gavina Hotel (we stayed here when we visited Iquique when we lived in Bolivia!) and were given a room with an ocean view and a balcony on the 12th floor (there were only 12 floors). This is the view looking south. Iquique has a population of around 200,000 and depending on who is interpreting the meaning of the word it either means "laziness" or "where the birds and the wolves sleep" -- hmmm.

This is the view looking north.

We headed out to see what there was to see and encountered this colorful combination of boats.

We spotted our "boat from hell" that was evidently bought by someone from Chile. (Scary huh Dave and Mike!)

We headed out bright and early from the hotel on Sunday. This is Calle Baquedano which is a pedestrian walkway "peatonal". The majority of these buildings were constructed between 1880 and 1920 and housed those that made their fortunes via the nitrate industry.

The peatonal led us to the Plaza Arturo Prat with the Torre del Reloj (clock tower) in its center and in the picture below is the Teatro Municipal (municipal theater).

The Torre del Reloj was constructed in 1877 and the Teatro Municipal was built in 1890 -- it was retored in 1987.

Every Sunday the military academy and the band parades in the plaza -- very official. When they played the national anthem, everyone sang -- okay, Larry and I didn't sing -- we didn't know the words.

This is the Centro Espanol (Spanish center) and is also in the plaza. It was constructed in 1904 in this unique Moorish style. We enjoyed the obligatory "pisco sour" and lunched here.

We were treated to beautiful sunsets from our balcony.

We left Iquique Monday a.m. and headed inland. This photo demonstrates once again how barren the Atacama Desert is. That "green" area at the end of the road is called Pica. We visited Pica which is truly an oasis in the desert -- The Incas know a good place when they find it -- they used to hang out here. All sort of citrus (including the little limes that "pisco sours" are famous for) are grown here and folks travel here to enjoy the hot springs. We looked but, once again, weren't interested in "bathing" with a bunch of people -- especially when the sign at the entrance said that people with diseases of the skin were not to enter. Pica is described as a location where the Incas hung out. We had left Pica and were now heading for Los Geoglifos de Pintados.

The geoglyphs are estimated to have been constructed between 1000 and 1400 AD.

We enjoyed our long weekend and have since kept occupied attending pre-Christmas festivities and despedidas (going-away parties). Blog on that to follow!

The Coastal Community of Antofagasta

Our next excursion was a trip to the

fair city of Antofagasta. Antofagasta lies approximately 130 miles to the southwest of Calama and took around three hours to get there.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. I was sure we'd have those good cinnamon rolls for breakfast -- but no.

Here we were hanging out in the lobby enjoying CNN while enjoying a cold drink.

Antofagasta

(/antofa'γasta/) is a port city with a population around 280,000. I read that the city's name comes from either a Quechua or Aymara word for "town of the great saltpeter bed". The Chilean Coast Range (Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs southward parallel with the Andean Mountains and provides the city with a border to the east with the Pacific Ocean to the west. Therefore, the city is long and narrow. Antofagasta was founded in 1868 by Bolivia to create a port that would provide an outlet for saltpeter (nitrate) exports and establish control over an area where Chileans had settled and were smuggling this material. Antofagasta's original name was "la Chimba," though the area was also known as Peñas Blancas (Spanish for "White Boulders"). It was part of the Bolivia until 1879, when it was occupied by Chilean troops. This event marked the beginning of the War of the Pacific.

Saturday morning we walked from our hotel to the nearby McDonald's and figured if we couldn't enjoy the Holiday Inn Express good cinnamon rolls, we'd instead enjoy a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin -- but no. We did get the coffee but our Egg McMuffin was on a hamburger bun and minus the egg?? By the way, we were the only customers there....

This was our view from the room.

We walked a lot this day. Cool building eh!

Here we were in the Plaza Colon. Larry by one of the many statues.

This is a replica of Big Ben in the Plaza Colon with a cool gothic styled Cathedral in the background and fountains that worked!! It was pretty.

On our way home we traveled north out of Antofagasta to visit La Portada -- a natural rock formation.

We then traveled to this monument just a little bit further up the road which marks the exact location of the Tropic of Capricorn. "At winter solstice, about December 22, the sun is overhead at noon at the Tropic of Capricorn; this marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. For several days before and after each solstice the sun appears to stand still in the sky, i.e., its noontime elevation does not seem to change from day to day." The monument was constructed such that at winter solstice, it is aligned to the solstice and at exactly the right time the sun shines through it.

These dead or dying cactus represent the line of the Tropic of Capricorn.

We saw this on our way back home. How did they do that?

I'll post Thanksgiving as soon as I get some pictures from other who took pictures. In the meantime, you may see our trip to Iquique which we took last weekend.