Flat Stanley Visit

Our great niece from Omaha sent Flat Stanley to visit us. His arrival encouraged us to visit areas around Calama that we hadn't been to yet. This sign is seen as visitors leave the airport. It says, "Welcome to Calama Land of Sun and Copper" and notes that we live here with 142,000 other folks.

The first place we took Flat Stanley was the copper mine where Larry works -- El Abra -- the reason we are here. Freeport McMoRan owns 51% and the Chilean government-run company Codelco owns the remaining percentage. The mine began operation in 1996. As the sign indicates, El Abra lies at an altitude of 3,276 meters which is approximately 10,748 feet.

Here is the end result of what the folks at El Abra do.

We were able to show Flat Stanley that we have corn fields here in Calama too!

This photo is one of many that demonstrate how barren the Atacama Desert is. The Atacama lies west of the Andes and east of the Chilean Coastal Range contributing to this area being billed as the driest desert in the world. The Atacama has been used for filming Mars scenes.

We took Flat Stanley to visit the San Francisco de Chiu Chiu Church which was constructed during the 17th century. Following are photos from inside the church. The roof beams are constructed from cactus and the walls are approximately 1 meter thick (a bit over 3 feet.)

We traveled from the church to Pukara Chiu Chiu which was a "fort" constructed between 800 and 1400 A.D.

We continued north on the road entering a canyon which the Rio Loa flows through ultimately arriving at Pukara de Lasana -- another pre-Inca "fort" constructed during the 12th century and restored during the 1950s. These two fellows asked if they could have their pictures taken with us. We agreed if they would let us photograph them with Flat Stanley.

Another example of the barren Atacama Desert.

This photo shows San Pedro (left) and San Pablo in the background with the green Rio Loa valley in the center of the photo and the stark comparison of that valley and the surrounding desert.

Thanks Flat Stanley for getting us out and about to view more of the areas near where we live.