From one beach city to another, we arrived in hot Iquique and spent 2 hours trudging from one accommodation to the next. It was peak season in this city. We eventually found a room at 'Hostal Vivar', where the staff was welcoming and the room with its 5 beds comfortable. We were in need of a large, liquid refreshment by this point. We made our way into town along Baquedano’s fanciful wooden sidewalks, passing by many buildings with lovely Georgian-style architecture. We popped into the Palacio Astoreca, originally built for a nitrate tycoon and now a cultural centre exhibiting contemporary work produced by local artists.

Iquique’s main plaza was delightful with fountains paving the way to the 1877 Torre Reloj (Clock Tower), the neoclassical Teatro Municipal and the Moorish, impressively-tiled Casino Espanol . There were also a couple of handsomely restored trams, one of which we saw moving at a less than pedestrian pace. With all of this impressive architecture before our eyes, we found the perfect spot in a cafe-bar on Plaza Prat to drink in the atmosphere. This proved to be a good choice as some old Chilenos shouted us a beer and then left having paid for our meal as well! They also introduced us to Jessica and Esteban, a young Chilean army lady and policeman, who would become our drinking buddies for the next 24 hours...Fortunately Jessica was on her 2-week annual beach holiday and had a luxurious beach-front apartment, where we were invited to enjoy the views with a few piscolas (Pisco + Coca-Cola = potent, especially after a solid base of Cristal cervezas). We met up with them again the following day (late afternoon) on Playa Cavancha.

The Chilean corvette, Esmeralda, was sunk close to Iquique’s coast during the War of the Pacific with Peru and there is now an impressive replica boat at the port . We dropped by the nearby small fish market for our first taste of Chilean cerviche.

Ghost towns are dotted across the desert landscape inland from Iquique; they are eerie remnants of once-flourishing mining colonies that sprung up due to the Atacama’s white gold-nitrate reserves. The most interesting of these places is Humberstone. Built in 1872, the town’s opulence reached its height in the 1940s; including a grand theatre, a large outdoor swimming pool complete with diving platforms, a hotel, a school and a wide range of shops – a surprisingly comfortable lifestyle in the middle of the desert. The development of synthetic nitrates forced the closure of the oficina by 1960, with its inhabitants abandoning the town’s infrastructure almost overnight. It was a really interesting place to explore with many buildings standing in their original form. We also visited the nearby Oficina Santa Laura where we were able to see the remnants of the industrial processes used.

On our outing we passed by pre-Hispanic geoglyphs, before arriving in picturesque Pica, an oasis village famous for its pica limes, a key ingredient of the tart and tasty pisco sour. We enjoyed a very fresh fruit juice in this oasis before returning to Iquique.

Onward night bus to San Pedro de Atacama via Calama, 12h.