Iquique a Cool Town

For our day in Iquique, we walked down the main street and the boardwalk on the beach. As we walked, the town started to grow on me. There were street vendors and a few interesting shops around the square that made for a fun afternoon.

Walking down Baquedano Street I had a feeling I was on stage set of a old town in Texas, not a coastal Chilean town. The street’s wooden buildings with window shutters and porches with wood railings had me expecting to see a cowboy pushing through one of the grand wood doors.

Just off the main square we walked into the Regional Museum of Iquique. The building itself was interesting and the museum was well organized, tracing the region’s history from pre-Inca, to nitrate, to contemporary eras. It was an impressive local museum.

The collections were fantastic and a really insightful look into the region. 

With all the earthquakes this region has, it’s easy to understand why they are prepared for everything.

Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces but I think this fish recycling basket was so cool.

I thought Iquique also had a bit of a Miami vibe – can you see it?

We saw these unusual trees all around the ports. They are Norfolk Island Pines, they are not really pines at all. They were discovered by Captain James Cook and were used in ship building for masts. I thought they looked a little like upside down umbrellas.