Chile: Costa del Norte Grande
Updated 28 August 2001
Click on these stamp-sized images to see larger versions.
Antofagasta
Antofagasta, pop 250,000, capital of Región II, and outlet for
the great mining industry of the northern deserts.
The nearest cities along the coast of this size are
Viña del Mar, 1310km to the south,
and Tacna (Peru), 760km to the north.
Scenes of Plaza Colón.
More scenes around town.
Coastal creatures.
Monumento Natural La Portada, landmark of the northern coast.
Tocopilla
Tocopilla: pop 30,000, a coastal city important for
its thermoelectric plants and its links to the
inland mining industry.
The coast of El Norte Grande, where the desert meets the ocean.
There are places here on the coast where rainfall has never been
recorded. It's amazing and surreal how utterly dry and barren the terrain
is, right next to the water.
Here on the coastal highway 1, one can travel 200 kilometers without
hitting any sort of city.
In the background of the first photo is a road for mining transport trucks
cut into the mountain at a precipitous angle --
see here.
1st-3rd: Punta Atala, a tiny fishing village.
4th-5th: Caleta Buena, a beach campground.
The ghost town of Gatico, with the abandoned Casa de Huéspedes,
and the town cemetery.
Ruins of Cobija,
which was founded in 1825 by Simón Bolívar
as Bolivia's main port.
It prospered until the late 19th century, when natural disaster
struck, and Chile conquered the entire region
(leaving Bolivia landlocked).
As evidenced by the wooden shacks, there are a few people still living
(or summering) here.
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