Day 2 - Antofagasta

You wake up pretty well rested, pack all your things back into your bags and hop on the van ready to go. The first stop today is to see some wildlife. You trek out onto some rocks above the ocean, look out and what do you see....Pelicans, jote cabeza roja (red-headed vultures), red-footed boobies, sea lions, etc... As well as a beautiful view of the sun reflecting off the ocean, with the cliff edges, and all the wildlife - one awesome view!
These are the jote cabeza roja and they spread their wings out facing the sun every morning to dry out their wings. Their wings get wet because of the mist and fog that comes off the ocean during the night.
You then leave the beautiful oceanside drive to cross the driest part of the Atacama desert. Some meteorological stations have not recorded a drop of rain for over 50 years here, and it's completely apparent by the lack of anything living. Dry, dry, dirt for miles and miles, not a single shrub, cactus, or bush exists here.
The first stop in the desert is at the old cemetery of Oficina Alemania, one of the many abandoned Nitrate mining operations that were the main source of income of the country during the second half of the XIX century. Many sad histories remain here - some of young boys only of 14 years of age that died working in the mines basically as slaves. One of the graves you find has a death date of 1967, and you realize that only 40 years ago these unfortunate events of child slavery were taking place here.

The second stop in the desert is at the "Mano del Desierto." A gigantic sculpture of a hand done by artist Mario Irarrazabalo in 1992. The purpose of the sculpture and placement of it was to say the we need to give mother earth a hand, or one day the whole earth will end up looking like this desert.

Finally, you arrive in the 5th largest city in Chile, Antofagasta. It is one of the primary chilean ports, linked with Bolivia and Argentina by cargo trains. It was established by Bolivia as an export of Nitrate and Silver until it was occupied by Chilean troops in 1879, thus initiationg the Pacific War with Peru and Bolivia. The town itself is in the process of being renovated by the Chilean government in the hopes of attracting more tourists, but once you pass the new buildings in the front of the town, the rest is pretty much a dump. Also, the town has a reputation of being the easy pass-through exportation for many drug lords from Bolivia. But, beside all those things, Antofagasta has some really cool cliffs and rock formations called 'La Portada Cliffs'. You visit these, take loads of pictures of them, then retire to your hostal in town after doing a bit of shopping for fruit at the market, and picking up an empanada for dinner.