Iquique is a city on the Pacific Ocean in northern Chile. It is also in the middle of the Atacama desert . Although a beach and gambling tourist resort, it is carved out of
the desert sand covered mountains which rise behind it. Young boys body surf wearing wet suits in the Pacific. Others paraglide from the top of the mountain and land
in the ocean. Meanwhile somewhere enough fresh water is found to grow palm trees and flower gardens.
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Brazil requires American citizens to have a visa which they must obtain while still in the United States. Argentina requires US citizens to pay $170 for a visa on entering the country because the US supported England on the Falkland Island 'conflict'. Instead of going to tierra del fuego in Argentina and returning through Brazil, I decided to return north through Chile. The Atacama desert is one of the driest places on earth. Iquique is a Chilean ciy in the Atacama desert situated between the ocean and large sand mountains. The hotel was next to the ocean on the outskirts of Iqueque a taxi drive from the airport. Behind the hotel was Cerro Dragon or Dragon Hill. It is an enormous sand dune about 4 km long, varying in height from 150 to 500 meters. |
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It is the largest urban sand dune in the world. Only the dunes of the Sahara are higher. The dune is situated on narrow rocky ledge above a cliff 500 feet high that forms a natural barrier to the sea. I walk up the hill behind the hotel through a middle class residential neighborhood speckled with thirty story apartment/condo buildings. The buildings only go about a quarter of the way up the hill. Once the buildings stop the sand begins. A number of houses have dogs. Barking dogs. Growling dogs. Some dogs aren't chained. The dogs put a damper on walking. Hand gliders float off the top of Cerro Dragon landing somewhere. |
A 1.4" square
mp3 player by Coby plays videos.
It was difficult to get it to work.
Once the video began playing it would
continue for at least enough time to
document the video performance. The media
player had a battery and internal memory.
These devices cost approximately $29.95.
The video destined for the mp3 player
had a golfing theme. Each media player
played a golfer carrying his golf bag
exiting Park Golf Course in Queens, NY.
These two golfers became the characters
for the animation to play on the Coby mp3
player. The mp3 players were difficult to
operate. I had to tap the screen perfectly
with the index fingernail to change folders
and locate the video file. Then I had to
tap the screen perfectly to get the file to
play. Once playing each of the mp3 players
had to be placed in the sand on
Cerro Dragon in Iquique.
The train from La Paz to Antofagsta, Chile. It traverses the altiplano all night before crossing the border into Chile. The temperature at night in the altiplano was close to freezing.
A group of four or five Bolivians were chewing coca leaves all night. After thoroughly masticating the leaves and sucking the juice from them, they would spit out the leaves creating a pile of
chewed leaves two feet high. A couple of Chilean women were crossing the border with inexpensive coats which they bought in Bolivia to sell in Chile.
Although the coats were womans, the woman gave the coat to a young man to carry across the border.
As the train approached the Chilean border,
Chilean customs officials came around asking the passengers if they had anything to declare.
They looked at the woman's coat laying on the young man's lap and immediately picked it up. The would be smuggler asked the young man to talk to customs and try to get the coat back.
The customs official looked at the young man and laughed. He said it was obviously a woman's garment and belonged to someone trying to avoid paying the duty on
commercial items.