Antofagasta Port City-Chile

ANTOFAGASTA

The name of the mine-related shipping port along the coast of the Atacama Desert in Chile is strange, but there are other “gastas” in South America. Nobody has been able to explain the word. Antofagasta is rough, edgy, trashy, with dog turds in the main walkways right where everybody is shopping. The city has a major shipping port for exporting the copper wealth of the Atacama Desert. The mini-van transfer from the airport into the city provides a backstreet tour of the northern slums, an array of rough parallel streets on the desert coastal range, a slope angling up from the Pacific like a skateboard ramp, steadily finding steeper slopes the higher one goes. The cement boxes make stacked apartments, two-story units packed wall to wall, their fronts all fenced off, and the units are only wide enough to park just one car, the apartments not much wider, painted in just about every off-hued puke shade one can clash together; all of this faded and peeling in the sun, and dusted with a peculiar grim that forms in the presence of marine moisture, much like that found in dingy Lima.

At a small ocean cove where pelicans and seagulls bathe, a shopping mall is slammed into the to coast on the left. A “yacht” club to the right sits next to the fish-stinking defunct fishing port. The large ocean vessels anchored parallel to the coast, waiting for their shipment of copper concentrates while the humans’ bustle about the cement maze, the place smelling of piss and covered in graffiti. The sunset here can make up for the place; the intense rose hues on the desert mountains, the solar orb dipping into the intense blue ocean, all this hubbub about infinity pools, the South Pacific is the penultimate horizon.

The historic center of town, at the Plaza de Armas, does not really preserve many old buildings. The streets are crowded with a jumble of two to four storied building with chaotic facades, a commercial center that is completely lacking in charm. The Plaza de Armas likewise is rather unremarkable for a South American city. The downtown area also overlaps with the Red-light district with narrow poor quality discotecas serving expensive low-quality drinks, and packed with mini-skirt wearing serving women that sell more than drinks. A true mining town. Antofagasta is rough, edgy, always has been, probably always will be. One redeeming point of interest in the downtown is the historic two-story wooden customs building that has been converted into the regional museum called “Museo Regional de Antofagasta.“ They have fairly modern displays and a visit there provides greater context to Antofagasta, including the early history with mineral wealth provided by the British managed nitrite fertilizer industry.

The beaches at Antofagasta proper are not really suitable for bathing or enjoyment. Many sections are lined by rip-rap. The best option is a good drive north to the other side of the “hammer head” peninsula to visit beach north of the Mejillones port. The Hornitos area has an upscale resort called Caja Los Andes that sits on an uplifted marine terrace overlooking the beach. Still, the rip currents may be strong here. Also, north of Antofagasta, closer to the airport, is the noteworthy sea-arch called “La Portada.” The formation of horizontal sedimentary rocks is draped in bird guano.

The Pacific coast south of Antofagasta is remarkable, stunning, bleak, grand, parched, strewn by boulders and dunes, striking light tan to white in aspect and contrasts sharply with the deep blue ocean where occasionally whales sprout and a near perpetual fog bank blocks the horizon thanks to the cold water delivered by the Humboldt Current. I have seen many beaches and coasts; this place stands out as being one of a kind.

Antofagasta has many accommodations, with modern venues like Holiday Inn, but they come at a high price given their main business is servicing the mining industry professionals. One would think better dining options would be present in this city, but in general Chilean food is bland, and out of the numerous trips we have made to Antofagasta nothing really stands out. Telepizza for a quick bite, the food court in the mall, and a bad memory of the McDonald’s having a cockroach scramble across the lobby while waiting to order food. The Casino-hotel Enjoy, a massive complex in the south built near the old mineral plants once operated by Bolivia before Chile stole away the northern coast, has a decent but expensive restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the bleak coast. Several Peruvian restaurants near Parque Brasil and along the coast drag of Avenida Grecia are safer bets. For a long time, the watering hole for Expats living in Antofagasta was Wally’s Pub; however, it was recently closed. For a classic upscale experience of the city, for lodging or dining, try the Hotel Antofagasta. The next door modern expensive Hotel Terrado has great rooms with ocean views and one of the better terrace dining venues overlooking the cove.

We know several people who have lived in Antofagasta while working at the mines. The stories they tell confirms the overall impression, to have any sort of fun it is best to leave Antofagasta. Nonetheless, it is part of the Chilean experience, and worth visiting, just watch your belongings and keep an ear open for the tsunami alarms. The stories you would get from a visit to Antofagasta would stand out from the run of the mill tours of Cusco and San Pedro de Atacama.

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South America seems to refuse to show its inexhaustible creative force.