This Saturday, some other volunteers and I rented a car and checked out a few of the local sights, namely: el mano del desierto, a ghost town, and la portada. Despite my nose deciding it need to be blown every couple of minutes it was a good day. We picked up food at the grocery store before we left and had sandwiches of advocado, cheese and ham with cookies and other snacks. I took a number of good photographies that I'll have to post in the not to distant future.
El mano del desierto is this huge sculpture of a hand in the middle of the Atacaman desert. It was designed to be sort of in the middle of no-where so that people would come solely for the sculpture and then take in the surrounding atmosphere. Apparently the sculptor created giants hands in other parts of the world, allegedly there is one in Patagonia, Venice and France. Unfortunately, a group of people were cleaning the hand when we got there which sort of interrupted the just us and the desert aspect of the place.
The ghost town (I forgot its name) was also in the middle of the desert. It was previously a company town during the nitrate boom (which went bust when scientists figured out how to manufacture nitrates instead of having to mine them). Afterwards it was used briefly as a camp for political prisoners during the 70s right after the Pinochet coup. It was cool place with lots of rusted stuff lying around. The Chilean government had restored the town's theatre and central plaza, which was this mini little oasis of green in the middle of a dead town in the middle of the driest on earth. The Atacaman desert is something, because I had been expecting a little bit of green, maybe some cactus or something but there is nothing but dirt, sand, rocks and hills.
While at the ghost town, we locked the keys in the car. Fortunately, some other town visitors were able to help us break into our rented car. It was funny because when we explained the situation, the guy who helped us was like sure I have the right tools in my car. We definitely gave each other a glance when he said that because who has the right tools to break into a car. However, he came back with only ordinary tools which we used to partially wedge open the car door.
The Portada is the sight that Antofagasta is most famous for. It's this huge granite rock 100 feet off the coast that has been eroded so that it has a hole in the middle. A picture of it is featured on all of the town buses. I've been a little skeptical of whether the beauty of the Portada would live up to its reputation but it definitely exceeded expectations. Its in a very scenic location on a beach surrounded by mini cliffs and it is larger than I expected. You can't help but a wonde a little how is it standing with this huge hole in the middle of it. Definitely worth seeing if you happen to be passing through Antofagasta.
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