Friday, July 31, 2015

7/31/15: Humberstone Saltpeter

I woke up a little late today because I went to sleep late last night, so it ended up being almost noon by the time I was on a bus to Humberstone. It's a location about 45 minutes to an hour away from Iquique, an abandoned town now named a UNESCO World Heritage Site that used to be the center of saltpeter (gunpowder) production, a huge industry for Chile in the decades before and after 1900.

The trip there was tricky with public transportation because it's almost a completely touristy site - there are very few locals getting on and off there, and instead of having a bus stop, the buses just sort of pause at the edge of the road, let you walk off, and continue on. I did not know this (all I knew was from an incomplete review on Trip Advisor), so my minibus passed the stop before I even knew what was going on. Luckily, there was a little tiny town nearby where the driver directed me to a bus in the opposite direction to let me to the site.

When I got dropped off, I walked about 5 minutes to the site and paid to get in (yay for student discounts!). The site is incredible! It's an entire city - a small one - that has everything, from living quarters to a hospital to a waste dump to the mining/processing plant to a main square with a market, clock tower, theater, and hotel. It took me about 3 hours to get through the whole thing, and all the buildings are rusted and beginning to fall apart. One of the biggest risks of this place is that the sun (really hot with lots of radiation) and the other elements will damage it beyond repair. The UNESCO designation helps fund some refurbishing, but a good amount of the site is still in disrepair, which is quite unfortunate.

It was a privilege to learn about the life of these workers, which consisted of a lot of hard work. It's kind of incredible that the whole town is still standing and much of the buildings and equipment is still intact. The idea was that saltpeter was a really valuable material and one that transformed the city of Iquique into a city and a crucial port in Chile. At its peak, 65% of worldwide saltpeter was Chilean. In the late 1930s, though, Germans invented artificial gunpowder that put thousands of Chileans out of business. Unfortunate for them.

To get back to Iquique was a lot more tricky than getting to Humberstone because there's no real bus stop. Basically, you walk back to the highway where you got off (about 5-10 minutes away from the Humberstone site) and wait until there's a bus that is headed in the direction of Iquique. When one finally came (maybe after 5 minutes of waiting - there are actually lots of buses and minibuses), I saw a couple of people get off. That meant there would definitely be room for me, so I asked to get on and the driver agreed! Whew. I was really nervous about it, but thankfully it all worked out!

For dinner, I stopped at a chicken place - I got 1/4 of a chicken with a plate of fries, a drink, and a side salad for about $6. Bless South America!

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