A Farewell to Chile

Goodbye Chile

After nearly six and a half months, we’re finally quitting Chile. I’m sad to be leaving, but eager to get on to Bolivia.

Chile has been wonderful. The people here are, in general, very loving and open. They love foreigners and have been very generous. We are leaving many new and close friends behind. In honor of our friends, I have the priviledge of writing the Chile Summary.

Chuquicamata

When the dictator Pinochet privatized Chile’s mines, it was arguably one of the best things for Chile’s economy at the time. Granted, Pinochet was a horrible murderer, but he did manage to get Chile’s economy back on track. The Atacama Desert in the North of Chile is one of the richest mineral deposits in South America. And the mineral riches there are Chile’s primary export, propelling its economy into the world stage and soon to first-world status.

The red ball of the sun was dropping low towards the horizon as we left the dust of Calama behind us. Pushing out into the Atacama for one last ride in the great desert, we were loaded down, ready for days of nothing. We camped to the west of Chukicamata, the huge gaping pit in the earth. Even late at night, the mine was lit up like a Christmas tree, and spewing smoke; a bast that never sleeps. The next day we continued the slow climb through the blasted desert, passing the sleepy towns of Chiu-Chiu and Lasana. Chiu-Chiu, sleepy in the hot sun, and Lasana, hidden in it’s deep, cool, canyon. The slow freight train from Calama to Ollague passed us in the heat, pushing it’s way north towards Bolivia. We felt akin to the train, heavy laden, slowly and steadily pushing ourselves onward.