3/3 Iquique (eee-kwee-kway), Chili

If you listen to the wind in Iquique, in the temporal distance you can hear Tennessee Ernie Ford singing 'You load sixteen tons, what do you get?.........'

In this case, you get Iquique.  And saltpetre (what do gunpowder and fertilizer have in common?) mines.  The mines were isolated high in the mountainous coastal desert.  Each town (AKA mining business) had it's own theater, swimming pool, school, and economy.

Really, economy.  Every mine paid the workers in unique tokens.  Shops in each town only accepted local tokens.  The only legal currency was in the hands of, thank you Ernie, the Company Store.

Not that it mattered.  Working sixteen hour days probably made traveling, read 'walking' between towns over Atacama desert mountains kind of ain't gonna happen.

The old part of the city was greatly reminiscent of California gold rush towns.  Mine owners lived in opulent, expansive homes.  Mine workers didn't.

All gone now.  The last mine closed about 1960.

Travelers today board theoretically comfy buses to explore 20 million year old fossils (giant armadillo, saber toothed tiger, towering tapirs - Disney's Ice Age series got it right), relics from the mining age, casinos, and - duty free shopping.

I say theoretically comfy buses because, well, if a bus sits all morning closed in the summer sun with broken air conditioning, 'comfy' is not quite the definition précis.

When the tour group re-boarded said bus after the first stop, Nancy - whose body temp does not regulate well - departed to walk to the ship's free shuttle.  John, who is well-trained in dealing with Nancy's sense of direction, departed to shepherd me to said shuttle, then rejoined the tour at the casino.  From which he also shuttled back to the ship.

In fact, I started the diaspora: everyone on the tour found alternative ways to get 'home'.   And almost everyone on the tour generously took time to let Oceania know what they thought about paying to be sautéed in a bus.

We are waiting to hear what Oceania has to say about it.

May your days be merry and bright!  And may all your daydreams go right!