Day 60 - 03 Feb.2012 - Antofagasta

We have been travelling for 60 days now…two thirds of our trip is already behind us! We have seen many beautiful things and lived many nice experiences. But a lot of places are still to be visited and we have to travel from Chile via Argentina back to Brazil.
As for today, after we have left Caldera, we went to see Bahia Inglesa, some 5km south. It seems this is the reason why Caldera is so expensive. Our guide says that Bahia Inglesa is one of Chiles most photographed beach. Well, we could not confirm this but it might be because the day was cloudy and the beach with its turquoise waters did not reveal its full beauty. We left the small village and continued our way north towards Antofagasta. As we travelled along, the countryside changed constantly towards drier dessert type. We are definitely entering the Atacama now. But the roads continue to be spotless and it is a pleasure to travel on them. On the outskirts of Antofagasta heavy industry starts to appear. This is partly as support industry for the mines further inland where massive amounts of copper are produced. The two biggest mines, Escondido and Chuquicamata produce yearly more than 1,400,000 tonnes of copper.
From the Rota 5 it takes some 20 km downhill to get to the harbour town of Antofagasta, which was Bolivian until 1879 when it was taken by Chile during the War of the Pacific in which Bolivia lost its access to the Sea. Nowadays Antofagasta is a fast growing town and the 5th biggest in Chile. The dessert is starting right at the outskirts of the town and the expansion of Antofagasta is either along the coast or into the dessert hills.
We found a camping right at the stony beach south of the city where we put up our tent for the last time at the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Tomorrow it goes into the hills towards San Pedro de Atacama.