Humberstone

It was a silent night and the weather was great but windless. No traffic on the road next to us and we could not hear the highway. We went to bed around midnight so the kids were still asleep at 9 and we had to wake them up. It was still dark at 7 am so we felt like the 2 hour loss was not accurate to our biorhythms. The kids explored the ruins around us and collected ancient artifacts: a cassette tape and a remote control. They pretended they were their cellphones. 

We headed out at 11am and stopped at a small town to fill up water but the faucet threads were too big. We shopped at a small farmers market and bought some peanut candy and a cantaloupe and onion. We went to a restaurant for lunch and they had a hose bib with the right threads and so we filled up our water after they gave us permission. 

We ordered lomo saltado, hot dog, and a stuff avocado which was delicious. All for $22.

We drove to the largest geoglyphic human form, the Gigante de Tarapaca. It was 86m high.

We then drove to an abandoned nitrate mining town called Humblestone. In 1850 the Atacama was the largest source of fertilizer and it was the largest export for Chile. Then someone figured out how to synthesize nitrate cheaper and the mine eventually stopped being profitable.

The town is now a museum and was a UNESCO heritage site. We spent three hours there exploring the rooms with the collection of toys and equipment. There was a massive generator in the power plant.

We met Jeff and Sherry, a couple from Alberta in a F350 and truck camper. They have been traveling in South America for three years now for four months at a time during the winter months. They had two weeks to get back to Cusco to store their rig. They had traveled up from Ushuaia four weeks ago and we traded Peruvian soles for Argentinian pesos. They gave us some tips for the road ahead.

We parted ways and headed down the road for another 45 minutes to a spot next to some geoglyphs. 

We had the lomo saltado for dinner and went to bed.