North Trip! (Day 7 and 8!)

Just a warning, this is going to be a long post ;)

On the seventh day of the trip, we were up at 8 and had breakfast at 8:30. Then we went to a ship and had a tour! Well a life-size replica of a ship.

So... I had my camera all charged up and ready to go. But... I forgot to take the battery out of the charger. And without a battery, the camera doesn't work. So I was without a camera until we returned to the hotel. But it was alright...

The Esmeralda was involved in a big battle against Peru. They lost... but during the several hour long battle, Commander Arturo Prat, heroically jumped on board of the other ship and got shot. And so he and the Esmeralda are symbols of heroism and gave other ships the will to fight.

So, only a few pictures from other's people's cameras, but they'll do.

This is the blue group!

And this is all of us!

 After the ship tour, we walked to the center of the city and went to a museum. As we were walking, there were some really cool stands selling random things. But we didn't have time to stop... It was sad.

Center of Iquique:

Then we went to a theater. It was pretty cool because we got to go backstage and see all the wooden props they used in the old days.

Thennnnn we went to a mall! How exciting. But it wasn't just any mall, it was a Zofri mall! It's a giant duty free mall. As everyone knows, I love malls. *not really...

But first, we went to eat lunch in the food court! There was a sushi place and so a group of us went to go check it out. Rotary told us that they would pay, so we just had to tell them when we were ready to pay. There were 8 of us and as we looked at the menu, it was cheaper to get a bigger platter of sushi than to order individually. So we ordered a 78 piece one! It was sooo good! And it made me really happy and full.

After the sushi, it was time for shopping! There were a few stores that had American (and from other countries) candy for cheap. So a friend and I bought an Almond Joy to split. Apart from the cheap candy, the other stores had some great offers. Like a 1,200 dollar dress for only 700. hahhaa. So I didn't buy much else. Just a candy bar and a USB stick.

We were in that darn place for three and a half hours! i would have much rather been at an artisan feria. And everyone else thought the same except the counselors. They took advantage of the cheap alcohol.

After that, we went to the beach. That was nice. I walked around with Jodie a lot. Neither of us felt like actually swimming. I got some sand in a bag and looked for sea shells for Natalia who had requested it.

Since it was the last night of the trip, the counselors rented out a club for us. Because you have to be 18 to legally get in. So we got on the bus for the club at 11:30 but then got a phone call that there were electrical problems at the place. So we sat in the bus waiting and at 12:30 we finally went. We danced until 4 and then back to the hotel and showered and slept. It was a fun time!

The city in the night:

With less than 4 hours of sleep we were up and at 'em again. We packed up our bags and put them all together in one room. With breakfast at 8:30 and then off on the bus after. This next place, was one of my favorite places we went.

The Humberstone Saltpeter mine. It is a mining town that was opened in 1862 and abandoned in 1960. It was abandoned because someone discovered to produce fertilizer through a synthetic process.

I took a TON of pictures but you'll just have to bear with me. I absolutely loved it and could have wandered around all day long.

It was a pretty complete town, with a church, grocery store, school, hospital, swimming pool, etc..

Jodie and I:

There was everything to old machinery to kitchen appliances to toys.

The peeling walls:

Salt mine in operation:

We got artisticy. ;) James would love that place.

In the desert:

Sooo. Jodie and I were really enthralled by all of it. And there was so much to explore. But... the group of 40 exchange students with our guide moved faster than we did. So we walked out of one building and found this:

Absolutely NO ONE.

They had said something about a theater so we set out to find the theater of the town.

After ten minutes of wandering around without seeing another living thing, we found some workers (working on I don't know what...) and they laughed at us. Then pointed us in the general direction. And we found it ;)

Got lost in a ghost town... hahhaa.

We listened to our tour guide and then were set loose to explore and take more pictures. We stuck with the group this time.

Like from an old Western movie:

At the hotel:

At the hospital:

Some rooms were pretty erie:

In the school:

In the grocery store:

There was a section that was completely pitch dark. And so we took pictures with flash to see what was there:

I took a lot more pictures than these... but I figured that'd be enough for now.

After Humberstone, we went to the center of Iquique.

 And then went on another boat tour!

 Jodie and I:

Jodie and Catherine:

 There's a gorilla in the mountain. Do you see it?

 

Birds!

 Sea lions:

After our boat ride, we headed off to a nice restaurant for lunch. The Rotary counselors had it decorated nicely with balloons and streamers.

I had some fish, fries, and rice and it was super good. 

 We got up by color group and said what we liked most about the trip. And Rotary gifted us some coasters and a side bag.

Then, we were off to the hotel to get our things on the bus.

Good bye hotel:

Good bye Iquique beach:

And we were off to the airport, with some ice cream to eat while waiting:

I sat by Annabel:

We had a 40 minute flight to Antofagasta, a 30 minute wait in the plane, and then an hour and a half hours to Santiago.

We had some airplane food: 

 And watched the sun go down:

We landed in Santiago at 9:30-ish. And got our luggage and said good bye to everyone. It was hard... I can't even imagine what it's going to be like after the Easter Island trip. It's amazing how close I've gotten to these people. I've only seen them two or three times, but I feel like they know me so well. It helps that we are going through the same thing.

At 11, I went with 8 or so others and got on a bus to Curicó. It was fancy! The chairs were ginormous and reclined into beds. It was fantastic. So I passed out on the ride to Curicó.

And there we have it! Finally, the end to an amazing trip to the North. I loved every minute of it. It was incredible to spend so much time with the other exchange students getting to know the beautiful desert of the north of Chile.