Calama and Chiu-Chiu

On Sunday (July 15th), we drove from San Pedro to Calama (100km; where we landed by plane a week ago). Upon arrival, we were informed that tomorrow (Monday, July 16th) is a holiday (Virgin Carmen) and therefore our visit to Chuquicamata Mine cannot be arranged. We walked around Calama for a bit and had to park the car in a parking garage (different from Europe, as it is actually just a place in the street with a gate and a gatekeeper). The city of Calama doesn't have much to offer, except for the city church and a shopping street, there are no more than game halls and brothels. The street mainly thrives on the surrounding mines (copper mines).

We felt very safe and rested well in our hostel El Loa. On Monday (the holiday), we drove to Chiu-Chiu at 7am to visit the small village. We left so early because we had to return the car at 11am and wanted to see something before spending the rest of the day in Calama.

Chiu-Chiu (official name: San Francisco de Chiu Chiu) is a very beautiful small village with a colonial church.

Speaking of the attire of the statues: in this church, Jesus is wearing a white skirt and it looks very much like a ballet tutu. 😂

When we visited the village church early in the morning, a villager made a fire on the street because the Virgin Carmen was celebrated yesterday and he burned the rubbish with a fire. Also, it was warm and this was great because it was quite windy.💨🔥

After leaving the small village, we stopped at the nearby lake "Laguna Inka Coya". On the way back, we saw a lot of trucks heading to the mine.

Back in the city of Calama, we did some shopping and now we are waiting to take the night bus to Caldera.

Tomorrow, we will already be at the ocean. 🌊😊