What am I doing in Antofagasta? - My arrival to the other side of the planet

Have you heard of Antofagasta before? If not, it might be because this city is not the most popular touristic sites of Chile. This is a mining city in north Chile, between the Pacific Ocean and the world's driest desert, the Atacama. People come here to work, then they leave for the weekend. I spent one month in Antofagasta. But why on earth did I travel here?

So what happened is that with 10 other colleagues we were selected to a global leadership Programme to work with NGOs, universities and governmental institutions in Antofagasta (Chile) to implement together new ideas and enhance regional development. Our team had expertise in various fields and we came from 7 countries: Canada, Finland, Hungary, India, Spain, Switzerland and USA. It is a truly diverse and international team.

First impressions.

After a 29-hour-long trip I arrived in Antofagasta on a Saturday night. It was already dark so I saw nothing while the taxi took me to the hotel through the city. My very first impressions about Antofagasta I had only the next morning, when with my green tea I went to my balcony to have a look.

The first time I saw my street was when I woke up in the morning.

Pacific Ocean on the other side of the street.

After the Sunday shopping trying sea food, olives and local cheese.

On Sunday we had orientation and went for shopping. I heard that the seafood was great in Chile, so I bought a can to try, plus some more local food. After two days finally we went for a walk to the seaside in the afternoon to watch the most western sunset of the world. In general Chile is an earthquake zone and therefore Antofagasta is also affected by tsunamis. One of the first things that our local representative told us was not to be afraid of the earthquakes. You know the thing, when someone tells you not to be afraid, you start to be afraid.

During our walk we saw the seaside, we met fishermen, smelled the salty ocean, and finally we saw the first sunset on the Pacific Ocean. Because of the thick clouds on the horizon it was not what we expected, but this is just the beginning.

Antofagasta beach

Our first local friend, a diver fisherman

We saw these boards along the whole seaside

Our first sunset on the Pacific Ocean

About Tiny Girl With Big Bag

Hobby writer and autodidact photographer whose passion is to travel and get to know new people and cultures. She has been on 4 continents and 30 countries, and the outcome is this travel blog where she shares travel stories, thoughts, tips and photography always through a subjective eye.

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