Visiting Iquique and Llamas Galore!

Dear Family   Week of May 16 to May 23, 2016  TRIP to IQUIQUE (Stories 128 to 132)

We are sorry we got behind on sending the stories that go with the photos George has sent. When we left town and returned we got out of our routine.  It was so good of the Lawsons (Douglas and Nancy) to invite us up to Iquique and to have them take us around for a couple of days in their car to see things we never would have seen otherwise, and just have a get a way from all of the many things we do day in and day out here in Antofagasta. For this week, first of all here is the Dice Family story and then we give an account of what we did under numbers (1) to (14).

                          T R I P  D A I L Y  A C C O U N T S   A B O U T   C H I L E

     

STORY 128  (LEFT on the BUS) Wednesday May 18  (Our Get Away Bus Trip to Iquique, Chile)  To know where we went type in Iquique, Chile on the Internet Google) It would be worth your time to Look up Iquique on the Internet and see the BIG Sand hill that is the biggest sand hill in any city in the world. 

           The office elders drove us to the Antofagasta bus station where we boarded a Tour Bus headed for Iquique that left at 1:40 pm. The bus took the Route 5 which is the "Mountain Route" which took us through the Atacama Desert. We traveled during the daylight hours and were on the front row seat of the top 2nd level of the bus and were able to view much of the desert We even saw a small stream, and a oasis area of the desert where many strange looking trees were growing. We  were on the bus 6 1/2 hours and  finally arrived to Alto Hospicio (above Iquique). (2) We got off the bus there which saved the Lawsons from driving down to Iquique to pick us up.  

            They drove us to their apartment which was in a gated area, and they also had the car gated and locked in. They had prepared us a soup and salad supper and we so enjoyed visiting with them and learning about what they are doing. They both speak fluent Spanish. For trivia only when our children delivered the news papers up around the Provo Temple they delivered one to a "Joseph Bentley". He was this couples mission president when they both served missions in Argentina. Incidently they both worked in the office, she was Joseph Bentley's secretary. Then their courship began when they returned and they were married.  This is their 3rd mission ( 2nd a couple mission in Argentina, and now this one (3rd mission)  where they are over SIX branches and Mr. Lawson is the 1st Counselor in the Mission. They have a car, but their 18 months end they leave this mission on July 14.

          Now on with the story, they then drove us down the zig zag road down to Iquique as Iquique is on the beach front area, and Alto Hospicio is way way way above iquique. (3) We then checked into the Hotel Diego del Almagro that was 1 block from the beach.

 We rode on the bus to Iquique.  This lady sat across from us.  I ask her about the church and she said her mother and other family members belonged to the church but she didn't.

 Out the window of our Hotel in Iquique.  Notice the large sand dune in the middle of the city.

 Looking out our window of our hotel room in Iquique, over the Arturo Prat University to the Pacific Ocean.

STORY 129  (FIRST AWAY DAY) Thursday May 19   (4) Sight seeing driving to Bolivian border)  Other Senior Couple drove us up to Bolivian border. (14,000 feet).  Our ears took a "Beating" going so quickly from Sea level to 14,000 feet in a couple of hours.  (5) See the photos that we sent to do with our stop at the very primitive "Hotel" for a quick lunch of hot bread. This place had the photos of the desk front made of cactus and had the newspaper with the "terremoto" (earthquake) headline. 

        We then proceeded to travel to other places. See the photos sent showing the  (6) Chile National Volcano Park and saw a volcano that was still active with smoke coming out of the top. To go to this park, we had to drive through (7)  Colchane a small village with the "White Church." Then drove through this village on to the volcano park. 

        (8) We saw a lot of wild life that can be viewed in the photos. If we said we saw an Osterich we did not. It was really a Landue or (spelled) Lando. Osterich's are only in Africa or a zoo, but NOT  in Chile. We also saw many llama, alpaca, black ducks, white and pink flamingos, and some birds. (9) It was a delightful drive and we took many photos with captions you can see. On the way back barely got to the GIANT glyph before the sun went down. One of the photos even has the moon in it. This is the largest glyph in Chile.  (10) The Lawsons wanted to go to a Chinese resturarant in Alto Hospico for dinner.  The food was terrific. (no photo of this)

We are climbing high in the mountains.  We were eventually about 14300 feet above sea level

  We traveled with the only other couple in the mission.  Doug Lawson, Margaret and Nancy Lawson.  There was a pretty stiff wind at this stop.

Margaret and I at our first stop in the high mountains of Chile.

STORY 130   (SECOND AWAY DAY) Friday May 20  (11) We went to Humberstone " An old Chilean mining city"1879 to 1960)  The Lawsons picked us up and we drove back up the Zig Zag road to Alto Hospicio. Alto Hospicio is WAY up HIGH and iquique is way down low and the zig zag road is about like going up to Zions tunnel. You may be able to see this road on the Internet (type in Alto Hospicio, Chile) but we have no photos of that road or drive.  The old mining town dates from 1879 to 1960. 

       We were married in 1963 and were alive during the years it was functioning. George saw many things, they used on the farm. We also took a photo of the doctor's office for Norman's benefit. It was very interesting how they had preserved everything and you could go in so many different kinds of buildings, etc. See the photos. We purchased a wooden car for a remembrance. 

           (12) We then drove back to Pozo (find it on a map of Chile) where there is a branch of the church, and had late lunch and then drove down to Iquique  where we went to to Chilean  (13) Pizza shop and had a real Chilean pizza. They drove us around the down town area and dropped us off at the hotel.

 We saw hundreds of Llamas and Alpacas while traveling.

 At this point, we are almost to Bolivia and are over 14000 feet in elevation. This is higher by 1500 feet than Mt. Timpanogas in Provo.

 The Bolivian border is the rounded building in the distance.  The check point is seen just up the road.

 We stopped at a hotel at Colchane, near the Bolivian border and purchased some hot bread.  We were impressed that the front of the counter is made of cuts from a large cactus plant.

STORY 131 (THIRD AWAY DAY) Saturday May 21  (Went  to Pica an oasis Town, the Ship tour, Folk Dancers, Ship Tour)      (13)  The Lawsons picked us up and we drove back up the Zig Zag road, through Pozo and on up to Pica. This is a resort town that people love to go to because of the Hot Springs. We stopped and walked around the central park area and into the Catholic Church and George took several photos. They had a  big display of the last supper with real maniquins. The town was very clean. We did not see any trash any place. We purchased some oranges and limes, that grow in this very unusual high town in Chile. See the photos. It is almost like Jericho in Israel.  

         After arriving in Iquique we parked and walked to the  (14) SHIP Esmeraldo that was rebuilt and is a museum. The original ship is still in the water. Peru sunk that ship and before it sunk Artuo Pratt the Chilean leader was killed. May 21 (the day we were here) is a National Holiday. The ship entrance fee was removed. We so enjoyed going through this ship.

       The Lawsons returned  us to the hotel.  (15) We then took a walk on the beach. Since this was a holiday there was many things going on, lots of AIR kinds of stand up things for children to play on. Then we walked back to the hotel and to our good fortune arrived just as the BUS arrived bringing dancers from Brazil. We followed them to the University   2nd Annual Folk Dancers Festival  (5 countries represented) Countries: Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay.  (16) It was really outstanding. See some photos, but it was hard to get good photos. We left at 11:00 pm and it was still going strong. We got some good photos of the Brazilian dancers.

STORY132  (FOURTH AWAY DAY) Sunday  May 23 (Checked out of the Hotel and Walked to Church. took bus back to Antofagasta) The church purchased property that is right close to the beach front. The ward was very nice, no piano player, so George played the piano for them for Sacrament meeting. We enjoyed the spirit of the people in this ward and meeting the missionaries. One girl missionary was from Hawaii. After church we walked back to the hotel and got a taxi to take us to the bus station.   She spoke English. She said she was very interested in Ancient Civilizations, and was going to Peru. We thought WOW lets tell her about the Book of Mormon civilizations. But she said she had heard about the Mormons but was not interested in learning about the people in our book. We felt badly that she rejected our message offer.  This time the bus went the OCEAN ROAD and we went along the shore line. This is probably because buses do not like to climb up the zig zag road but they do not mind going down the zig zag road. So we came on the Mountain Road and returned on the Ocean road.

    

All the brown and white spots in this picture are Llamas and Alpacas.  There are hundreds.

 Llamas and Alpacas are everywhere up at this elevation.

An old church at this village high in the mountains.

 As we drove by, the people were busy painting their school.  They love to paint walls in Chile.

The volcano is in the background but this little village is full of rock walls.

We are in the volcanic park.  You can see the volcano smoking near the top of the mountain.

      These days away were a VERY NEEDED and good get a way for us. We came back so refreshed and ready to plow into what we do at the office and with our investigators. We surely appreciate the kindness of the Lawson couple who made this all possible. They live in Littleton Colorado. One of their children was attending the High School named Columbine when the killing of the 11 students took place many years ago. This was a very traumatic event for so many families at this time. They told us a lot about that experience that their family and that many other families went through.

We send our love to all of you and hope what we have shared here help you to get a feel for some of the places in Chile that you would otherwise not know about.

Much Love   Mom and Dad

(Pictures below taken by Elder Lawson from the Iquique trip)