After a hellish journey, a late bus resulting in a missed connection we found ourselves stranded in Calama, the hotels full of miners. After teaming up with another lost backpacker we finally found a room and instead of wasting a day got up early to check out the mines.
Chiquicamata in Antofogasta is the world's largest open pit copper mine and the world's second largest producer of copper, and boy was it big!
A bus took us to the abandoned town which all residents had to leave and the mine grew in size and the fumes became hazardous. The town had an eery stillness, something I personally love, having a guilty pleasure for anything slightly macabre. I would have liked to explore more but after the short explanation about the process of mining copper it was off to see the mine itself.
Looking down into the never ending pit it was astounding to imagine mans power over nature, something I am becoming more concerned about as I travel longer. Saying that it was pretty cool to see 5metre tall trucks look like burrowing ants miles into the depths of the earth.
Dry and hot it was hard dangerous work for the miners who luckily get paid reasonably well for their efforts but under bad conditions.
The derelict factories and out houses added to the lost in time aura of the place and even though I saw men driving the trucks it seemed like a secret operation controlled by a workforce of robots built in the 50s and forgotten about.
SURVIVAL TIP:
Dont lose time! The thought of losing a day in a nowhere town was pretty annoying but a trip to the mine and a little walk around the small non-touristy towns made us glad we'd missed our connecting bus and seemed like a surprise treat!
Chiquicamata in Antofogasta is the world's largest open pit copper mine and the world's second largest producer of copper, and boy was it big!
A bus took us to the abandoned town which all residents had to leave and the mine grew in size and the fumes became hazardous. The town had an eery stillness, something I personally love, having a guilty pleasure for anything slightly macabre. I would have liked to explore more but after the short explanation about the process of mining copper it was off to see the mine itself.
Looking down into the never ending pit it was astounding to imagine mans power over nature, something I am becoming more concerned about as I travel longer. Saying that it was pretty cool to see 5metre tall trucks look like burrowing ants miles into the depths of the earth.
Dry and hot it was hard dangerous work for the miners who luckily get paid reasonably well for their efforts but under bad conditions.
The derelict factories and out houses added to the lost in time aura of the place and even though I saw men driving the trucks it seemed like a secret operation controlled by a workforce of robots built in the 50s and forgotten about.
SURVIVAL TIP:
Dont lose time! The thought of losing a day in a nowhere town was pretty annoying but a trip to the mine and a little walk around the small non-touristy towns made us glad we'd missed our connecting bus and seemed like a surprise treat!
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