It is summertime here in Chile.  Which is strange as it is chilly to me, in Chile!  The sunrises before 0700 and sets after 1900 which makes for a long day of light.  As much as we wanted to, we could not sleep in.  We had a lot to discover and some necessities to find.

This photo was taken at sunset, just before 9:00pm.

Chile at 9p at night

First things first, we had to get Ron and Sally on a flight to Santiago where they could catch their connecting flights.  With no wifi we had to resort to using GoogleFi to book the flights.  After some trial and tribulations, we got them confirmed.

Our next goal was to walk around town in search of necessities: local sim cards, laundry service, port captain, bank-ATM, and markets.

Theo, from the marina, gave us the lay of the land and some directions.  We walked around a little on New Years Day, but everything was closed.  However, it was bustling with activity today.

The Necessities:

First order of business – find the port captain.  We had a “general” idea of where the port captain office was located, but we got a little turned around.  We finally stumbling upon their building after asking a few people.  Everyone was super nice and very efficient.  Luckily, we stopped at an ATM earlier to get pesos (local currency is about 650 pesos to $1).  We were able to pay 5600 pesos (or about $8.00) and were on our way within 20 minutes.  Easy peasy.

We stopped at Boraton Columbiano for some brunch.  Matt ordered a traditional Chilean chicken lunch which came with soup, rice, beans, salad, and a ¼ chicken. Poor thing struggled to eat it all.  The rest of us ordered a super yummy ham and cheese empenada.

Right down the road was an Entel office which was or is the best data provider in town.  We bought a sim card, topped it up and went on our way.  A little giddy at being “wired” again.

We found one of the local fresh fish and veggie markets, right next to the marina.  It was a little different than other fish markets in that they had little eateries along with the fisherman vendors.  So, the smells did not make it a pleasant place to eat.  They had lots of unrecognizable fish and some we knew.  Lots of clams, squid, and red fish.  Check out the huge partial fish in the middle photo.

Fresh Meat Market Antofagasta

The lavandaria evaded us.  We asked several people who seemed to think they knew where one was, but we couldn’t find it.

SEA WOLVES – LOBOS

The lobos, or sea wolves of Chile are absolutely enormous.  It just cracks me up watching them swim, waddle, and jump up on the docks.  And they have this massive head of hair.  They really look like the mastiff of the sea.  They are well over 300-400lbs a piece and bark like they are in pain.

Los Lobos or Sea Wolves

The next day we said “goodbye” to Ron and Sally.  They had to catch a flight to Santiago where they were each getting on connecting flights.  Ron was going to see a car rally in Peru and Sally was going to house sit for a friend in California.  Sure, was awesome to have their help on the passage, thanx guys!

Ron and Sally

The main square in town has a beautiful church and tower proudly flying the Chilean flag.

Antofagasta Town Square