The drive to Iquique was about 200 miles and it turned out to be generally a good road through desert scenery. Just out of Arica we came to some very interesting structures called something like guardian angels, they were abstract sculptures that seemed to be made out of mud. The remainder of the drive went through a series of large dry valleys. In each valley, the road descended 2000 ft down to a small river and then climbed out again. This happened maybe 6 times. The valleys were dry, completely devoid of vegetation except on the floor where the small river flowed.
Iquique is famous as a beach resort, a place for paragliding, and a large duty free zone. It used to be the center of nitrate mining in Chile until that business stopped because the world started making nitrates synthetically. Once the nitrate business went away the town reinvented itself as a duty free port.
Arriving on the outskirts of Iquique one can see why paragliding is popular here. East of the town there is a 2000 ft escarpment overlooking the city. It is from the top of this escarpment that the adventurous trust their lives to nylon wings. It also provides a very spectacular view of a reasonably up market town.
We spent the afternoon looking for a new spare tire in the duty free zone. This was a bit of a challenge as all the shops close for siesta from 1:30 until 4:00, and because the tire we needed is rare down here. But in the end we got one.
We had heard about a paragliding school that allowed people with vehicles to camp on their premises. While looking for this place we bumped into Sam and Bernie that we had travelled with in Colombia and Northern Ecuador. So we proceeded to bumble our way to the flying school together with the aid of some direction from a pizza delivery man on a motorcycle. The place turned out to be nice. Great elevated view of the city, hot showers, electricity, and washing machines.
Late in the evening we got to see the afternoon flight of para-gliders; there must have been 50 of them hanging in the air above the city.
Camping
You need to get onto a road called Diagonal Franscico Bilboa. the best way to do this is to drive down the beach front highway Arturo Prat Chacon until you reach the road-about at S20° 17.347' W 70° 7.669'. make a U-turn here and head back into town but take the road named Diagonal Franscico Bilboa, it parallels and is east of Arturo Pratt Chocon. At the junction with Via 6 (S 20° 17.061' W 70° 7.613') turn right up hill. The school is on the left.
They don't want to publicize that they allow camping
