February 18, 2026 -Day #45

Arrived in Iquique (I-ki-ke) Chile this morning. The navigational map shows we are sailing northwest at this time and we will be gaining two hours of time over the next two days. In this city we decided there was not a lot to see, so we are taking a shuttle from the ship to the city square for a self guided tour. The center of town is only a few blocks from the port, but a little too far to walk (especially as the temperature is getting hotter everyday).The city center is called Prat Main Square. This city grew a lot in the nineteenth century because of the saltpeter mining. Iquique is the capital city of both the Iquique Province and Terapaca Territory.  It is amazing that most of the construction is wood, but the city has withstood at least one fire and four major earthquakes (1868, 1877, 2005, 2014). The last major earthquake was 8.2 severity on April 1, 2014. 

I have pictures of the 25 ft. Square Clock Tower, that survived a major church fire and the square was constructed around the surviving wood clock. On the border of the square are several vendors and other businesses. There is also a beautiful wood structure built in 1889 from Oregon pinewood as the Theatre Municipal de Iquique which is the culture center of the city. See the pics. There is currently some renovation being done, especially on the below stage mechanical systems. 

I also added a couple of pics of a government building and some street art. We call it graffiti, but down here it is “street art”, and some of it really brightens up the community.