humberstone

Northern Chile was a center of saltpeter/nitrate production around the turn of the century. I don't know much about the mechanics of nitrate except that it was used for fertilizer. The industry was booming for a few decades but then after other synthetic alternatives were available, the industry essentially disappeared from Chile. This left some ghost towns of the nitrate plants, of which Humberstone is one. It's now a UNESCO site and very well preserved. I took the bus from Iquique in the morning to be able to get there when the light was still good for photos. The bus dropped me off 40 kilometers away in the middle of the desert. I must have been the only visitor for about the first hour or so, kind of eerie. The guard even told me I could pay when I left because the ticket booth wasn't open yet. (This meant that I didn't find out there was a map of the place until I left). Unlike historic sites in the states, Humberstone is of the enter-at-your-own-risk type. There were basic signs to mark the names of the buildings, but nothing was roped off or warning people not to get too close. It seemed like much of the debris and machinery was just left there as it was the day the plant closed. Sharp, rusty tools, cracked and peeling paint, broken windows. Everywhere I turned, there was some crazy thing to take a picture of. I thought I'd seen the whole place (because I had no map) and was ready to leave when I discovered the central plaza of Humberstone. It was like a miniature city with a school, hospital, market, theater, and employee housing. Amazing. And then one day, it all just shut down.