Iquique: Its Story

The glistening Pacific Ocean shimmers out the window to the right and the arid Atacama Desert sand sparkles out the window to the left as the airplane dips and glides to its landing at the small national airport in Iquique. Once on the ground, the ocean is no longer visible and all the eye can see is dry brown mountains and a vast sandy expanse of land. A few miles down the road, bright colors begin to float in the sky as half a dozen paragliders step off the mountains and into the gentle currents where desert and ocean breezes collide.

Such is a traveler’s introduction to the city of Iquique in northern Chile.

Today I had the opportunity to walk down the historic cobblestone streets of downtown Iquique, under the shadow of ancient houses built in the years when this city belonged not to Chile but to the neighboring country of Peru. If old walls could talk … what stories there would be to tell! Instead it is the new construction of towering high rise apartment buildings and a sprawling duty-free shopping district that speaks of the Iquique of today, a city anchored in the history of naval battles but built on the back of a giant mining industry that still holds in its hands the fate of many of the nearly 250,000 inhabitants.

Like so many cities, Iquique boasts of a varied spectrum of residents. Some native to this city but thousands transplanted from other parts of Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and other nations of the world. The range of wealth, education, opportunity (or lack thereof) is as broad as its dwellers, with gigantic mansions overlooking the ocean, comfortable gated communities in between, and nothing more than cardboard shacks on the other extreme.

Sadly, alcoholism and drug use is rampant and positive outlets for youth are few. Exploitation of certain people groups is common, from black-skinned men and women smuggled in for prostitution to Chinese restaurant workers brought in illegally for slave wages. The casino beckons for the hard-earned pesos of miners and the discotheque calls for the bodies and souls of teenagers and young adults. Catholicism mixed with spiritism lends itself to weird and pagan festivals and the harmful practices attached to them.

It is truly a city with great potential in so many ways, but the need for “living water” is greater. Please pray that parched souls would sense their need for fulfillment not in financial prosperity or physical pleasures but in the person of Jesus Christ, Who alone can truly satisfy. That is our reason for coming to this city: to share God’s gift of salvation with those who will listen and receive it, knowing this is only possible in His strength and through God’s Holy Spirit.

Iquique's history may be written, but its future is yet unknown ... May it be penned by the Author of history, for His honor and glory alone!