The @ Series

Uncle Mike left early this morning to return to his current place of ministry in southern Chile. I added one final entry to "The @ Series" of photographs which chronicled the fun times we had during his visit to Iquique! Below is a brief summary of the who/what/when/where of those events:

@ Los Lobitos - This is one of our favorite beaches and we took Uncle Mike to see it last Saturday. We "tailgated" on the beach and ate ham and cheese sandwiches on fresh marraqueta bread; afterwards, most of the group enjoyed some rock climbing.

@ Kids' Club - This is our children's club in Alto Hospicio, held every other Saturday. The kids look forward to it and enjoyed participating again this week.

@ Humberstone - This is a former nitrate mining camp about 45 minutes from Iquique, towards the interior of the desert. It is now an official "ghost town" and open to tourists. It was our first stop on our Wednesday day trip to the desert.

@ Pica - This literal oasis in the desert is known for its fresh fruits, especially the limones de Pica (small but very tasty limes.) It is also known for a natural hot spring pool where people go to bathe. We visited Pica after Humberstone, and had an additional visitor with us that day. Hugo is our neighbor Maggy's brother who has been staying with her family for the past month or so. He returns to southern Chile soon and appreciated the chance to see some sights outside of the city of Iquique before he left. (And for the record, we honestly didn't notice the "do not climb on the sculptures" sign until after we took that picture!)

@ Playa Cavancha - This is the swimming beach of Iquique, filled during the summer by tourists and locals alike. On Friday, the day before Uncle Mike left, we spent the late afternoon at Cavancha. It was a beautiful day, the water was relatively calm and everyone enjoyed splashing in the waves and/or playing in the sand.