Humberstone – Ghost Town in the Chilean Desert

March 23, 2014 tiffany
14 Comments
Chile

“It looks like a fine day to go to a ghost town,” I said to Chris as we boarded a bus.

“Indeed it does,” he replied as we boarded our bus that climbed up the two lane highway out of Iquequi city for about four miles. We drove past giant sand dunes, a homeless man’s encampment and made our away across the barren terrain. We got out to a dusty stop on the side of the road next to a town no one lives in anymore. Standing in one of the driest dessert regions in the world, surrounded by hardy pampas grasses, we had made it to Humberstone.

At one point these dilapidated, crumbling buildings housed thousands of people comprising this mini bustling city. In the 1880’s the Humberstone and Santa Laura works processed the world’s largest deposits of saltpeter in the world. The saltpeter was processed into the fertilizer sodium nitrate transforming farm lands in both North and South America as well as Europe giving great wealth to Chile. The site, listed as an endangered UNESCO World Heritage site consists of 200 buildings for the visitor to wander around.

Today visitors pay an entrance fee and are given almost free reign to wander, at their own risk, in and out of buildings all across the compound. The site showcases a large variety of old remnants and artifacts giving the feeling the towns people had walked left only the day before.

Here’s a look as we stroll together along Humberstone’s dusty, well worn streets.

Welcome to Humberstone.
Main square of town.
Cute welcome wood horse with cart.
Various tools for production.
Look at all that cool cook wear with those old stoves. People pay a lot of money to get dishes like that nowadays.
Town’s General Store.
At one point, fourteen people we’re employed just as stock boys!
Where they sold beverages.
They had their own grand theater. I wish we could have gone to an actual show, the picture doesn’t do it justice, it was impressive.
Can you tell what Chris is standing in? That is the pool. A pool, that big, in the middle of the dessert. Incredible. It was so elaborate, there were bleachers to the right, a bunch of changing rooms and it was a quite impressive feat to have constructed this luxury.
Even tho there were different classes that lived at Humberstone and certain privileges (like the pool) that might not have been as available to anyone, every child had the same right and ability to attend school no matter what their parents status was.
Work yards.
This is part of the reason why Humberstone is placed on the list of World Heritage in Danger.
The buildings are decaying away.
But it did make for some interesting lighting.
There were actually other visitors here, so if you get the chance to go, it’s not totally creepy and ghostly like these photos may seem.
What a heavy hunk of steel.
They had some amazing graphic design posters.
Despite being left to fend for themselves, these pink flowers have still held onto life in these barren lands.
This may be a type of cactus flower found in the Atacama desert, but could not affirmatively identify it.
Another little train car.
Dead trees next to crumbling houses.
The town of Humberstone.
Where a lot of the action happened.
If we understood the sign correctly, this was all like a giant oven used for melting.
Us at the ghost town of Humberstone.
We had debated on whether or not we should take a day to visit Humberstone and boy are we glad we did. Sites and museums like this are my favorite type to visit. This was a big kids playground. We could wander for hours and try to imagine what it was like to walk in the shoes of each group of people that used to live there. Humberstone seemed like such a happening city in it’s day and it’s hard to believe it is now a ghost town. Unlike many other ghosts, this one you can see, and this ghost town is definitely worth the stop.
* * *
If you go:
 
Humberstone is an easy day trip from Iquequi. There are ‘van’ buses that go to Humberstone on somewhat of a set schedule. If you don’t want to wait for the van bus, the big buses almost all drive right by where all the van buses leave from. Although all the big bus ticket offices told us we couldn’t buy a ticket to get to Humberstone with them, the big buses almost all pause by the van buses, ask the driver quickly if you can get on to Humberstone. If there’s an open seat, he’ll let you on. $2000 sole there, $1500 return. (Don’t know why the fare is cheaper on the way back, it just is.)
Iquequi is touted as a great beach destination. If your eyes see that and you enjoy it, great. We found it to be a garbage dump. The city is dirty and yes, there are some long stretches of beaches, and we saw hundreds and hundreds of people at each stretch of beach. We did not see one public bathroom. Not our idea of a fun time. Some travelers we met love Iquequi, we did not, but it was worth a stopover to experience Humberstone.
We stayed at Beach Hostal (I’m pretty sure it was at Vivar 1707, a yellow sign with black letters) and if you are in a pinch, you can stay there. It was not the nicest place we stayed at. We wanted to stay at Surf Hostal, Obispo Labbe 1591, but it was full. It looked much, much cleaner and nicer there.
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14 Responses to “Humberstone – Ghost Town in the Chilean Desert”

  • Jim
    10 years ago

    A wonderful piece of history that would be lost if it wasn’t for UNESCO and Chile! Thanks for taking us there.

  • Barnabas Wornoff
    10 years ago

    Neato bandito! That is some kinda living museum! So cool in all those abandoned factories. Any souvenirs slip into your backpack or would the ghosts get you?

    • Tiffany Soukup
      10 years ago

      Ironically, yes, it is an awesome living museum. They had a little gift shop with some pretty neat trinkets, but sadly, we left them all sitting on the shelf with the weight of our packs in mind.

  • Suzanne
    10 years ago

    A Ghost Town in the middle of the desert, you two certainly get around. If only those buildings could talk we would certainly hear some stories.

    • Tiffany Soukup
      10 years ago

      And if only we could better read all the signs in Spanish, we’d have even more stories. Actually, the signs were pretty good at having both English and Spanish, so we got a pretty good idea about things. In the peak, that town seemed like the place to be if you were of higher rank. The architecture was just amazing.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Good story and fantastic photos! How many people lived there in its’ heyday?

  • Marge
    10 years ago

    Mi abuelo trabajó allí como comerciante hace un tiempo muy largo. Usted tiene un sitio turístico muy agradable!

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Our strange and beautiful world just keeps getting stranger and more beautiful. I got very thirsty just looking at the pictures. Even when it was operating it still must have been a harsh place to live. Where are my Maras?

    • Tiffany Soukup
      10 years ago

      Maras are coming. That is the biggest advice they give you for visiting Humberstone is to make sure you drink plenty of water and wear sunscreen!

  • Laura
    10 years ago

    Excellent photography! How did you get all those pictures without any other tourists photo bombing them? You really captured the essence of the town and brought us all back with the photos.

    • Tiffany Soukup
      10 years ago

      Thanks, well, there were not too many people at Humberstone, so it wasn’t too difficult 😉 They really do a good job of showcasing the past there.