Humberstone – Ghost Town in the Chilean Desert
“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.
A wonderful piece of history that would be lost if it wasn’t for UNESCO and Chile! Thanks for taking us there.
Humberstone was one of the most unique attractions we’ve gone to. It is worth the visit. 🙂
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?
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.
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.
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.
Good story and fantastic photos! How many people lived there in its’ heyday?
In the 1940’s about 3,700 people lived there.
Mi abuelo trabajó allí como comerciante hace un tiempo muy largo. Usted tiene un sitio turístico muy agradable!
Muchas gracias Marge! Humberstone es muy bien!
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?
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!
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.
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.