Making Dad Jealous Part 2

This morning started again with breakfast at the hotel before we got packed up and started our drive to San Pedro de Atacama with a stop at Alexis’ Dad’s mining project.
The mining project, Minera Espiranza, was about 2 hours away and San Pedro de Atacama was about 2 and a half hours past that. The country between Antofagasta and the mining project were beautiful. It was pretty flat with mountains off in the distance and all different shades of desert colors in the landscape.

About an hour into the drive we stopped in a little road side town that was not much more than a few stores on the side of the road. I tried a little cookie called Chocman. I tasted like a chocolate Twinky with manjar inside of it instead of the gross fake cream.

It is with this picture of the road trip in progress, I would like to introduce Alexis’ Dad. (He is the guy that is not me. In case anyone was confused)

As we pulled into the project you couldn’t tell that we were anywhere in particular. There was a little guard shack on the side of the road that you had stop at and talk to some guys then continue down the road. A little further down there was a nicer checkpoint that also functions as a transit stop for the workers.

Much of the mining camp is brand new because they just started construction in 2008. The facilities were really nice and the food was really good. I expected it to be good but it really exceeded my expectations. We got shown around the camp, ate in the dining area and got to see the rec room. It had several flat screen TVs with Wii and Playstation, a couple of ping pong tables and some pool tables. It was pretty cool.

The pudding wasn't very good.

We were given safety equipment to head out into the working part of the copper mine. The digs were pretty awesome. BTW everyone looks cool in a hard hat and neon orange.

Bling!

After we watched a safety video (en español) we headed out to the mine and get up close and personal with the biggest trucks IN THE WORLD. Yeah, the ones that get featured on every show about giant things. One of the guys that work in the mine called a driver on the radio and they stopped the trucks so we could take a picture on them and get to ride around in them during one of their circuits. We got to be in the truck when the big bucket loaders dropped a load in the truck bed. Soooo cool. Alexis had the best picture of anyone getting in the trucks

We stayed there until nightfall when I got some cool pictures of the processing equipment. They just installed the long conveyor belt and a mill to crush the rock that is the largest in the world. The plant is only running at about 30% now but will be up and running in the next few months to a year.

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama around 10:00 pm and after settling in at the hotel, Tudor. We left the hotel and walked through the town and came to a restaurant called Blanco. It was a smallish restaurant with a bonfire in the back. I had the Chilean version of risotto called quinoa. It isn’t actually a risotto but more like a small oat or grain. I had it with shrimp and abalone, it was really good. It had a tomato base with a few herbs and a parmesan cheese chip in it.

That pretty much ended the day. I went back to the hotel and went to bed.