Chile. Away to the north, from Antofagasta, driving yet further north to Iquique. The vast ocean of water to the left, the immense block of arid land that is the Atacama desert to the right.
I left Iquique, up into that waterless moonscape, where the air and the light are cooler. Up to the only things that seem to thrive up there, beyond a few hardy animals; mine sites. Cerro Colorado and up at over 3,000m, the giant of them all, Escondida. Wedged between whisking through these purpose built mini cities for workers, in such remote and testing locations, a lay over into the capital, Santiago de Chile. Chile is South America's success story, built on this mining, but once, this city of 5 million people, at over 500m, would have been settled and built by explorers, plunderers and dreamers as the Atacama is being now.