I love Chile. I especially love the arid north of Chile, and there's nothing like the odd city of Iquique for getting away from it all. Maybe that's why the Chilean government has turned this remote port into a duty-free zone called the Zona Franca de Iquique (ZOFRI) (click on "Egnlish Version" at the homepage). There are already more than 700 companies taking advantage of the tax benefits and other incentive to do business there. I've checked out the English version of the site, and I'm not sure if it's a good translation or a bad one.
The overall impression of the site, in English, is that there are few if any errors in spelling or grammar, but that it is so awkwardly constructed as to be disturbing. Click on "Logistic Services" to see what I mean. The links lead to good commercial sites but are sometimes mislabeled or misleading. Check out the link to "SCOUTING CAROLONA PARSON". it actually leads to a corporate site for the Carolina Parsons fashion firm and shows the finalists in their scouting competition for models (youch!).
It's easy to see that the site is still under construction, so here's hoping they get a better translation for the final version.
Iquique had been an important port in the days before synthetic fertilizers and chemicals eliminated the need to go to the Atacama desert for its nitrate-rich soil. The city sprung up in the style of the day, with Victorian-style houses, wraparound porches, round windows on the upper floors, gabled roofs, and many other things that aren't found elsewhere in the region. it was, in essence, a foreign city, far from anything truly Chilean.
It's a unique place to visit, and worth the while if you're anywhere near, just to see its seeting on an alluvial bench between the Pacific and a stark plateau rising hundres of feet just behind the city.
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