"Antofagasta...home sweet home " a Antofagasta Travel Page by patricia28

MY CITY
Antofagasta is a nice city in the north of Chile, is the capital of this region, and this is an important city due of the mining industry. I was born in this place so I have to say that Antofagasta has change a lot in this last time. We have a few great beaches like Hornitos (close to the city) and we also have a nice weather all year long, here never rains and the coldest winters are with cloudy days and 12°C. It is nice to spend some days here to visit the city and "La portada" a national monument very beautiful.

Antofagasta means in Quechua language "Big salar's town ".
The origin of the city owes to the industries of minerals. The first inhabitant was the miner "Juan Lopez" who lived in the bay of Antofagasta that nowadays is called " The Chimba ".
The city was founded in the year 1879 and it celebrates its day on February 14, day in which the city was occupied by the Chilean troops.

The picture was taken last summer when suddenly the Whales came to visit us, this is not ususal but it happened last summer and it was a nice surprise.

There are many places that you can visit in the city like the principal square "Plaza Colón" , the cathedral, "La Portada" and "Ruinas de Huanchaca", where you can see the big walls of stone that used as anchorage to the ovens of a former smelting of silver, it was activate between 1893 and 1912.