{"id":866,"date":"2012-05-16T10:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T09:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/?p=866"},"modified":"2013-09-25T11:55:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T10:55:05","slug":"traveling-northern-chile-chap1-taltal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/travel\/traveling-northern-chile-chap1-taltal\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling Northern Chile, Chap1: Taltal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sorry for my long silence, \u00a0now back with lots’o’pictures and a travel diary to make up for it, so here it is:<\/div>\n
Chapter 1: Taltal<\/b>

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Pour me faire pardonne ma longue absence, voici un compte rendu de notre p\u00e9riple dans le nord du Chili.\u00a0Chapitre 1: Taltal<\/b><\/span><\/b>

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Para hacerme perdonar mi larga ausencia, nuestro diario de viaje al norte de Chile.\u00a0<\/div>\n
Primera parte: Taltal<\/b><\/div>\n
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It may sound like a strange idea to spend a week in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. And that’s not an expression: the nearest town is 300km away. Even the ruta 5 that runs up a down the country doesn’t go through it, but 25 km away, on the other side of the \u00ab\u00a0hills\u00a0\u00bb (anything bellow 3000m is not considered a mountain around here). …<\/div>\n
My family roots bring us here: our Chinese grandfather arrived and settled here in the 30’s. He set up a grocery shop that is still home to part of my family. But there is no need to have any kind of relative in Taltal to be attracted to this out of the world place, all of the friends we have taken with us are planning to come back one day or the other. Is it the never ending cumbia parties by the beach? Or the near empty and wild beaches? The sea urchins we eat straight out of the water graciously offered by some locals who will magically come out of the sea with a net full of goodies after snorkeling around for a little while (we tried it but froze off well before finding anything..!)? The pantagruelic meals that my uncle cooks for us with fish taken straight off the boat? The adventure of going down a small copper mine 85m deep? The fishing trips on the traditional wooden boats?<\/div>\n
I am not sure, but just taking a stroll through a village that has such a present history with so many ups and downs is quite moving. It really still feels like a frontier town, and being were it is, it will probably remain that way forever.<\/div>\n
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Taltal used to be a major harbor at the time of the Saltpeter mining (it was actually written up in world maps!). The \u00a0saltpeter mines were higher up, past the Coastal Cordillera, but the \u00a0Saltpeter was shipped away from Taltal to the world. A railway, the Taltal Railway Company (!) was build in order to transport the mining material from all the \u00ab\u00a0officinas\u00a0\u00bb on the AltiplanoTall, down to Tall. It ran until the 70’s when the last mine closed down. \u00a0As the boats coming from Northern America were weighted with Oregon Pine, which was than unloaded and switched for Saltpeter; many houses were build from that timber, and up to now, most of them stand quite proudly, giving the town a marked western movie looks, and a beautifully simple and elegant architecture. On gorgeous example is the Tall Railway Company manager’s house: first picture, build in 1886.<\/div>\n
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Il peut sembler incongru de passer une semaine de vacances dans un village perdu dans le d\u00e9sert, a 300 km de la ville la plus proche, mais a y regarder de plus pr\u00e8s \u00ab\u00a0pas tan gue \u00e7a\u00a0\u00bb…<\/div>\n
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Mon grand p\u00e8re paternel, s’y fixa dans les ann\u00e9es 30, fraichement immigre de Chine. Il y installa une \u00e9picerie et sa maison qui abrite toujours une partie de notre famille. Pour tous les oncles-tantes-cousins-cousines et aussi amis de la famille, Taltal a toujours \u00e9t\u00e9 un aimant formidable malgres son \u00e9loignement de tout (m\u00eame de Santiago). Les f\u00eates au son de la Cumbia au bord de la plage, le regroupement de toute la tribu familiale, les plages quasi d\u00e9sertes et les oursins d\u00e9gust\u00e9s les pieds dans l’eau, la visite de la mine de mon oncle avec une descente a 85m sous terre, les parties de p\u00eache sur le Pacifique y sont probablement pour beaucoup..<\/div>\n
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Taltal a des airs de ville-frontiere tout droit sortie d’un western et son histoire faite de hauts et de bas la rend tr\u00e8s attachante. Au d\u00e9but du XXe si\u00e8cle c’\u00e9tait un port tr\u00e8s prosp\u00e8re d’ou s’embarquait le Salp\u00eatre de nombreuses mines avoisinantes. Apres la 2eme Guerre et le d\u00e9clin du Salp\u00eatre, les mines ont ferme une a une et finalement la Taltal Railway Company (qui transportait le salp\u00eatre depuis les mines en surplomb, jusqu’au port de Taltal d’ou il partait pour le monde entier) a suivi. Reste de cette \u00e9poque, nombre de maison construite en Pin d’Oregon, qui \u00e9tait a l’\u00e9poque utilise pour lester les bateaux (!!!) arrivant a vide avant de charger le Salp\u00eatre. L’exemple ci-dessus, \u00a0n’est malheureusement pas le mieux conserve, mais c’est la plus belle maison de la ville, surplombant le pacifique, et construite en 1886…<\/div>\n
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Puede parecer un poco extra\u00f1o venir desde Francia a pasar vacaciones en un pueblecito en el medio de la nada en el norte de Chile….pero no faltan las buenas razones para descubrir Taltal.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Para mi empieza con la historia familiar: mi abuelo Chino vino a instalarse aqu\u00ed en los anos 30. El almac\u00e9n que creo, y su casa vecina siguen parte de nuestra familia. T\u00edos, t\u00edas, primos, primas y sus hijos siguen como yo fascinados por este lugar fuera del mundo y del tiempo; pero tambi\u00e9n todos los amigos que hemos tra\u00eddo aqu\u00ed, se van prometiendo de volverd\u00eda alg\u00fan d\u00eda a pasear por estas calles de pueblo frontera, como salido de un western, banarse en esas playas cuasi desiertas, comer erizos reci\u00e9n salidos del mar…y bailar cumbia hasta el amanecer<\/div>\n
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Las antiguas casas construidas con el pino Oregon tra\u00eddo por los botes que se llevaban el Salitre siguen orgullosamente ordenando las calles de Taltal, todas tienen mil y una historia que contar. La primera de esta serie es la antigua casa del director de la Taltal railway co, construida en 1886, con el tipico corredor de madera labrada. Aunque realmente necesite una buena renovation, se ve todavia una maravilla…<\/div>\n
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Now, after a few sleepy years of living mostly on fishing, the town in springing up again with copper mining. Aside from giants like Codelco in Chuquicamata (biggest open air Copper mine in the world), and large private mining companies, that area is filled with small mines who excavate raw material around Taltal (up to 5000 tons a month….almost all by hand….) and give it out to the local plant run by the Chilean government, which processes it into pure copper. This has brought back a prosperity visible on the freshly painted houses, and the colorful playgrounds and public gym exercising equipment scattered along the sea side and the beaches.<\/div>\n
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Depuis quelques ann\u00e9es, et gr\u00e2ce au cour du cuivre stratosph\u00e9rique, Taltal est en pleine effervescence. Les mines de cuivres ont toujours existe dans les environs, mais les petites mines (extrayant jusqu’\u00e0 5000 tonnes de mat\u00e9riau brut\/mois) tendent a se d\u00e9velopper consid\u00e9rablement gr\u00e2ce a l’installation d’une ENAMI locale (usine gouvernementale de transformation du mat\u00e9riau brut en Cuivre pur), apportant une prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9 qui fait plaisir a voir, dans ses maisons pimpantes et ses terrains de jeux et \u00e9quipements public de gymnastique \u00e9parpill\u00e9s le long de la promenade du front de mer et des plages avoisinantes<\/div>\n
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La prosperidad tra\u00edda por el cobre se traduce por las casas pintadas de fresco en vivos colores, as\u00ed como los juegos y equipamiento de gimnasia instalados en borde de mar y en la playas vecinas al pueblo.<\/div>\n
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The \u00ab\u00a0Hoster\u00eda Taltal\u00a0\u00bb is the place to be, and to be seen. Although it is not exactly your typical W Hotel, it has a wonderful location, the best parties in town, and fantastic food from peruvian Chefs, the top in South American cuisine.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0Hosteria Taltal\u00a0\u00bb, le meilleur h\u00f4tel de la ville, \u00ab\u00a0the place to be\u00a0\u00bb, que vous soyez g\u00e9ologue ou simple touriste, ses vues a couper le souffle, sa terrasse sur plage et sa cuisine extraordinaire en font un must.<\/div>\n
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\u00ab\u00a0Hosteria Taltal\u00a0\u00bb claramente la mas concurrida de Taltal, que seas ge\u00f3logo o turista, sus vistas maravillosas, su terrazza abierta a la playa y su comida preparada por chefs Peruanos son un must absoluto.<\/div>\n
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And lets finish this post with some beaches @ Taltal<\/div>\n
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Pour terminer, quelques plages autour de Taltal<\/div>\n
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Para terminar, unas playas al rededor de Taltal<\/div>\n
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Cifuncho<\/i><\/div>\n
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Piedra Huacha<\/i><\/div>\n
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La losas\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
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Sorry for my long silence, \u00a0now back with lots’o’pictures and a travel diary to make up for it, so here it is: Chapter 1: TaltalPour me faire pardonne ma longue absence, voici un compte rendu de notre p\u00e9riple dans le nord du Chili.\u00a0Chapitre 1: Taltal Para hacerme perdonar mi larga ausencia, nuestro diario de viaje […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[474],"tags":[296,283,297,292],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-beaches","tag-chile","tag-frontier-town","tag-taltal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meilinbristiel.com\/leblogdemeilin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}