Maria Elena, market area in the centro, very quiet on this Thurdsay afternoon. They take their mid-day siesta seriously here.

Same market place from outside.

Maria Elena's hardcore biker crowd. They had tons of questions about my motorcycle and the trip, nice kids.

Arturo Prat is a big hero in this region.

Maria Elena's Museum.

One of two obligatory mummified folks in the museum; every museum in this region has at least one because the dryness preserves corpses very well.

Fun toys for kids in the museum. What would your kids say if they got this for x-mas this year?

The sign for Maria Elena said there were historical sites there; this theater was one of them.

Their old church, also in the town center, is the other historical marker.

Name tag for the following picture, saying the geoglifos (land writings) were created from 500 BC through 1,450 AD.

I don't get very excited about the geoglifos. The Nazca Lines in south-central Peru are the most famous, then of course there are crop-circles!

There was a small park with about 25 of these petroglifos (rock writings) just beyond the previous geoglifos; same excitement level for me.

Quillagua, probably my most remote stop in the Atacama.

Folks in Calama said there would be gas here, but the guy who sometimes has extra cans of gas to sell was gone today, or sleeping.

Cemetery overlooking the small town.

Quillagua from cemetery.

Steel belted radial sans rubber.

This little river is the only reason Quillagua exists.

The only park type of thing in Quillagua.

Throughout the desert are old ruined small towns that existed only for sodium nitrate mining.

Pozo Almonte hotel room, one of the smallest I've seen, a couple hours after my flat tire.

Church in the Pozo centro.

Pozo centro. It is constantly being watered.

Outside the closed museum, a little tweaked by the translation.

Most of these signs are for other geoglifo's that are an easy day trip from Pozo.

Big trucks, gimpy stray dogs and a handfull of geoglifo tourists is what you get in Pozo Almonte...

..and one really cute kid dancing on stage. I tried to get a closeup but he stopped when I got closer.

Iquique centro, cultural arts building.

Clock tower that changes colors at night.

The desert mountains looming behind Iquique give it a surreal sort of feeling. The buzzards over head help that feeling.

Looking over the centro.

"Education is a right, not a privelidge"; I guess that depends on where you live. Apparantly someone thinks it's questionable in Northern Chile.

Cathedral.

In a small town square, near the centro. The area under this tree is a thick layer of white poo from these voratious vultures.

I told you it changes color.

See?!!?

Large mall just north of town.