Iquique Top Services

Tourism Office

Sernatur, the tourism office for Tarapacá Region, has maps and scarce information. It is now developing a tourism route along the pre-Inca stone roads in the altiplano, to be part of the nation-wide Sendero de Chile

(Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Pinto 436, Tel.: 41-9241, E-mail: infoiquique@sernatur.cl).

The city’s tourism office, Dirección de Turismo y Cultura, has better information about the city, including a map with descriptions of attractions. During the high season it staffs kiosks on Plaza Prat and at Playa Cavancha.

(Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Edificio Ex-Aduana, piso 2, Tel.: 51-4799, Fax: 51-4765, E-mail: turismo.iquique@gmail.com, URL: www.municipioiquique.com).

CONAF, the national park service, has its main office in Reserva Nacional Pampa de Tamarugal

(Carretera Panamericana Norte Ruta A-5, Km 1787, Tel.: 75-1055).

Other useful websites are: www.vivaiquique.cl, www.iquique.com and www.iquiqueonline.cl.

Additional services in the city are: Carabineros (O’Higgins 427, Tel.: 55-7040, Emergency 133), and Automóvil Club de Chile (Avenida Héroes de la Concepción 2855, Tel.: 52-7333).

A number of nations have consulates in Iquique:

Bolivia

Gorostiaga 215, piso 3, Depto. E,

Tel.: 41-4506,

E-mail: colivian-iquique@entelchile.net

Holland

Tarapacá 123

Tel.: 39-3110

Italy

Serrano 447,

Tel.: 42-1588

Paraguay

San Martín 385; Patricio Lynch, Oficina 104, Piso 4 Tel.: 41-9040

Peru Zegers 570

Tel.: 41-1466

Spain

Oficina Mapocho, Sitio 48 F; Casilla 1522, Correo ZOFRI

Tel.: 41-3016

Sweden and Norway

Zegers 249

Tel.: 41-1584

Money

Most banks are open 8 a.m.-2 or 4 p.m. The following, located near Plaza Prat, exchange cash US dollars and Euros, and have ATMs that accept Visa, Plus, MasterCard and Cirrus: Banco de Chile (Baquedano, 600 block, on Plaza Prat), BBVA (Plaza Prat 594), Santander (Uribe 525), Scotiabank (Uribe and Serrano; ATM also accepts American Express card).

Casas de cambio exchange most major Western currencies and Japanese Yen, as well as American Express travelers checks (at a slightly lower rate): Afex (Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Lynch 467A, Tel.: 41-4324), Cambios Guiñazú (Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m, Saturday 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.). Other exchange houses are in the “mall” at Lynch and Tarapacá.

Chilexpress is a Western Union agent that wires in US dollars (if coming from a country that uses that currency) or in Chilean pesos (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tarapacá 520).

Communications

The correos (post office) is where you can drop a letter to the gang back home (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-2 p.m., 3:30-7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Bolívar 485). Entel provides national and international phone service at several locations throughout the downtown area (Gorostiaga 287, Diego Portales 840, Tarapacá 472).

Internet is found all over the city and even small cafés have Skype. They charge $0.80-1 per hour. Many are closed on Sunday. A good choice any day of the week is Mundo Click (Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-2 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Sunday 1 p.m.-2a.m. La Torre 370, Tel.: 41-3774; $0.80 per hour).

Medical

The regional medical center is Hospital Dr. Ernesto Torres Galdames (Avenida Héroes de la Concepción 502, Tel.: 40-5700). In the downtown area, several pharmacies are on the 700 and 800 block of Vivar and the 600 block of Tarapacá. The local newspaper, La Estrella de Iquique, lists the day’s farmacia de turno, the drugstore that’ll be open throughout the night.

Laundry

Lavarrápido charges $3 per kilo for wash and dry of laundry, with same day service, even on Saturday, if dropped off early in the morning.

(Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-1 p.m., 4-8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Labbé 1446, Tel.: 34-4727).