Antofagasta Poem by Tomas Prato

Antofagasta, Chile's second-largest city,
a jumble of one-way streets,
high-rise concrete buildings,
modern malls, crazy traffic
and people rushing to and fro from work,
a sprawling port city, with nothing to boast,
of, but some lovely wooden-fronted Victorian
and Georgian buildings along the coast.

Monumento Natural La Portada near the city
is a natural rock arch-formation worth seeing.
This is a salt city, grew up with the salt industry;
read Pablo Neruda's poem ‘Ode to Salt'
and you will understand.
This city grew up with the mines, the copper mines
In the Atacama desert close by.
The desert is the driest place on earth,
but when it rains a billion seeds give birth,
and the desert is a riot of pink and purple.

The city is located close to the Tropic of Capricorn.
There is a large monument of stone on the site,
made of greenish slabs, two of them concave -
to measure the solstices and equinoxes. Standing there,
against the stark background of the desert,
you can feel the loneliness pervading the air.
Chile is a bleak and lonely country,
the people speak Spanish, but (I fear)
you can find lots of people speaking German here.

Chileans eat a lot of meat; they love barbeques.
Avocado is very popular here.
Of course, they eat a lot of fish.
But the best thing about Chile is its red wines.
They match the best wines produced
anywhere in the world.
Asado or barbequed meat
goes well with red wine.
Chileans love to eat.