PREMIERE TALTAL LANDMARK DESTROYED BY FIRE

Yesterday I arrived here in the sunny and laid-back town of Taltal (pop. 15,000) which has, by the very pleasant nature of its ambience, become one of my favorite places in all of Chile. After getting settled in to my usual digs at the frumpy little Hotel San José, I was determined to get the post put up here on the blog about Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar, but my feelings in that regard were far overshadowed by the shocking discovery I´d made upon my arrival that Taltal´s beautiful Catholic church (built in 1890), the town´s premiere landmark and staging center for the annual religious festival, had burned to the ground back on January 6th, 2007.
The tragedy could have been worse, but for the fact that the town´s fire station was right next door to the church. Still, the structure was completely destroyed, and the rectory and church offices alongside the church were similarly gutted, which prompted the city fathers to conduct last weekend´s festival services in the plaza across the street from the ruins of the burned buildings.
I would post a picture but it would show only a vacant lot of charred flooring joists as the only reminder of the former glory now gone. Instead, I´ve posted my Turistel map of Taltal, on which you can see the plaza slightly left of center, with the "Iglesia" facing it across Avenida Arturo Prat, the town´s main street.
Anyway, since the church was sort of Taltal´s "flagship" landmark featured on all of their tourist literature, they are already planning to rebuild it. So perhaps on some future visit to this fine little outpost of tranquility (22 km off of the Panamerican Highway on the coast) I will be able to see the landmark restored.
Incidentally, I will be here in Taltal until Tuesday morning, when I leave for Calama. MY agent Andrés is supposed to be sending my permit to cross to Argentina in his rented 4x4 pickup truck to the Chile Express offices in Calama on Tuesday. Without the permit, I cannot go into Argentina. So we will see if he comes through. I suspect that he will.