3 Best Sights in El Norte Grande, Chile

The gleaming copper roof of this cathedral on Plaza 23 de Marzo, the city's main square, testifies to the importance of mining in this region.

This small museum in El Loa Park has artifacts from Calama's history and pre-Columbian times.

Across from Chiu Chiu's main square is the Iglesia de San Francisco. Built in 1674, it's one of the oldest churches in the altiplano. A cactus-shingle roof tops the squat building's whitewashed adobe walls. No nails were used in its construction—rafters and beams are lashed together with leather straps. On October 4, things get lively when the 500 inhabitants congregate in the nearby central plaza to celebrate the town's patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi. Chiu Chiu is just a turn off the road between Calama and San Pedro, and makes for a nice stopping-off point.