Iquique stole my heart and is probably my favourite place in Chile. It’s about 1,800km north of Santiago. The city is skirted by Pacific coastline – pristine, soft, white, walkable beach – on one side and the looming mountains of the Atacama Desert on the other. Not even the skyscraping hotels and tourism complexes can ruin the beauty and tranquility of the beaches, and for good reason surfers and bodyboarders from all over the world flock here year-round, but especially in winter, to spend their waking moments surfing. Leanne was so much on my mind here.

The bus pulled into town at about 20:00 on Tuesday, 21 August, and I immediately noticed what an active city this is. People were running along the well-lit beach and on the costanera, or rollerblading (I saw one woman rollerblading while pushing a pram – what a brilliant idea), or skateboarding, or using…