Plaza Prat is the main square of Copiapó, framed by the cathedral, the old Intendencia building, and a row of palm trees that provide shade in a city where shade matters. It is the social centre of the city — busy in the evenings with families and street vendors, quiet in the midday heat when most sensible people are indoors.
The square has been recently refurbished and is well maintained. Sit on a bench and watch the mix of miners, students, and families that make up Copiapó's population. The surrounding streets have the best of the city's colonial and 19th-century architecture, a reminder that silver money built this place at a time when there was a great deal of silver money to spend.