La Serena, Chile

La Serena is a coastal town in Chile, and while not the most beautiful place in the world, it was amusing.

This is the view of a long walkway out to the beach. On the beach sits one of the tourist attractions of this town, a non-functional lighthouse.

This sign says: "The beach is not suitable for a bathroom." It was appropriately placed, as the beach smelled like people had been using it as a bathroom.

These guys followed us most of the way from the beach back to town. The yellow one reminds me of the dog in the movie The Jerk, and he followed us but wasn't obtrusive. The other little guy was very skittish and scared of us, but followed his buddy just the same. I think he was in training. These are just a couple of the many dogs that have followed us around. Michael says it's because I give them sad eyes and they know they can get food out of me.

Um, just in case you need some plates while making your phone call???

Alto del Carmen

Alto del Carmen is a town in the Huasco Valley of the Atacama Desert of Chile, and home of the Huascoaltino Diaguita indigenous people. The community is fighting a Canadian gold mining company, Barrick, which is building a mine at the head of the valley, where several glaciers sit whose runoff feeds the agriculture there. Originally Barrick wanted to MOVE the glaciers, but resistance to this idea resulted in a change to their proposal, which is to mine right up next to the glaciers instead. The mine is unique in that it will span the border of two countries, Chile and Argentina. The community is concerned that their water source will be contaminated by mine runoff. Barrick assures them they have put all the needed protections in place to assure that doesn't happen. Adding a layer of complexity to the situation is the fact that the valley has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, and many people welcome the jobs the mine will bring. Construction on the mine began at the end of September, 2009. Below are photos of evidence of resistance to the mine in Alto del Carmen. I think that there is probably quite a dilemma for Chile over the issue of mining and the environment, as mining is huge in the Atacama, and employs many people, yet there are serious envirnomental concerns over mining with long term consequences.

I'm not sure why this miner's hat says "Larrick'" as the company is Barrick. The rest of it hardly needs explanation.

The mine is called Pascua Lama, and this piece translates as, "Pascual Lama: Bread for today, hunger for tomorrow."

This one, painted on the side of the Catholic church in the town square, shows machinery chewing up the hills, trucks full of gold driving away, a river of skeletons floating back down the river. The church has strongly supported resistance to the mine.

Graffiti

Dani has become a fan of stencil graffiti. Here are some of the gems we've seen along the way:

This mural in Santiago was quite long, and obviously had numerous artists, as there were many styles represented. The old grandmother stenciled in here must have come later. I love her!

The above is from La Serena, a coastal town in Chile.

The kitty chasing rats, line of ants, and scary face in the corner all hail from La Serena as well.

This one from Mendoza, Argentina, says: The grape in the mouth of the town on the table is rotten.

Cachora, Peru

Again, more amazing views, these from the taxi on the way to the town of Cachora, from where we launched our hike to Choquequirau.

Bus ride to Andhuaylas, Peru

These were taken from the bus, which was cruising down a dirt road, hence they aren't very good. They certainly don't do justice to what we saw. The second photo in this bunch was an attempt to show how high up people are farming - right up the side of the mountain. Amazing.

Ayacucho, Peru

Here are views from the hostel, a parade passing us by, and a woman dishing up delicious helados (ice cream) on the street. We stopped over here for only one night, and so didn't see much except what you see here.