Mining town of Iquique: WATER - IT'S ALL Max Hartshorne, editor of "What time is it?" - Asked me if my companion, a barely perceptible yawning. We ended our dinner under the thatched roof in the restaurant "El Tercer Ojito" city of Iquique. This institution is also called "Third Eye". "Half of the first" - I replied. Sitting at our table the owner of facilities on behalf of Christine Bouchard said that it was at this time begins the evening concert. Christina sipped cabernet, and told me that this excellent restaurant with an open area got its name after she visited Kathmandu. Prior to that, there were showers, but now she's just focused on good cuisine, and thoughtful menu, which is not the last, took the grouper, vegetable lasagna with shrimp and quinoa. Quinoa - a kind of crops that they eat everything in the north of Chile. We flew here from the southern part of the country. Iquique - a mining town with a population of 200,000 people on the Pacific coast, near the Atacama Desert. Every tenth of a local resident working in a giant copper, salt and other mines. The men watch lasts ten consecutive days, after which they can for four days rest. Since there is high unemployment, the number of jobs transferred from father to son. Fishing boats in the harbor of Iquique The annual rainfall is about two millimeters, so that such restaurants as El Tercer Ojito do not need this capital roofs. "The local rain - it's just a trifle," says Christina. And indeed, many cultural institutions here, such as a gym, often deprived of some roofs and fences. Water - a rarity in this dry climate, and its bringing in here from afar. Among residents of the city is growing social movement that aims to make large mining enterprises to finance the construction here of powerful industrial desalination of water, as is done in Antofagasta, the second largest city of Chile. "Water - it's all," our guide told us when we drove past the monument to the water. "If you want something here has grown, we must constantly watered a flower bed every day and over and over." Insomnia at a height of four and a half kilometers Our bus driver decided to show me what would happen with me today when I go to sleep on the bunk bed in one room with two neighbors snoring, chewing three coconut leaf before bedtime. He showed a kind of pantomime caricature depicting a man with his eyes open and going crazy from lack of sleep. It was a restless and anxious night at an altitude of more than four miles, where we stopped for the night in the village of Aymara Indians. One family named Lucas is living in buildings located even higher. But the guests have a good chance to see the local dances and listen to ethnic music, sleeping in a simple two-storey houses. Swiss Family In general, dining table, joined us a family from Switzerland, consisting of three generations. Served local dish: a big piece of chicken in broth with quinoa. Europeans have been told that they are not afraid of difficulties in travel, despite the fact that the car with water has not arrived, and so on, to take a shower, it was possible to forget as a pipe dream. To help us deal with mountain sickness and unusual shortness of breath, the owners of establishments offered us tea chachakoma. Oh yeah, and the coconut leaves, which is one of my roommates bought in the Peak. Panorama is fantastic: sunset on the background of the brown slopes of more than expressive, especially when their background, the locals are dancing in national costumes of bright red. Mountain Lodges in Taupo Samanan Utah, near the Chilean city Pick building in which we lived, was built at the expense of mine Kolahuazi. I must say, very generous gift of the company, which normally pays for the education of people, their cars, homes and almost everything. However, it is not disinterested virtue. Developers mountain reservoirs used a lot of local water resources and destroyed large areas of terrain. Local residents near the village, built at the expense of the mining enterprise Kolhuazi Despite the difficult working conditions here are very much wanting to get a job in a mine, because annual salary is about 12,500 dollars. In no other area of ??such money does not earn, so that the employment of such a dream of almost all young men in northern Chile. A woman who works at a local school, said that wages in the food sector or area of ??service centers is not any comparison with the income of miners. One of our guides, who lives in the town of Pica, recently organized a media campaign to attract media attention and let people realize how much damage the environment have caused the Canadian, Australian and Chilean mining companies. Ground water level becomes lower and lower, and the surface of the land is dotted with wells and waste mining industry. Staggering distance of Chilean Alto Plano When you get to Chile for the first time, immediately apparent local road - long and monotonous. It seems that the road made specifically for you, because you can drive for twenty minutes, and do not meet or beat any car. And here, in the Alto Plano, makes itself known factor in height, which makes it hard to breathe even buses, since the diesel engine is not enough oxygen. In many places, monuments to the drivers who were killed in a head-on collisions. We were told that many accidents occurred as a result of the fact that mine workers returning from remote areas back home after seven or ten days of continuous work, trying to get back to the family and civilization. Infinite distance in the Alto Plano frighten and fascinate the northern part of Chile, also called Tarapaca. Houses here are very modest and unassuming. Happy tridtsatigradusnaya can stand the heat, but at night the thermometer drops below zero Celsius. At the roadside village of Le Tirana, we decided to stay overnight in a hotel called El Guarando. We met the owners institution, the couple, whose name was Marco Fernandez Conejo and Coco Coello. They advised us to spend the night in a tent outside. Inside the tents were set light camp beds with warm blankets, and the inner space of a lowly dwellings covered with candles. On the paths to all the tents were installed lighting fixtures, which were burning candles are the same as inside the tents. Our dinner took a simple wooden tables next to the tents. In addition to wine, served many diverse and delicious food, part of which was prepared with the help of solar panels. Previously, I never saw this interesting device in action. Obviously, for these arid areas, where a lot of sun and a little wood, such a device is even easy to use. Tent in El Hurango, in northern Chile Our hosts were very pleasant and hospitable people. Here, tourists often stop, which, in addition to tents, placed in small houses made of adobe bricks. Inside this home is quite comfortable, constant temperature, about 19 degrees, despite the hot days and cool nights. On the morning of Marco was in very good spirits, his German shepherd dog gave birth to eight puppies, which lay close bunch in the dog kennel. And the owner showed us an underground warehouse where he keeps his supplies and immaculate studio, where each of the hundreds of instruments lies in their place. When we returned by bus from the Alto Plano, our fellow travelers have noticed a rainbow. We immediately took out their cameras. Large multi-colored arch encircled the sky directly above us, and three other rainbows were on the left side of the road. Here is a strange place, the northern part of Chile. Circular rainbow around the sun in the Chilean desert wake up under a thick woolen blanket was bliss, finally managed to get some sleep heart's content. I feel great up here, at the fifteenth floor of the hotel Terrado, in anticipation of a new morning and hang-gliding. I try not to think about the famous actor, whose son died during a flight. No, I prefer to think about what spectacular scenery, I'll be watching from above, how many will make interesting pictures. Long way home after our aerial adventures, we are preparing to leave home. While traveling through the country, we have removed a lot of pictures, watched a lot of vivid landscapes. Chile - a unique corner of the globe, here you can find 22 of the 25 different natural habitats. Country length of about four and a half thousand kilometers, which resembles a pod of beans on a map, will long remain in my memory. Before the trip I received many e-mails, which were the wishes of a pleasant trip to Chile. It was nice. However, many of my correspondents had a very limited view about this country. As if all there is only the original kitchen, and nothing interesting there. On the other hand, it is not surprising when we remember how I was advised to beware of kangaroos when I was going to travel around Australia. When we were going to look at the world's biggest sand dune we had to pass a very unattractive place that is far away from my pyatnadtsatietazhnoy hotels and the central avenues. This was the area of ??local poor, who have built their shacks in the suburbs. Almost all the dwellings were "decorated" ubiquitous political posters. Fortunately, the authorities gradually begin to demolish those slums, replacing them with reinforced concrete with tiny apartments. Corn on the market in the city of Iquique On one side of the city of Iquique is the Pacific Ocean, on the other - a giant wall of brown sand. At night the city lights up a high six-foot dial, which can be seen almost everywhere. Behind the city of Iquique is a giant wall of sand, beyond which desert begins at the public market, dark-skinned young women sell Peruvian tomatoes, coarse grains of the ears, odd-shaped orange peppers and pumpkins. They spend two hours every morning and every evening to spread and put their goods. Many people are engaged in irregular trading. Throughout the city are improvised trays, "sliders" offer something to drivers and passengers of vehicles stopping at traffic lights, and sometimes the goods are laid out right next to the curb. See also: Abnormal geyser appeared in Chile caused by human
No comments:
Post a Comment