Chilean People: Gracious, Peaceful, Festive & Charitable

Last Friday my Chilean host Patricio started to feel ill. It struck him after a night of socializing during a meeting of the officials for the event called “Raid Atacama”, which is set to begin today in the main square in downtown Copiapo. As the organization’s leader Patricio had lots of details to cover regarding participation in the raid, safety, and the route in which the Raid would follow. In Chile such gatherings are typically followed by a session of smack-talking and alcohol consumption. Pisco is the Chilean equivalent to whisky or rum. Typically they mix it with Coca-Cola and ice.  As the night played out, the group polished off a whole bottle of pisco while conversing about a plethora of topics. Ever so often the group would erupt into laughter, of course I was the only non Spanish speaker of the group so I didn’t quite get the jokes, but I maintained the attitude I always do it those situations: When in Chile, do as the Chilean’s do, so I laughed, and because that particular night happened to be my birthday, I too drank Pisco and coke.

With a handful of the Chileans the drinking was followed by a cigarette. For Patricio this was a few too many for one night. The next day his throat was soar and he was convinced he needed to rest for the upcoming week of leadership. As such, he felt obligated to arrange a substitute to host me on a trip we had planned earlier, to tour the coastal areas north and south of the nearby shipping port and vacation spot called Caldera. Caldera is a beautiful little town of less than 3,000 residents. I had experienced it during my Chilean visit in 2007 and was looking forward to returning. On Saturday morning Patricio informed me that my host was coming to pick me up for the weekend. His name was Danilo Errazuriz or “Daniel” for short. I quickly packed a bag and headed out in front of Patricio’s home to meet Daniel. Daniel is one of the elders of Patricio’s event staff. In fact, he was the founder of the Raid some 30 years ago. In 2004 he passed the torch of leadership on to Patricio, so naturally he had a vested interest in the success of the event. To my fortune, he spoke pretty good English too. He drove a bright yellow 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. Our first action for the day was a little tour of a large scale mining operation just outside of Copiapo. Daniel was an engineer for the mining industry among other things, and he felt that I would appreciate a close up view of the industry that made Chile.

I was excited, I’d read somewhere that Chile was the worlds leading exporter of copper and with the whole day ahead of us I just knew I was in for a treat.

As we entered the mining area I noted to myself how unrestricted the venue was. In the states their would have been a security checkpoint for sure, but here in Chile anyone can simply stroll right up to the mines edge and look (or fall) in. So we did. It kind of made me think that we in the US are lucky to have fencing and warning signs.

With my 300 meter zoom lense I was able to capture some neat images of the mining operation. I’ve always enjoyed heavy equipment so this was just great for me. They had a whole bunch of the world’s largest dump trucks working there along with some massive excavators.

I even got to take some mining remnants from the area as souvenirs.

After we left the mine we headed to Daniel’s home in Copiapo to have lunch. As lunch was prepared for us Daniel took me up to his office to show me some things on his computer. He wanted to explain the way miners of Chile use today’s technology to locate areas of frontiers for future mining operations. I was impressed to see that Google Earth images were the starting point. I think Daniel was impressed when I told him that the company Google started in my home town, in the Silicon Valley.

After a wonderful lunch prepared by Daniel’s live in house keeper, we took off towards the coast. We arrived at his 2nd home in Caldera

just before 1:30 local time. After meeting Daniel’s wife Angy the three of us headed out to Ramada beach just north of town.
The waters were calm and the sun was intense. Daniel and I made conversation about a range of topics from seafood to practical farming practices.  I really enjoyed his company.

Later that evening Daniel’s daughter showed up with her husband and three small children. We barbequed

beef stakes and sipped Chilean red wine out in front of the house all evening. Our discussion bounced through many topics from sharpening knives to fruit exportation, truly a cornucopia of conversation.

 The nights view of the little harbor was perfect and I couldn’t help but snap a few pics for the memory books. It was the perfect Chilean evening.

The next day Daniel took me to the north where a super rare geological feature exists. He told me that nowhere else have geologists found rocks of this type. They reminded me of concrete with river rocks that had been cut with a large saw. Millions of lime size rocks were embedded in larger rocks. I found this natural phenomenon quite interesting and shot a whole bunch of photos of it.

Next we headed south with the kids to spend the remainder of the day basking in the sun on a beautiful white sand beach. The water was perfect! I body surfed and built one of my sand palaces for the kids to enjoy. Despite a healthy serving of sunscreen I got burned for the second time of my trip.

The next day Daniel returned me to Copiapo. On the way we were reminded of how important the mining industry is to Chile. While traveling along the 2 lane highway, a local police vehicle forced everyone off the road and over a loud speaker informed us that a large convoy of equipment was fast approaching. I grabbed my camera just in time to snap some amazing shot of 8 enormous dump truck beds being transported at 60 KPH down the highway. I was shocked with how little warning we and the other motorists were given by the only official police escort vehicle. Again I was reminded of how very different America is when it comes to basic human safety.

Today the Raid Atacama starts and soon I will be out in the sand dunes shooting photos for my next session of blogs. Keep checking in!