Relitivity
Modern, plastic, water pipes and moisture, in this arid place, suggest regular water deliveries.
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
where’s Waldo?
Can you spot the children and visitors in these scenes from the World Heritage Site Humberstone located in the Chilean Atacama desert?
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Dive In
Children are our hope and the future. The yellow sign reads “UNESCO Contribution. the restoration of five classrooms of School number 35.”
From their web site: UNESCO encourages international peace and universal respect for human rights by promoting collaboration among nations. Its mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue.
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Thursday Door
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Dive In
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
worn, defiled
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Ghosts from when time stood still
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References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Tower and Architectural Details
United States of America has its own closed mining towns. Read about Empire, Nevada in Chapter Three of Jessica Bruder’s 2017, “Nomadland.” Empire thrived on gypsum mining until economic changes forced it to close. December 2, 2010 the entire town was informed June 20, 2011 was the deadline for all to leave the company provided housing. 100% of housing was owned by United States Gypsum. In Humberstone, as in Empire, Nevada, housing stands empty. Here, wo stopped clocks of the wooden tower overlooking the main Humberstone square emblemize the situation.
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An hexagonal bandstand, area lighting on the electric poles.
Ramada with table and benches.
View from the main square.
Water, the source of life pumped from where? We saw here and there hoses for watering plants. I did some research and there are three methods for supplying water (1) tankers (2) pipe hundreds of miles long and (3) harvesting fog. Yes, fog. It never, never rains but some locations are swept by fog. There plants there harvest the fog on branches and people are now doing the same. Follow the above link to learn more.
A few details from the main square.
References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
In a bubble
Pam and I, not fluent in the Spanish language, depended upon our guides and bus drivers for negotiating our on land exploration of South American. Here is our guide for this trip, providing insights as we stand in the main square of the village.
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A guide for another Oceania group.
Children accompanied…
the men and women who kept open air sales kiosks providing….
…refreshments and souvenirs. I purchased a handmade collection of minerals from the region.
We never learned why these people were dressed in period costumes. Most certainly descendants of the people who worked here.
References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Prison Break
Mullioned windows along the nave provide brilliant illumination, into the side aisles where we see, in the following photograph, a chapel devoted to a Marian Apparition.
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The framed image is the appearance of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, appearing to six native children. The event, called a Marian Apparition, does not correspond to any such event I am aware of. Nor did one come up in my researches. The most famous appearance of Mary in the Americas if the Virgin of Guadalupe who appeared to a man, a recent convert to Catholicism from the Aztec religion, Saint Juan Diego, and is Uncle, Juan Bernardino, in the year 1531, Mexico. I provided a list of Marian Apparations under references.
The left aisle hosts another Marian chapel, a Madonna.
The most accessible Marian Devotion is the rosary, here in the form of crystal beads.
Instead of an arch, the central aisle is a flat roof with some additional support from wood beams. We will explore the side aisles in later posts.
References
Websites
Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works World Heritage page
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 