Daily Archives: December 23, 2011

An Avalanche of Garbage

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Driving up the coast towards Mirasol on my way back to Santiago, I pass Quebrada Verde. A chaotic spaghetti of dirt roads which are accessible only by a 4×4 leads me through Eucalyptus forests and a few Una Bomber like cottages. After tree hours of being smacked against all sides of the interior of the car I arrive at a lighthouse which indicates the close by coast. I descend the rocky slopes and arrive at a beach where only a few plastic bottles account for any imperfection of this incredibly beautiful landscape. Close by I see a small island which is inhabited only by Sea Lions. They growl and hurl as I steal their image.

The males are easily recognisable by the amount of hear on their head and they are, as most males in the animal kingdom, much bigger than the females.

Closer towards the beach town there is no plastic to be found at all since the monstrous tourist farms don’t allow trash on the beach. Most houses have an own front lawn basket to put there trash in (just as in Uruguay), which is being picked up regularly. This solution prevents dogs and rats from deteriorating the bundles of household discards and spreading it around.

Not everyone is using them however and when you don’t live in city limits and garbage collection does not include dirt roads it becomes tempting to dump trash in the forest.  When done extensively it creates avalanches of garbage that run straight down the hill and will eventually wash into the ocean. A strange sight amidst all this beauty.