World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2011-05-31 2011-06-02 Chile West

2011-06-01:

8
Distance today: 40.0 km (Accumulated: 26054.0 km)
Elapsed time: 03:32:31
Country: Chile West

Start 09:52am., 16c, overcast and l.wind, at yellow tar-marker "69.80" on hwy.1. Finish 14:23pm., 27c and same, at green roadsign "Bienvenido a Michilla", on hwy.1.

A stage where the terrain gets more and more marked by the heavy mining-industry which is one of the central industries of Northern Chile. The main conpanies, though, are from Canada and Usa; and without wanting to put too much political into the report - I doubt if their mining and the related treatment of the enviroment would get through any of the laws in Canada or Usa.

Yet its a complicated subject, ofcourse; and this industry is the 'daily bread' of a large part of the fragile societies and settlements up here in the desert areas of Atacama where its basically difficult to survive without most products beeing brought in from the outside - so it takes the values of the many large mines up here to make a basis for the villages and cities.

But the nature, is equally fragile (condors, chinchillas, penguins, seals, pelicans, and ocationally whales). And one cant help side with it and not our urge to eek out what we can from the nature untill it lies empty as the 18.-century ghost towns along the highway 1 here, which tells the tale of past times rush for ressources later gone dry !