Jaime and I thought Pica would be a good place to do some research, so after arriving on the afternoon flight to Iquique, we rented a truck and started driving. The truck, a red Toyota, was essentially the option provided by Hertz because most people around here who rent a vehicle are intending to go to the mines, and a truck is necessary. I’m not sure entirely why red, but as we drove around Pozo Almonte the next day, almost every truck we saw was red. Maybe it’s easy to spot in the desert dust?
our trusty red toyota
We left the IQQ airport around 6:00pm, and as we drove up the highway leading from Iquique to Alto Hospicio, darkness set in. We continued up highway 16, through many spots of no phone connectivity (as we were trying to use the google maps app on his phone for directions, and his phone calls to his daughters got cut a few times). We drove through Pozo Almonte, then onward and arrived in Pica a little before 8:00pm.
puro desierto
We made a lap of the town, then parked in the main square and had a look around. There was on one side were the municipality offices and the local radio station. There was a children’s playground, the church, and a few local businesses. We set out on foot looking for a place to stay. Just off the square there was a sign pointing down an alley to Casona de Don Diego. We started walking through the alley when Diego himself approached us from behind. He had been waiting near the square for the last bus from Iquique to arrive around 8:30. He showed us the rooms, which were less than impressive, and we decided against it. Instead we went towards the cabanas we had seen on a sign a few blocks away. There, the owner showed us a lovely little two bedroom hut. It came complete with couch, small television, refrigerator, stove, and sink. The only thing it lacked was hot water. We agreed to take it for the night, and then headed out to El Gato Rapido restaurant for dinner.
El Gato Rapido was the site of my first Chilean mishap. The bill came and I owed something around 15000 pesos. I pulled out a 20000 and put it on the little tray. Except that it was actually only 2000. So many zeros. And these bills have no commas or periods on them. Seriously! But not without plenty of teasing from Jaime, all was settled, and we stopped at a little tienda for breakfast items before heading back to the cabana.
In the morning, we got up early, ate breakfast of yogurt and bread (without tea because we had forgotten to buy matches to light the stove), and then made our way down the street to the town government offices. We first spoke with a woman in the development office, trying to get an accurate figure of population (the last census was 2002). She said they were “working on it right now.” She directed us to another woman in the same office who maybe knew more, but she in fact did not. Then we went to the other side of the building to the technology office, where Patricio showed us the Pica facebook page, and explained how he used it.
El Gato Rapido was the site of my first Chilean mishap. The bill came and I owed something around 15000 pesos. I pulled out a 20000 and put it on the little tray. Except that it was actually only 2000. So many zeros. And these bills have no commas or periods on them. Seriously! But not without plenty of teasing from Jaime, all was settled, and we stopped at a little tienda for breakfast items before heading back to the cabana.
In the morning, we got up early, ate breakfast of yogurt and bread (without tea because we had forgotten to buy matches to light the stove), and then made our way down the street to the town government offices. We first spoke with a woman in the development office, trying to get an accurate figure of population (the last census was 2002). She said they were “working on it right now.” She directed us to another woman in the same office who maybe knew more, but she in fact did not. Then we went to the other side of the building to the technology office, where Patricio showed us the Pica facebook page, and explained how he used it.
beautiful pica
On our way back toward the cabanas, we stopped in the library, where the amazingly helpful librarian explained to us that mostly primary school aged children and adults use the computers there. Kids mostly play online games, and adults send emails. They recently offered a class on technology that was geared towards seniors, and after learning to email their primary question was how to use facebook. The library helped them take a profile picture with the digital camera, and create a profile, mostly so they could connect with their children or grandchildren.
pica library
With this we left to have lunch in Pozo Almonte and have a look around there. Once again, when we arrived we failed at getting any figures of how many people are actually in the town. One complicating factor for both Pica and Pozo is that the 2002 census figures are not entirely accurate because they include everyone in the municipality, not just the town. So essentially the town’s population might be as low as only 1/3 of what’s reported on the census. And then the more current projections are based on those numbers with little information about who is in the city proper and who is in the area. Jaime called his old boss who works in a government office that works with census data and she suggested the 2012 projections were highly untrustworthy. Part of the problem is that Chile does not track any internal migration, so there is no real way to know if people have moved from one area to another.
During lunch in Pozo Almonte, the restaurant that was empty when we entered suddenly became over run with miners on their lunch breaks. It was a fascinating transformation, and dichotomous in nature with foreign-looking engineers on one side of the restaurant, and the more indigenous-looking miners on the other side. They were easily distinguished not only by foreign-ness-appearance, but by the amount of dirt clinging to their blue shirts. Jaime explained that most miners are local, or immigrants from Bolivia and Peru, while most engineers come from Santiago, Europe, or Australia. The engineers usually commute back and forth between Santiago and Pozo a few times a month.
After lunch we took a little walk, and talked about the two possibilities. Pozo, while it could make for a fascinating study on migration, work, class, political economy, etc. didn’t seem to be quite as quintessentially Chilean as the project needed. Pica, while beautiful, quaint, and wonderfully close knit community at our best guess seemed to be around 2,000 people. Again, it would have made for a great study on traditional fiestas (as explained by the older woman who helped to run the cabanas), but didn’t seem big enough to effectively be comparative for the other cities in the Global Social Media Impact Study. So what to do….
During lunch in Pozo Almonte, the restaurant that was empty when we entered suddenly became over run with miners on their lunch breaks. It was a fascinating transformation, and dichotomous in nature with foreign-looking engineers on one side of the restaurant, and the more indigenous-looking miners on the other side. They were easily distinguished not only by foreign-ness-appearance, but by the amount of dirt clinging to their blue shirts. Jaime explained that most miners are local, or immigrants from Bolivia and Peru, while most engineers come from Santiago, Europe, or Australia. The engineers usually commute back and forth between Santiago and Pozo a few times a month.
After lunch we took a little walk, and talked about the two possibilities. Pozo, while it could make for a fascinating study on migration, work, class, political economy, etc. didn’t seem to be quite as quintessentially Chilean as the project needed. Pica, while beautiful, quaint, and wonderfully close knit community at our best guess seemed to be around 2,000 people. Again, it would have made for a great study on traditional fiestas (as explained by the older woman who helped to run the cabanas), but didn’t seem big enough to effectively be comparative for the other cities in the Global Social Media Impact Study. So what to do….
map of the comunas
We sat on a bench next to the red truck and discussed. And after returning to the Pica library to take advantage of the free wifi, we sent off and email to other major players in the project and suggested that perhaps Alto Hospicio was the best possible location. We loaded up the truck with all our things, and drove back toward Iquique, only stopping to take pictures of the dinosaur statues outside of town that commemorate the excavation of paleo fossils in the area.
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