After beach time, it was back to the car to continue the drive north into the Atacama desert. Due to its elevation and location between two mountain ranges, Atacama is one of the driest places on earth. The good people of NASA go there to test instruments that they will later use on missions to the moon and/or Mars.
Anne and Mark did not test any instruments on their drive through the desert, which was very dry, but not terribly hot. Not many people live along this stretch, so it was mostly uninterrupted driving. And then, in the middle of nowhere, a hand.
Upon inspection, it was clear that this was not a natural rock formation. It was a bit strange to see this sculpture for a couple of reasons. First, it was the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but sand and rocks for miles in every direction. There was not even an abandoned mine or mining town nearby. Second, the sculpture looked familiar. Kind of like the one in Punta del Este.
At least the similarity between this one and the other one can be explained - they were both done by the same guy. Apparently, he's an artist specializing in enormous hands coming out of the sand. Why he decided to put this one in the middle of no where- still a mystery.
But it did break up the monotony. There was a long drive between the beach and San Pedro, so it was good to have at least one landmark to verify that we were making progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment