The changing tides in Chile

I headed to twin cities on the coast of Chile: Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. Viña del Mar is a small beach town with sand dunes. I spent my days slowly walking the coastline and eagerly awaiting the sunset, always looking for the green flash. Some days, I caught a bus to Valparaíso, a colorful port town, to wander the miradores y murales. The story goes that, after painting their boats, folks used the leftovers to paint their homes and thus the tradition of painting murals was born. Every corner, staircase, and park is saturated in multi-toned hues.

The few Chileans I met that week were animated and eager to share stories with me. At the beach, a couchsurfer depicted Chile’s history on the sand and illustrated the effects of the country’s longtime dictatorship. I learned that Chile is one of the few countries with privatized water. Since it is not a public good, the agricultural industry can use all the water for avocado production thus leaving folks sin agua. The movement, Modatima (Movimiento de Defensa del Agua, la Tierra y la Protección del Medio Ambiente), advocates for the public ownership of water, maintaining that access to potable water is a human right.