Category Archives: Pictures

Chile, Pictures, South America

Santiago, Chile

By Walker Dawson

Santiago has come a long way in the last 25 years. It was once considered a rather drab, conservative city, known more for its dictatorial oppression and smog than anything else. Today, however, the Chilean capital is in the midst of a renaissance. On sunny summer afternoons, Santiago’s parks attract musicians, joggers, painters, and tourists.

Santiago is a city of diverse neighborhoods. There is Barrio Brasil and Barrio Yungay, two bohemian neighborhoods west of downtown where improv Salsa classes take place on the art covered streets. East of downtown is Barrio Lastarria, an upscale neighborhood full of narrow streets, small apartments, classy restaurants and bars and a magnificent hill, Cerro Santa Lucia, will views of downtown. And the list of incredible neighborhoods keeps going on, from artsy and gritty to historical and low key, Santiago has it all.

Most residents of Santiago are shocked when a foreigner actually likes their city (local opinion is that Santiago is a necessary evil, a place you must come to make money, but not a place to enjoy). With easy weekend trips to the Pacific or the snowcapped Andes, it’s easy to see why Santiago is becoming one of Latin America’s hottest cities.

One of the great things to do in Santiago is to ride to the top of Cerro San Cristobal at sunset. From the summit there are incredible views of the entire city.
Mote con huesillo is a classic Chilean drink consisting of fresh peaches and cooked husked wheat soaked in a sweet sugar nectar. It quenches your thirst and also fills you up, it’s one of the best drinks in South America.
Only a hour from Santiago, Cajón del Maipo is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of Chilean capital. The joy of Santiago is being able to ski the Andes, surf the Pacific, and party the night away all in the same weekend.
Rap battles popping up in Santiago’s streets at night.
A hole in the wall restaurant in Barrio Brasil.
Murals at the Centro Gabriela Mistral, a recently renovated cultural center.
Emporio La Rosa, a great Santiago icecream shop tha serves up unusual flavors such as honey from the Ulmo tree, which has a buttery taste of vanilla and caramel toffee. Every flavor is to die for.
Santiago’s underground metro is one of the best and most extensive in Latin America.
La Piojera is one of Santiago’s oldest dive bars. Order a Terremoto, literally translated as an earthquake because it will knock you to the floor. It is made with white wine, Fernet, bitters, grenadine and a large scoop of pineapple ice-cream.
Some just chose a beer.
At nearly 1,000 ft, the Gran Torre Santiago is the tallest building in Latin America. Looking somewhat out of place on the skyline, many of the residents refer to it as the Sauron Tower.
Santiago’s Mercado Central is intoxicating market where fresh fish are brought in every morning from the Chilean coast. Santiago’s culinary scene has exploded in recent years, with new restaurants reinventing the once conservative gastronomic scene.
North of the Mercado Central is Mercado La Vega, a bustling place that is less touristy and more real than the central market.
A local merchant in La Vega reminiscing fondling of older days “when the government used to care about us”.
Inside the Museo de Bellas Artes or the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts, which was built in 1880, making it one of the oldest museums in South America.
Light show inside cutting edge Museo de Arte Contemporaneo.
Bordering Barrio Lastarria, Bellas Artes and Centro is the wonderful Parque Forestal.
Views of the 20,000 ft snowcapped Andes from Mount Manquehue.
Overlooking Santiago from Mt Manquehue. Santiago has a little over 7 million people in the metropolitan area, making it one of the most important and largest cities in Latin America.
Back in 2007 I did a high school exchange to Santiago, Chile. Alfredo, the guy I stayed with, later came to stay with me in California for three months. Eight years later I came back to visit him, getting to re-learn Santiago after so many years. We both agreed that the high school exchange was one of the best things we’ve ever done in our lives.
Peru, Pictures, South America

Lima: South America’s Culinary Capital

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South America’s Culinary Gem

by Walker Dawson

In the eyes of foreigners, Lima often plays second fiddle to Cusco. Sure it has horrendous traffic, and it’s unsafe in parts, but most Limeños (people from Lima) love their city. And what’s not to like? Bohemian neighborhoods that once housed Peruvian writers such as Mario Vargas Llosa are perched on rocky cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, spring like weather occurs all year around, and welcoming locals will quickly become your best friend. Ultimately, when it comes to singing Lima’s praises, it’s all about the food. Spicy, fresh, organic and raw, Lima’s cuisine is one of the best in the world. It’s gastronomy is a synthesis of everything that is Peru; it takes its ingredients from the Amazon jungle, the high Andes and the Pacific, blending it together with Peru’s multi ethnic make up. The largest number of Asians in Latin America reside in Peru, adding to the flavor of many dishes; Afro-Peruvians, Quechua and Aymara natives, Spanish, Italian and Germans have contributed as well. If you come for one thing, come for the food. 

Most tourists give Lima a day, maybe two. They see the somewhat uninspiring streets of Miraflores and then they leave, claiming that Lima ‘isn’t that interesting’ or ‘it’s just a big city’. But that’s their loss. Lima is hot, chaotic and in your face, but it’s also beautiful, cosmopolitan and incredibly diverse. Skipping Lima for the tourist shops of Cusco or the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu would be to miss arguably the most important part of the country; it would be missing Peru at its most sophisticated, contemporary and progressive. While Cusco and Machu Picchu look towards Peru’s past, Lima looks towards its future.

View of Miraflores from the cliffs of Barranco. Miraflores is one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Lima, and is filled with an array of great restaurants, bookstores and ocean views.
Local resident in the neighborhood of Barranco. Barranco feels more like a small Mediterrian town rather a neighborhood within a city of 10 million people.
Barra Cevichera José y Juanita in Lima’s La Victoria neighborhood serves up some of the best ceviche in Lima. Traditional ceviche, like this one, is made with raw corvina (sea bass) marinated in key lime and served with corn and sweet potato. It cost 15 Soles ($5), while delicious ceviche can be found on the street for less than half that price.
Ice cream vendor on the streets of La Victoria, one of Lima’s chaotic neighborhoods south of downtown.
For a few dollars, Parque de las Aguas in Lima provides cheap entertainment with water, light and sound.
Turn of the century architecture around Plaza San Martin, one of the European squares in the city.
The street markets of Ate.
Rock Fish and plantains steamed in a Patioba leaf? This tasty meal can be found in the Amazonian section of the Ceres market in Ate.
The announcer at Brisas keeps the crowd entertained.
Dancers at Brisas del Titicaca performing a traditional dance from the highlands of Peru.
Brisas del Titicaca is a cultural center/restaurant/nighclub that highlights dancing and music from Peru’s many distinct regions.
While out filming in el centro de Lima we ran in to la señorita Mishel Serna, who was crowned Miss Lima 2014. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join in the photoshoot.
Riding the buses though the very chaotic and congested streets of Lima will only cost you a few cents, but they’ll take you on a roller coaster ride you won’t forget for a long time.
The cliffs of Miraflores come alive at sunset. Miraflores is a upscale neighborhood in Lima, Peru, popular with shoppers and tourists.
Local resident at the Plaza de Armas in Centro de Lima.
A young woman performing a song from the central highlands of Peru.
Graffiti covered streets in Quillca, an area with old school bars, underground punk shows, old record shops and more radical bookstores than you can count. This graffiti says “Femicide-74% are mothers of 1 to 3 children-assassinated.”
Buying records in Quillca.
Plaza de Armas at night.
Pre carnival celebrations in Centro de Lima.
Preparing for carnival in Centro de Lima. Carnivals in Peru are know for their water street battles, a tradition that dates back to the 1800s.
Manolo’s is a classic spot in Miraflores that has been serving up tasty sandwiches and churros since 1968. The crispy, sugary churros comes in three flavors, manjar blanco, chocolate and crema pastelera. They are all delicious, so get all three!
More pre Carnival celebrations in Ate.
Ayahuasca is an upscale bar in an old converted mansion in Barranco. The bar features numerous drinks that combine unique ingredients from Peru, such as coca leaves and starfruit mixed with Pisco.
A businessmans store that has been converted into a shrine to Peruvian football. This man spoke nostalgically of the time when Peruvian football was at its height. The last time Peru was in the world cup was 1982. 
10582904_10152710407396469_4292822206649074376_oBorn and raised in San Francisco, Walker then majored in International Relations and Chinese at the New School University in NYC. He began traveling during a high school exchange to Argentina, and hasn’t stopped since. Walker has always sought out the more unusual and off the beaten path locations and is combining his love for photography and travel to kickstart a career as a journalist, striving to redefine the profession in rapidly changing world.
Brazil, Pictures, Rio de Janeiro, South America

Memories from Carnival in Rio

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By Walker Dawson

I spent three weeks filming and conducting interviews for our upcoming documentary series on Carnaval.  We worked with Mayor Eduardo Paes’ international communications team in the Palácio da Cidade covering all aspects of Carnival, while focusing on what goes on behind the scenes. Here is a selection of my favorite shots.

In recent years there’s been lots of negative press concerning Rio and the upcoming olympics. The goal of this project is to document all the hard work and organization to show a side of Carnival that tourists and international press often overlook.

 

Ipanema beach at sunset, looking out towards Dois Irmãos.
Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio, starting the week of Carnival celebrations at the City Hall. The mayor began Carnival by handing off the key to the city to the King Momo, the official King of Carnival, joking that the King will now inherit all of the cities problems. Eduardo Paes has been busy hosting the World Cup last summer and the Olympic Games in 2016. Despite the stress, Paes is a pragmatic and energetic man who loves Carnival and Samba as much as any Carioca. Paes once said, “I don’t want to compare my city to Zurich, thank God we’re not that boring.”
Raquel getting ready to dance like a Baiana (a woman from Bahia, Brazil) at the Cordão do Boitatá.
Cordão do Boitatá in the histrotic old city of Rio.
Taking a break before Cordão do Boitatá begins at Praça XV.
Raquel preparing another costume.
The people you find in the back alleys of Rio during Carnival.
The Sambódromo around 2:30am, with many hours of parades to go
Lady from Vila Isabel, waiting in the rain for hours before entering the Sambódromo.
Orquestra Voadora.
Rio is eager to clean up its image before the 2016 Olympic Games. Much of the cities waterfront was once an area with elevated freeways, homeless, crime and trash. Last year the city tore down the freeway, is converting the new spaces into parks and plazas, and planting new trees and plants with the intention of radically changing the area. The area is known as the Porto Maravilha (the Marvelous Port), and it is one of the largest urban renewal projects in Latin America.
Inside the Porto Maravilha area the new Museu do Arte do Rio examines Rio’s past and present. I’ve never seen a museum that portrayes histroy, race, economics and gentrification so honestly. The exhibition Do Valongo à Favela (from Valonga to the Favela) traces Rio’s histroy from the slave port to the contemporary favelas.
Exhibitions also examine gentrification, fighting for public space.
Praia Vermelha and Pão de Açúcar.
View from the top of Pão de Açúcar.
A few blocks from the Museu de Arte do Rio is the wonderful Pedra da Sal. This area was once where the slaves from Africa were bought and sold, and it is rumored to be where samba was born. Today it atracts people from many walks of life who come from the samba, the spicy food, the art and the good times.
Samba in Pedra da Sal.
The old and the new in Porto Maravilha.
I spent the last few days in Rio exploring Zona Norte. This is the Complexo do Alemão, one of the largest favelas in Rio, which now has a gondola which facilitates transport to the rest of the city.

 

10582904_10152710407396469_4292822206649074376_oBorn and raised in San Francisco, Walker then majored in International Relations and Chinese at the New School University in NYC. He began traveling during a high school exchange to Argentina, and hasn’t stopped since. Walker has always sought out the more unusual and off the beaten path locations and is combining his love for photography and travel to kickstart a career as a journalist, striving to redefine the profession in rapidly changing world.
Brazil, Peru, Pictures

From Lima to Rio: The Interoceanic Highway

I traveled for three days on a section of the Interoceanic Highway from the Pacific Coast of Peru to the Brazilian Amazon. The highway continues to São Paulo, Brazil, over 3,900 miles away. The highway spans three time zones, and is the first to cross the entire continent of South America. Many have called it one of the greatest construction projects in Latin America since the Panama Canal. Since its completion, the Interoceanic has raised Peru’s GDP by 1.5% a year. However, the highway has had many detrimental impacts on the local people and environments. The remote Peruvian Amazon was once five to seven days from Cusco Peru by truck. But now the trip takes less than 9 hours. Illegal gold mining and logging has increased exponentially in the last 5 years and residents of Puerto Maldonado, a dusty, frontier boom town, have expressed their concern about the benefits the highway promised to bring.

I asked Malena, a women who worked at the Tarapoto Hostel how the Interoceanic has changed the town. “It hasn’t brought more jobs, it’s actually taken them away,” she replied. “Miners and other people like that just come here, take everything away, and destroy the nature we have here,” Malena added. “The highway has also brought in a lot more delinquency and crime.”
The impact of the highway is being felt especially hard in the remote regions of the Amazon where 15 tribes have been displaced. The Interoceanic now runs through the heart of their homeland, bringing diseases, disrupting wildlife habitat, and ruining their sustainable lifestyle. The Amazon, one of the worlds great ecosystems, is still rich and plentiful, but for how much longer will it remain?

An hour outside of Cusco, the Interoceanic Highways begins its climb over the Andes.
The highway passes through indigenous villages where over 90% of the population still speaks Quechua.
At 15,500 ft above sea level, the pass between Cusco and Puerto Maldonado, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, is one of the highest paved roads in the worlds.
The Highway takes a dramatic turn after reaching the pass, suddenly plunging over 13,000 feet in the span of a few hours.
Brasiléia, located on the border with Bolivia, was in the midst of an intense Dengue and Chikungunya outbreak. City officials handed out pamphlets on the highway through town.
Brasiléia has also been a major transit route for Haitian refugees after the earthquake there in 2010. 20,000 Haitians have already passed through the town, with many more arriving every day. Most leave Haiti for Colombia or Ecuador, passing through the Amazon, Brasiléia, and on to São Paulo, the economic capital of Latin America. A thousand Haitians still reside in a building built for 200 in Brasiléia.
Many parts of Acre, a large Amazonian state in far northwestern Brazil, has been affected greatly by logging interests.
Since 1978 over 289,000 square miles of Amazonian rainforest have been cut down. Since the year 2000, 75% of that has been for cattle ranching. Cattle ranching and soy represent the largest threats today to the Amazon.
Between Brasiléia and Rio Branco, we stopped for gas in Xapuri. This was the birthplace of Chico Mendes, the famous rubber tapper and environmental activist who was murdered by ranchers in 1988. Chico Mendes once said, “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.”
Dusk on the Acre River, in Rio Branco, a sleepy city in the heart of the rich Amazonian rainforest. Rio Branco sprang up out of the jungle less than a hundred years ago as a rubber tapping outpost. 
10582904_10152710407396469_4292822206649074376_oBorn and raised in San Francisco, Walker then majored in International Relations and Chinese at the New School University in NYC. He began traveling during a high school exchange to Argentina, and hasn’t stopped since. Walker has always sought out the more unusual and off the beaten path locations and is combining his love for photography and travel to kickstart a career as a journalist, striving to redefine the profession in rapidly changing world.
Peru, Pictures, South America

Mining Gold In The Highest Inhabited Place On Earth

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The mining section of La Rinconada with Mount Ananea in the background.
As the city continues to expand, shacks spread farther across the mountain side.
The majority of residents live in small tin shacks. Given the extreme temperatures, daytime weather rarely exceeds 40F all year around, with nighttime temperatures reguarly in the teens.
A recently formed toxic lake has formed at the bottom of the hill. A miner who has worked in La Rinconada for over 40 years said “this whole part was covered in snow [pointing to La Rinconada], and now there’s no more snow. There was no lagoon before. Everything was ice”.
Miners returning home from their shift in the mines.
The enterence to the mines cuts through a shrinking glacier.
Miners hauling gold ore to La Rinconada to be crushed.
Most residents chew coca leaves which supresses hunger and exhaustion. The consuption of coca has been widespread in Andean cultures for centuries, siting its effect in alliviating altitude sickness.
Mercury is heavily used in La Rinconada to break the gold from the gold ore. Many residents suffer from mercury poisening, which attacks the nervous, digestive, and immune system. The entire city is reported to be contaminated in high levels of mercury and cyanide.
Many residents suffer from mercury poisening, which attacks the nervous, digestive, and immune system. The entire city is reported to be contaminated in high levels of mercury and cyanide.
For many miners, stricking gold is unpredictile. Some only find a few cents worth in a days work.
A woman forging metal spikes that are used to keep the tunnels inside the mines proped up.
Woman are not allowed to work in the mines in La Rinconada. “They say that if the women enter they won’t be able to find gold” says Maria, a woman who has worked in La Rinconada for over nine years. “They [the men] say the work inside the tunnels is difficult, especially with the gases and everything else that comes out. Men are different you know. But if we are allowed to enter, we would”. The main reason they can’t enter the mines is the local superstition that woman will anger Pachamama, an ancient Andean goddess who resides over the mountains and causes earthquakes.
Maria continues, “It’s pretty difficult to to live here. Everybody thinks gold is easy to find, that living in La Rinconada is easy and rosy, but it’s not”.
“Sometimes when people are lucky they find a lot of gold” says Maria. “But you need to know how to value the work and take advantage of it. Most of the men go to bars with girls to drink. They don’t know how to take advantage of what they are earning”.
Sewage, cyanide and mercury run through the muddy pedestrian streets.
One of the many restaurants serving hot quinoa sope for the hungry miners.
Playing on the highest pitch in the world, the miners of La Rinconada have put together a rag tag soccer team.
“I came to better my life. In our homeland, there is no work. We live with a lot of contamination because of the mine and the trash. It’s how we live, there is no community here”.
Peru is the fifth largest producer of gold in the world, and roughly 6% of its economy is based on it. Ever since the time of the Incas and the early Spanish Empire, Peru has had a conflicting relationship with gold. As Peru’s economy grows, and its citizens continue relying heavily on jobs created by the gold mining industry, it appears Peru will continue to be both blessed and cursed for the foreseeable future.

Photo and Story by Nick Neumann

They warned us about going to La Rinconada, “it’s so dangerous, you will get robbed in broad daylight,” said one man at the bus station near Lake Titicaca. Another man chimed in, “so many people are taking gold out of La Rinconada, that young men are beginning to rob people on the road from here to there.” I asked if any of them had visited the city, they said no.

La Rinconada, Peru represents the most extreme lengths people are willing to go in pursuit of money and a better life. At 18,000 ft above sea level, it is the highest inhabited place on earth. Living at these altitudes seems nearly impossible, yet 60,000 people call it home. Most work long hours in hazardous conditions deep within the gold mines. It’s entrepreneurial in the most brutal sense of the word—it’s unregulated and unsafe. Many people’s lives are cut short from contamination, tough working conditions, and alcoholism. Mercury, cyanide and human waste flow openly down its unpaved streets and alleys.

The process of gold mining in La Rinconada is conducted by small companies and individuals—rather than large multinational corporations. Miners hike every day over 30 minutes at 18,000 feet to the entrance of the mines, which are carved into a think glacier. They walk 1,500 ft into the dark tunnels of the mountain where oxygen is even more scarce and toxic fumes are overwhelming.

Once the ore has been extracted from the mountain, individuals break it down using stones and a crusher driven by donkeys in their homes and back alleys. Water from the glacier mixed with mercury helps extract the gold. The gold is sold to middlemen working in pawn shops, who bring it down the mountain to be sold again into the global market. Most of it ends up in India and Asia. Many times, armed men with ski masks rob merchants traveling along the one road leading out of town.

Instability in global markets has caused the price of gold to triple in the last 15 years, pushing many lower-class Peruvians to seek their fortunes in the mines of La Rinconada. Most miners come from the surrounding Puno region, a poverty-stricken province of the Peruvian Andes.

The story of La Rinconada is similar to that of Williston, North Dakota, where oil workers have been drawn to the harsh plains by the allure of high wages. Williston’s boom has affected the local environment and created a demographic shift and a strain on public services.

Similar to Williston, La Rinconada’s population has exploded—an increase of 230% over the last 10 years. Like a lawless frontier, the residents of La Rinconada have pushed back against the efforts made by the Peruvian government to bring regulation and some sense of law and order to the region. Many fear taxation and regulation that come with government oversight, thus the degradation of the environment, pollution, crime, and corruption still reign.