Friday, July 18, 2008

Chile, Day 4: Los perros de Copiapo

It was another working day and not much to tell, really. In the morning I did my presentation for the teacher-students who are developing the new tourism program for Vallenar. I started out by giving them a bit of background about our region, our institution, our programs. My thought was that such an introduction would help to give our particular curriculum perspective some context. In retrospect, it may or may not have been a good idea. I was explaining at one point why our region is so popular: it's the mountains, the forests, the lakes, the great skiing, and the wildlife. They asked about the wildlife. I described the deer, the elk, the moose, mountain goats, bear... There was a brief pause and then someone spoke out "...and in Copiapo we have dogs."

It really struck me funny. This area has so much going for it, touristically, but of course it can be hard to fully appreciate the attraction that your home town has for others. Copiapo has the innate attraction of having the driest desert on earth, right on its doorstep. And being in the centre of (what did I hear?) 40% of the world's copper deposits. And having Pacific Coast beaches only a half-hour or so away. And then there's the pleasure of just walking among the crowds on the streets. The lack of tourism here is, in itself, an attraction.

But although the student this morning meant to make a joke, he's not completely wrong. The dogs truly are amazing. There are so many! Of such variety, too. They wander around the plaza, licking the crumbs of street food off the tiles. They sleep in every little patch of warm sunlight. They group themselves in little packs of threes and fours and chomp at their fleas together. They cross with everybody else at the street corners. They meet each other, sniff, and drift on again all up and down the sidewalks. At night I am occassionally awakened by dogfights but they don't last long. Perhaps they could draw a certain kind of tourist? I'm sure if Rhia were here she would be keen to photograph them.

Everybody, it seems, complains (or at least jokes) about the dogs but it seems a lukewarm contempt. After all, the dogs probably do help to keep the area free of food-litter and they don't really beg for anything. In fact, I have seen people toss bits of sandwich to the dogs while sitting on plaza benches or in the sidewalk cafes. Today I watched a man whose job it is to supervise a parking lot stop to pat and talk to a stray dog. And not all dogs are strays: there are many little shops selling not only dog food but also dog toys and accessories. In the plaza market there is a stall selling nothing but 'ropas por las mascotas', mostly fancy knitted garments for dogs.

It's been a slow evening tonight. I picked up some food from the supermarket -- can't seem to find a good restaurant close by and the menus are a bit intimidating for someone with my ignorance of the language. Later I watched 'Amelie' all in French but with Spanish sub-titles so I was able to be totally confused in TWO languages at once. Fortunately, I know the story so it doesn't matter.

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