Usually when you arrive at a tourist destination – a vacation town, a particularly trendy city neighbourhood – it’s easy to spot local galleries and artists. Artist studios and handicraft markets all vie for the attention of the tourists who have a few bucks burning a hole in their pocket. If you ever get the chance to visit San Pedro de Atacama, the main downtown (down-village?) thoroughfare, Caracoles (literally, Snails) street has a few unique, interesting and even upscale art galleries and workshops, all worth a visit. But just off of Caracoles on Calama (street) is something a little different and, in my opinion, far more interesting than a typical storefront gallery: an…

Tapestry, created by an artist in the region, depicting the desert and the Southern Cross in the night sky. Father Le Paige Museum, San Pedro de Atacama. Artist: Jenny Cárdenas Pérez. I studied Art History in Canada, and I remember a professor once warning us – as art historians, scholars or critics – to be skeptical of an artists’ agenda. Contemporary artists, it seems – at least in North America – are often guarded and secretive about their work, perhaps wary of how others will treat them or their work if they are too open about it, or perhaps using their guardedness as a part of the art as a…

Walking through San Antonio de Areco was a bit like walking through a movie set. But a movie set from an early Hollywood picture, when the California landscape was wide and remote, when towns were small and isolated, when everyone in a village knew each other by the first name and wore their Sunday best to buy groceries at the corner market or watch a film in the town’s small theater. We visited this small town, located about 120 km from Buenos Aires, in late October, or early spring in Argentina. Although I have read that the town has a fair amount of tourism, we visited ahead of the summer…

When I was in high school, after school I’d watch Lonely Planet (also called Globe Trekker) on the Travel Channel. I loved seeing the hosts (my favourites were Ian and Justine) visit some of the most remote parts of the planet and interact with the distinct local cultures amongst stunning landscapes. This was no Rick Steves’ Europe*: they visited glaciers, isolated villages, took harrowing rides through outback roads… Tres Marias natural rock formation, Valle de la Luna All that was missing this past weekend was a camera man and a sound guy, because I experienced my very own episode of Lonely Planet, finding myself (along with my husband and two guests) in the spectacular, isolated,…

Statue in La Boca I could easily write a dozen posts on Buenos Aires. And I was only there for a little over five days. It was such a stimulating city and there was so much to absorb that I barely managed to dip my toes into it all before we were whisked over the Andes on the plane back to Chile. I was overwhelmed by the sights, smells, sounds, feel, and tastes that city had to offer. I can only describe many parts of the city as artistic, intellectual, fashionable, historic, sophisticated, elegant and straight out of a bygone era. San Telmo, historically an Italian neighbourhood You can’t help…