Ideal Uses

Lonely Beaches
Being in the Southern Hemisphere, it feels very surreal to be entering winter while all of my friends and family are enjoying the first tastes of spring. The change of seasons is especially apparent along the coast, dotted with small towns that are completely dependent on summer tourism to boost the economy and store up for winter.

This past weekend I hopped a 7 hour night bus and woke up in La Serena, the coastal capital of the Coquimbo region of Chile. Though the city was still fully-functioning, a short walk to Avenida del Mar, a long line of restaurants and shops stretching along the beach towards forever, brought a completely different experience.

The cold-water upwelling of the Humboldt Current supercools the marine air, creating a thick white fog that creates a sense of seclusion in such a vast space, leaving you to walk alone among the abandoned objects and structures: The signs of the productive summer past.

A huge Coke can towers over the flat beach.

A concrete trashcan.

A lifeguard tower on its last legs.

I don't have the slightest idea what this is.