Emerging from the ground like a giant sinking in quicksand, his hand is like a desperate plea for help.
The scene of arid land and sparse trees at Atacama Desert, North Chile can make it easy for visitors to associate with Mars when they first visit it. It is recognized by the Guinness record as the driest desert in the world, with an area of over 100,000 km2. The majority of the desert is covered by red and orange colors of rocky hills, and sandy stretches
Therefore, when you drive through this vast desert, you will sometimes be disoriented because all around are sand. Many people came in the middle of the desert and saw a stone building, startled by the hand of the sand. They thought it was an illusion like when thirsty people see an immense lake. In fact, this structure is completely real. It is called La Mano del Desierto, 11 m high, built in the early 1980s and completed in 1992.
The father of the project is the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal and a local funding organization. To date, people still cannot know the exact meaning of this work, according to CNN.
Some people say that the hand is a reminder of how weak and helpless people are before nature. But there are people who believe that it represents the aspiration of a small man before nature, still resisting all natural disasters. For many people, the upper hand is regarded as a monument, to commemorate the victims of torture and murder during the dictatorship in Chile. Mario wanted to portray injustice, loneliness, compassion and pain when the victims were tortured.
Many people once thought this work depicted a lonely hand in the desert. But in fact, Mario created a pair of hands. The other hand was built 10 years before La Mano del Desierto, located at the beach of Brava, Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Today, La Mano del Desierto is one of the tourist attractions in the Atacama desert. Harry Hastings, founder of travel agency Plan South America, said the place had always been in the schedule to visit in the Atacama desert.
However, the more people know about the Hand on the sand, the more this work is damaged due to the lack of awareness from visitors. Some people come here to touch the statue, engrave their names, draw graffiti on the building. Although the government has urged visitors to consciously protect the work, the local people still have to clean the statue twice a year.
Atacama is also home to the night sky in the world, according to the Guardian, ideal for watching the galaxy. Millions of tourists rushed here to participate in this exciting experience. Fine sand hills also attract sand lovers.
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