Nearly 480 km north of Santiago, Illapel is a poor town that depends on mining in the surrounding mountains for its survival. The lives of the pirquineros in the nearby hills provide a sobering illustration of the lifestyle that miners in the north of Chile have endured since colonial times. The workers drag rocks from the mine-face in rusting wheelbarrows, living in tumbledown shacks without power, fresh water or public transport, and many of them die tragically young from lung cancer or chagas disease. If you do venture up into these remote areas, bring gifts and humility in abundance.
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