World Cup 2010
Santiago after Chile lost this afternoon (but still made it to the next round of the World Cup). .jpg)
Tourism
Salto del Laja in southern Chile.Chile is the longest country in the world, north to south, and it has mountains in the east (the Andes), miles of beach in the west (the Pacific), desert in the north (the Atacama), and the southernmost major city in the world in the south (Punta Arenas). With so much geographic diversity, tourism is a major part of Chile´s economy, and the main source of income for many of its people.
Turismo Don Ambrosio near Salto del Laja.Olivier Döbeli and Marcela Venegas are the owners of Turismo Don Ambrosio, a small resort outside Los Angeles down the street from Salto del Laja. The Swiss man and Chilean woman work in the restaurant on their property, which operates next to a church built on land they donated to a local congregation.
El Rio Laja in southern Chile.Francisco Espindola Catalan works in southern Chile during the summer months as a kayaker with a whitewater rafting business. The rafting season here usually lasts until late April or even as late as mid-May, but closed this year in the middle of March due to a lack of business after the earthquake in February.
Religion
The entrance to a home in Quilleco.
The chapel and sanctuary of the Virgen de Fatima in southeastern Chile.
Santiago and northern Chile are largely Catholic, while southern cities tend to have more Evangelical churches. Walls covered in memoirs and prayers are found nearby statues of the Virgin Mary in many places across the country.
Although many citizens don´t actively practice Christianity, every Chilean town has a central square that includes a church alongside municipal or civic centers.
El Campo
Open fields near the banks of the Rio Laja. 
Early afternoon near Villa Mercedes.
Sunset in Trupan.Away from the coast, southern Chile is home to a large forestry business, small towns, and miles of untouched wilderness. While the area is not very densely populated and didn´t face the effects of the tsunami in February, people in the southeastern part of the country witnessed a powerful force.
Phillipe Antonio lives with his girlfriend Paz Colonge in Villa Mercedes, between Los Angeles and Antuco. Their home was left behind by Phillipe´s grandparents, and the two moved in after it stood abandoned for three years. During the earthquake, the two stood under a doorway in the middle of the house while the floorboards seperated and shifted, and a window across the room was raised in the air as if it were up a flight of stairs from where they stood.
Phillipe Antonio and Paz Colonge in their home in Villa Mercedes. In her nearby home, Antonio´s surviving grandmother yelled to one of her sons to grab her shoes when the earthquake started, and ended up running out of the house in her finest heels. Philipe says another uncle was smoking a cigarette at the kitchen table when the disaster occured, and watched his smoke rise slowly through the air as usual while tables shook, cabinets rattled, and outside the ground rolled like waves of grass.
Mulchén
Mulchén is a small town about 25 kilometers south of Los Angeles that has remained outside the reach of desarollodores; the man photographed here had never seen a handheld camera before. Even now, in early June, entire city blocks are nothing but rubble.
Americanization
Shopping at JUMBO in Santiago.In Chile there is a strong idealization of the North American lifestyle and American products. The same way people in the United States are drawn to French and German names, Chileans identify English with quality, even though the brands sold here are not the same ones found in the US.
Urban Art
Grafitti in Las Condes. 
Chalk advertising in Pasten.
Grafitti in Mulchén.
Downtown Santiago.While negative messages still exist on city walls, Chileans have grown tired of violence and hate, and positive grafitti is everywhere, from Santiago to Mulchén.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is in southern Chile, near Chillán and Concepción, close to the earthquake´s epicenter. While much of the city appears to be in good condition, locals know that only the fronts of buildings have been repaired, and many places that seem unharmed at first glance are still uninhabitable months after the disaster.
While government housing projects have been underway in Los Angeles for some time, newly homeless earthquake victims are now recieving priority over the poor. These mass produced buildings make up the scenery for miles on the road east to Santa Barbara.
Health
A Chinese medicine clinic near downtown Santiago.
A pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles.
Much like people in the United States, Chileans today are more concerned with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In the last five years smoking has been banned on public transit and in metropolitan restaurants, and pharmaceuticals and alternative medicine are both on the rise.
Purpose
My name is Alex Orellana, and I am a Chilean-American photography and photojournalism student at the University of Georgia. This blog will document my travels through Chile from May 20 to July 30, 2010. My goal is to cover the aftermath of the level-8.8 earthquake that occurred at 3:34 AM off the coast of the Maule region in southern Chile on February 27, 2010, and to raise awareness of the destruction caused by the event.
All of the photos on this site were shot in JPEG format and are completely unedited unless noted.
All of the photos on this site were shot in JPEG format and are completely unedited unless noted.
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