Landscape as Muse (or open pit mine)

When Brazilian film director Charly Braun conceived the premise for the movie "Por El Camino" he cast the Uruguayan landscape in a starring role.  The rolling hills, forests, pristine beaches and blue lagoons of the beautiful area surrounding Rocha provide a sumptuous setting for a romantic love story and on-the-road adventure which involves Santiago (an Argentinean played by Esteban Feune de Colombi) and Juliette (a Belgian played by Jill Mulleady).  

The film presents semi-documentary sections highlighting the eccentric characters encountered by the couple as they travel around Uruguay.  The people they meet include hippies in a mountain commune, fashion models in Punta del Este, gauchos at the rodeo, and a wealthy godfather who owns a luxury property near Rocha.  These individuals offer advice and commentary that lends depth to the film's exploration of the national psyche.  A definite sense of place evolves in this movie, and the viewer comes away enchanted by the uniqueness of both the location and its inhabitants.

I came home from the movie theatre still picturing the sweeping panoramic shots of horses galloping across green fields, images of the sand dunes at sunset, rocky hills and natural hot springs. 

The newspaper article published the next day shook me abruptly out of the dreamy state induced by "Por el Camino".  The headlines revealed that a Swiss company, Zamin Ferrous, is planning a large scale open pit mine to be located in the center of Uruguay.  Minera Aratiri will be the largest of its kind in South America, covering 120,000 hectares of rural land around Cerro Chato and producing 18 million tons of iron ore per year for 30 years.  A pipeline extending  200 kilometres to the coast will move the ore to a processing plant and deep sea port near the town of Castillos, where it will be loaded onto freighters for shipment to China.  

The Uruguayan government is in favour of the mining development, though local residents are not so enthusiastic about a project which requires the relocation of 2,500 people and will have lasting negative impact on the landscape, watershed and soil.  The land in the Cerro Chato area is currently used for raising livestock and growing high quality rice.   The explosives used to create the open pits will destroy some of the most fertile land in the country, a fact which cannot be compensated by the estimated income of $40 million U.S. per annum in the coffers of the Uruguayan government, or the promise of employment opportunities for local people.  

There is also growing opposition in Rocha's seaside towns where tourism is the main industry.  The proposed processing plant and deep sea port will be located right next to major resorts, attractive beaches and ecologically sensitive sand dunes.   It will require a lot of electricity, and Zamin Ferrous has planned a coal-fired power plant to meet its industrial needs.  No one wants to spend their vacation sitting on a polluted beach next to a factory zone!

I advise anyone who is interested in seeing Uruguay to book a ticket as soon as possible.  The landscape is stunning, but it is not protected.   The untouched, natural Uruguay seen in the movies is teetering on the brink of destruction.  Kudos to director Charly Braun for his artistry and excellent timing.  No doubt "Por el Camino" will soon be billed as a nostalgic classic film that captures the essence of pre-industrial Uruguay.

Here's a news update on the Zamin Ferrous project.

Old Stones and Cellulose

With the height of the tourist season now finished and the fall weather still sunny and pleasant, we decide to take a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, located 177 kilometers northwest of Montevideo   The bus ride takes two and a half hours, following a route that passes through a factory zone in the industrial east end of the city and gradually becomes scenic as green hills dotted with dairy farms replace billowing smokestacks.

Porton de Campo, the gate to the old town, built in 1745

At noon we arrive in Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest city in Uruguay, settled in 1680 by the Portugese governor of Rio de Janeiro, Manuel Lobo. For the early inhabitants, this area represented a strategic bit of coastline on the Rio de la Plata, located near the mouth of the Parana River and directly opposite the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.  Prosperous Colonia, an active port and center of contraband trading, changed hands many times in the course of history, in military disputes between the Portugese and Spanish. The Spanish eventually succeeding in making claim to the area following a siege in 1777.

Today, the Barrio Historico is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Once you cross the wooden drawbridge and go through the massive stone Porton de Campo, the rough cobblestone streets lead to a central plaza surrounded by a living architectural museum that's often compared to old Lisbon.

Cobblestone street next to the ramparts lead to the waterfront

Early Portugese colonial house on Calle de los Suspiros

Patina on a stucco wall

Ruins of the 17th c. convent of San Francisco, and the lighthouse, completed in 1857

View of Rio de la Plata from Colonia

Fishing on the rocky shore

We visit several museums in Colonia - the Portugese Museum, the Tile Museum, the Indigenous Museum - all within walking distance of the Plaza Mayor.  The collections are small with precious groupings of ceramics, weaponry, furniture and maps displayed in buildings that were once private houses.   Wandering around the old town, we find a sharp contrast between Montevideo streets (dirty, noisy, full of traffic and graffiti) and those in Colonia del Sacramento (clean, quiet, well-maintained, pedestrian-friendly.)  

At the top of De Portugal, the Basilica de Sanctisimo  Sacramento, 1808

The church interior - stark white, undecorated

Virgen de Treinte y Tres displayed inside the church

Just opposite the old church, we stop at a restaurant  that has tables set out on the sidewalk.  With roasted chicken and green salad, we enjoy a glass of G Sauvignon Gris, a wine from Casa Filgueira bodega.  

Uruguayan Sauvignon Gris - a crisp patio wine 

Waiter at the Viejo Barrio restaurant

Ceramics in an antique shop

1717 Fine Arts Cafe features black and white photography

The beautiful terrace and courtyard at 1717 provide a relaxing spot for ...

espresso coffee!

Typical streetscape in Colonia, with stone construction

 On the way back to Montevideo, we notice that almost every farm in the area surrounding Colonia is marked with a "For Sale" sign.   A friend who owns a small apple farm offers an explanation as to what is happening in rural communities.   The government approval of a cellulose plant, a project funded by a conglomerate of Chilean, Finnish and Swedish companies operating as Montes del Plata de Uruguay, has caused the sudden glut of farms offered for sale.  At 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, this is the largest foreign investment that the country has ever seen. The plant and industrial port will be located at Punta Pereira near Conchillas, within a free trade zone on the bank of Rio de la Plata, just north of Colonia del Sacramento.  To provide enough trees for continuous production of pulp and paper, Montes del Plata is intent on acquiring property for planting forests - in fact, they already own 250,000 hectares of land in Uruguay!  And they're not alone: UPM-Kymmene from Finland owns 225,000 hectares, and the U.S. company Weyerhauser owns 140,000 hectares.    The large-scale foreign ownership of prime land will mean that smaller food producers are squeezed out of operation, just like our apple orchard friend, who is seriously considering a forestry company's attractive offer to purchase.  Goodbye to his annual harvest of Granny Smith, hello to fast-growing eucalyptus and pine.

Ad running in the national newspaper, "El Pais"

One hopes that the heritage sites in Uruguay will be preserved, with each stone intact for future generations to appreciate.  One hopes that industrial growth will not destroy the sustainable, small-scale farms that feed the population. One hopes that the environment will remain pristine, that water resources will be protected, that soil quality will be maintained, that the air will stay clean.  One hopes that Uruguay, with its rich human history and natural resources, will remain distinctly Uruguayan.