Mano del Desierto

The Mano del Desierto was made by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrazabal and installed in 1992 on empty pampa beside route 5: a hand of concrete over an iron frame, about eleven metres of it above ground, fingers up, with nothing else in any direction. Irarrazabal made comparable hands in Punta del Este in Uruguay and in Venice and Madrid; the theme across them is human vulnerability, and the desert setting states it more plainly than the others. Because it sits beside a main highway with no supervision it is repeatedly tagged, and local volunteers have organised cleaning campaigns to restore it.

What you actually see

• Eleven metres of concrete hand - installed in 1992.
• Nothing else in any direction - flat pampa on all sides.
• One of a family of hands - the sculptor also made them elsewhere.
• Graffiti and volunteer cleaning - the site's recurring cycle.

When to go

Year round; sunrise and sunset give the best light. An hour.

Honest expectations

It is a ten minute stop beside a fast highway - people are killed crossing route 5 carelessly. There are no facilities of any kind. It is frequently tagged, so its condition varies. The track from the road is soft in places.

Nearby

Antofagasta is north; the road continues south towards Taltal.