For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved aerial photos. Any chance I get, I hike mountainsides, climb towers and ride elevators to the…
I’m pretty sure every little boy dreams of flying, as if he were a bird or superhuman: free, exploring the world’s wonders from its infinite sky. I’m also pretty sure that every man is just a little boy trapped in an adult body. So, for the boyfriend’s 30th birthday, I got him the gift of wings. Maitencillo, Chile, a quaint coastal town about 100 miles northwest of Santiago, is home to both a tawny sandy shoreline and some of the country’s best wind. In other words, there’s no better place to fly.
Without fail, Chile’s local buses lack any semblance of an announcement or signal as to where the vehicle is stopping. So I finally asked the bus driver if we were in Coquimbo and he rushed us off at the next stop, saying we were about to pass the downtown’s center. The bus drove away to expose a poor, run-down residential neighborhood where we were standing on a random corner.
I have always loved overlooking big cities from a bird’s eye view — the angle giving unique perspective to just how large the landscape is. I’ve hiked to the top of well-known hills, skipped up the stairs to my various apartments’ rooftops and traveled to corners of the city for several special shots of Santiago’s skyline. Enjoy the view!
