OpEd: Sand Shredding at Concón's Duna Mayor

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I cruelly ignored the cries of a two-cylinder rental. As if facing its first week on “The Biggest Loser,” it pleaded to cast away one of the five road-tripping foreigners while wrestling with straight-up back roads of Vina del Mar, Chile. Aviatored passengers hummed to Reggaeton bouncing from the backseat speakers. The car shifted into third and cruised victoriously onto the Edmundo Eluchans Highway about two-hours west of Santiago.

A lively debate over directions screeched to a halt as what looked like the world’s largest anthill came into view. Two sand mountains, speckled with moving dots, gazed upon nearby coastal high-rises and out towards the Pacific Ocean.  As we grew closer, the dots revealed themselves to be parents, toddlers and teenagers dashing down a sandy incline on wax-polished boards.

Thirsty for adventure, the united nations of our road trip swung left into a bumpy parking lot. We paid 500 pesos (one dollar) for sand boards and began the thigh-burning summit to the peak of “duna mayor.”

Clusters of boarders, sporting viral smiles, inhaled the dusty, salty air and admired the horizon like kings of the hill.

Lacking instructions of how to pilot a sand board, but armed with the confidence of youth, I slung my purse on my left shoulder, took a sharp breath, and slid toward the ocean. I carved through the sand, steering with the wobbly legs of a land-lover. My apprehension of the increasing speed overtook the thrill I felt for the unfamiliar joyride. I abruptly cut off my path and swan dove through the air. I landed with tangled limbs spraying soft sand for several meters. I brushed my shoulders off, threw a French friend an I-meant-to-do-that look, and plunged back down the slope. 

These dunes have unselfishly offered fun for the whole family for 15,000 years. They house over 240 different species of plants and animals, more than any other dune in Chile. In 2005, the National Monuments Council lassoed 50 acres of land, including the non-boarding dune, into a nature sanctuary.

But the duna mayor, the larger of the two, was cut from the varsity team thanks to its "insufficient" bio-diversity. Now, duna mayor faces the chopping block.

Reconsa, a Chilean construction company, owns duna mayor.  Developer Inmobiliaria Montemar filed plans to replace it with 11 buildings that would not only flatten this ancient sand-boarding crag, but would fence off the other dune with a concrete end cap.  

Taking away the larger dune could put the protected area at risk. Bebé  Henriquez, responsible for the municipality’s environmental issues,  told El Mercurio that the duna mayor may be acting as a “bioclimatic screen” that influences the winds and moisture of the reserve.

Locals cast a wide net across multiple social networking programs – Twitter, Facebook, and a Blog - forming an umbrella organization called “Duna Libre,” or free dune. The organization calls people “to jointly work together on viable solutions for the preservation of this wild place.”

Leveling the dune could also have an unintended impact on tourism. The New York Time’s named Santiago the place to visit in 2011.  The allure of Santiago reaches beyond the city proper and into the surrounding areas. The trend towards eco-tourism, adventure holidays, and green building fits the region like a glove. Growing the tourism industry means preserving and caring for the diverse and gutsy outdoor offerings that make the area unique. Losing duna mayor would flatten the flavor of Concón, robbing locals of a defining part of their city, and dilute the pool of vibrant attractions drawing people to visit Chile.

We have a plan to spread the word of the provinces to the world. The number of stories published outside of Chile highlighting the rich culture and diversity of the regions are few and far between. By writing in English, we aim to change that. We strive to foster a deeper cultural understanding for English speakers in Chile and offer more content to English-speaking Chileans.

If you know a local story that could have a broader impact, please email me (kmanning@mivoz.cl), tweet me (@Katie_Manning), or just comment below. I’d be excited to write your stories in English.