In Santiago, Chile, six murals offer visually impaired people the chance to experience large-scale works of street art by Chilean artists through touch panels, braille and audio descriptions. Entitled “Manos a la Pared (Hands to the Wall),” the project adds accessibility to some of the murals found in the bustling Barrio Lastarria, one of the city’s most touristy neighborhoods. In Chile, 16.7% of the population is visually impaired or blind, adding up to about 2.8 million people.

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“The initiative was born from the union of three restless women who met in the Diploma of Cultural Management of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,” says Paula Cancino, president of the Association for Inclusive Culture Mu.Cho. “This project was conceived under the premise of breaking with the barriers that impede access to arts and cultures.”

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The new circuit was unveiled on July 10th, 2018 and includes “La Debutante” by famed Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta in the Plaza Mulato Gil de Castro, “The Player of Palín” by Francisco Maturana on Mosqueto Street, “Ganza” by Javier Barria in Santo Domingo, “A Surrealist Named Matta” by Alexander Tadlock in Mosqueto, “Ludwig van Beethoven” by Jorge Campos in Mosqueto and “Lastarria Patrimonial” by Luis Núñez on the Rosas corner of Lastarria.

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The works were chosen according to the symoblic importance of their content and the accessibility of the space. After leading a test subject through a proposed circuit in the planning phases, they realized there were a lot of tables, restaurant awnings, poles, bicycle parking and other obstacles in the way, so they had to adjust the route carefully.

That initial tester, Monica Sepulveda, says the experience of using the touch panels is “not total, to be honest, but when you add other elements such as audio description, that helps even more to understand what’s there in front.”

One of Santiago, Chile’s most congested streets became a colorful pedestrian promenade full of urban art after a 30-day transformation led by artist Dasic Fernández. Now, the city is fighting to keep it. The 400-yard stretch of road adjacent to Santiago’s government palace and main square was never meant to be a permanent pedestrian zone; it was temporarily renovated while closed to traffic for construction on the Santiago Metro. Now locals and the mayor want to keep it that way, but it’s uncertain whether the installation will remain in place.

The pedestrianized promenade opened on December 21st, 2017 and was an instant hit, with locals streaming through to gaze at the art, congregate and patronize nearby businesses. It didn’t cost the city any money, since Fernández was able to raise $550,000 in funding from businesses in exchange for exposure of their logos. The biggest feature is a 35,500-square-foot mural painted right onto the asphalt, which extends nearly four blocks.

“The first is inspired by the pre-Hispanic history of Chile, and begins at the intersection between Compañía and Bandera streets, where the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art is located; the second reflects the current diversity of the country, triggered by immigration and cultural changes; and the third, between Moneda and Agustinas streets, seeks to portray the future through more modern furniture and stronger colors,” says CityLab in a new feature on the project.

But what happens when construction is complete? The Chilean Ministry of Transport will have to decide whether to open it to cars again. Mayor Felipe Alessandri hopes it will remain a pedestrian route, and says he’d preserve it ‘forever’ if it were up to him.

A former haven for Nazi war criminals, child molesters and their sympathizers, Villa Baviera is now a bizarrely whitewashed German-themed tourist attraction tucked into Chile’s Andean foothills. Established in 1961, the cult compound formerly known as Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony) hosted infamous concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele, known as the ‘Angel of Death,’ and served as a special torture center and illegal arms cache. Now you can drink beer and watch people stomp around in lederhosen as if none of those terrible things ever happened.

The insensitive nature of the transition of the 54-square-mile compound’s use is just the beginning, considering that an investigation in the ‘90s found evidence of decades of child abuse, torture and mysterious disappearances. Founder Paul Schäfer, a fugitive wanted in Germany for pedophilia, served as the authoritarian leader of 300 residents. Children were separated from their parents and siblings, all media from the outside world was banned, and sex was forbidden without Schäfer’s approval.

In the ‘70s, dictator Augusto Pinochet made use of the compound to detain political dissidents. Schäfer was finally apprehended in 1997 and died in prison in 2010, and though 20 colony elders were convicted of aiding him in his abuses, the roughly 120 remaining residents were allowed to keep the property and do what they wanted with it, which was to turn it into a money-maker. Rather than making it a memorial to the Holocaust or the crimes that were carried out on the compound, they decided everybody would rather feign collective amnesia.

The result is a 21-room hotel, swimming pool, playgrounds, wedding tents and restaurants along with all the German food and beer you can consume. A guard tower once used to spot escapees still looks out over the property, and the perimeter is still edged with barbed wire fencing, but hey, those hot tubs will help you relax away the memories of the atrocities committed there, right?

Catch more on the history of this twisted tourist attraction at Bloomberg and in the upcoming Hollywood film ‘Colonia’, starring Emma Watson.

In a unique urban intervention, two college students took and attached a series of balloons marked with written phrases to stray canines Santiago, Chile. The messages encourage people to feed, pet and play with these ubiquitous animals, lost and in need of love. While one person carried the colorful balloon bouquet and attached the strings, the other of the pair filmed the fascinating results as pedestrians noticed and stopped.

As the video demonstrates, the dogs with balloon additions got the attention of others on the street quite quickly. Man’s neglected best friend became visible once again, with passers by stopping to hand over leftovers and spend time with these estranged animals.

The project is titled ESTOY AQUÍ (Intervención Urbana), which translates to a simple plea: I AM HERE. Written on the balloons are phrases like ‘feed me’, ‘pet me’, ‘hug me’ and ‘scratch me’.

From young puppies to older pals, thousands of homeless dogs roam the streets of this city. Most of them are friendly and simply in search of scraps – in turn, they are normally humanely avoided but largely ignored as the daily bustle of urban life takes place around them.

Aside from human interest, the dogs themselves sat up and took notice as well, in many cases playing with their own balloons and strings, or interacting with one another’s new colorful accessories.

In southern Chile, a waterfall erupts repeatedly and predictably from the top of a mountain, to the delight of the people sleeping, dining and relaxing inside that mountain. It is the Montaña Magica Lodge in the middle of Huilo Huilo nature reserve, and a stay there is a strange experience unlike any other.

(all images via: Huilo Huilo)

The hotel is built to look like a natural mountain, with boulder-like contours and plants growing up over the exterior walls. Unlike any mountain found in nature, however, this one is dotted with arched windows all along its several tiers.

At scheduled intervals, water gushes forth from the opening in the top of the mountain. It washes down over the sides, gushing over the windows and creating quite the lovely spectacle.

The lodge’s entrance can be accessed on one side by a long suspended bridge, giving visitors a stunning view of the surrounding nature preserve and providing the perfect exterior vantage point from which to watch the display of rushing water.

Inside, the rooms are decked out in natural wooden planks and rustic accents. The subdued beauty of the hotel’s interior reflects the peaceful natural setting in which the hotel sits – surrounded by incomparable sights and amazing experiences.