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Lota Chile Travel Guide by All Southern Chile
Lota is located 43 Km south of the city of Concepción, the capital of the VIII region of Chile. Lota was founded in 1662, and was originally named “ Santa María de Guadalupe”. The name today is based on the word the Mapuche used for it “Louta”, meaning a small unimportant town. The town ultimately did become very important for over 145 years for the coal it produced. The mines were finally closed in 1997.
Golfo de Arauco
Lota
Now there is a campaign by the local community to transform Lota into a historical tourism site. The mines are now a major tourist attraction. The “Chiflón del Diablo” (Wind of the Devil) is one of the only coal mines in the World that is naturally ventilated and reaches 1,200 meters under the ocean floor.

Not only have the mines been converted into a tourist attraction, but the miners along with them. The former miners are now tour guides that tell the first hand stories and history of the mine and what it was like to work there, including all the dangers associated with mining coal.

Also see:
Patagonia Real Estate
Chile Real Estate


 

 

Chiflón del Diablo Coal Mine
Map Lican-ray


Eduardo Cortés Cárdenas, Coal Sculptures from Lota
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Lota

He has dedicated his life to mining, long after the mines have closed.

Don Eduardo is today an artist, but worked for years as a Coal miner in the mines of Lota before it closed in 1997. We often think of Southern art in terms of its traditional source, either in local culture or some European tradition.  Don Eduardo's art is uniquely refreshing in that he invented this art and this medium as a means to survive after the closing of the Mines in Lota.  He represents a unique period in Chilean history by the style, subject, and the medium he uses that depicts the glory years of the region.

Eduardo Cortes Coal Sculptures
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