Indigenous woman of San Pedro

“I was in the town of San Pedro de Atacama, looking for typical Chilean people to photograph, when, right in the central square, I encountered this wonderful woman. After overcoming her resistance to being photographed, I learned that she lives on the outskirts of San Pedro, in a family of very humble means, and that her name is Virginia Rodriguez Mamani. Her dark complexion reflects the harsh climate of our desert, the driest in the world, and her mischievous and innocent expression the purity of her soul, untainted by the modern world.”


Carlos Ignacio García Busta (born 1945), Santiago