A sea for Santa Cruz

23 June, 2014 / News

A couple of years ago I arrived in Santa Cruz and while I was leaving the airport a big advertising sign of Mar Adentro appartment block attracked my attention. There was a happy couple with a turquoise sea behind them with the convincing phrase “your own sea”. I didn´t understand so well what it was about, but then in the city after watching a few more advertising signs -one with three hopeful kids with a phrase for their parents “buy them a piece of sea”- and talking to some friends, the Outlook started clarifying. It was all about the luxury urban explosion for the medium-high class and high class in Urubo –in Porongo municipality, near the city of Santa Cruz and now virtually an extensión of it- and with an agressive competition runned by real state investors to fill up some class aspirations, like leaving behind the lack of beaches and sea, the country´s irritating mediterranean condition.

Some appartment blocks from Urubo have names associated with the sea: Emerald Port, Turquoise Beach, Off shore…By its names, you might think that it is about associating to the sea in the most abstract and decontextualized way as possible. There are many schools and institutes whith names such as Antofagasta or Mejillones, the identifiaction with the sea has been painful and always connected with loss, with the Pacific War. Its better then to stay away from those bitter memories and look for more friendly places: in Turquoise Beach they offer to house and apartment buyers the chance to be in a “caribbean beach” without needing to leave their city.

Crystal Lagoons Corp. is an international innovation company, founded by scientist Fernando Fischmann, that has developed and patented technology that allows for the low-cost construction and maintenance of unlimited size bodies of water in crystal-clear condition.

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