The bottles of water

If you drive through the north of Argentina, you will see small piles of plastic bottles on the side of the road. They are full of water and nobody takes them away. They are there for a woman who died more than a hundred years ago.

Her name was Deolinda Correa. Her husband was taken away by soldiers, and she went out to look for him with her baby. She walked into the desert with almost nothing. The sun in that region is hard, and the towns are very far apart.

Some men found her days later. She had died of thirst, but the baby was alive, still drinking from her. That detail is the centre of the whole story, and it is the reason people leave water and not flowers.

Today there is a shrine in San Juan with thousands of objects left by visitors: photos, car plates, wedding dresses. Truck drivers stop there before long trips. The church does not recognise her as a saint, but that has never changed anything.