South America is a continent of superlatives: the highest, the driest, the largest, the deepest, the rarest… Well, you get the idea. Superlatives galore can be found from Caracas to Tierra del Fuego...
Chile
Chile is an extremely special country, located in South America. The country has unique characteristics. There is no land on Earth that is nearly 4500 miles long, yet seldom more than 200 miles wide. The north is home to the driest area on earth (precipitation has never been measured at various monitoring stations), while the far south is often turbulent, with low temperatures, rain, snow, and almost always strong winds. On the west side is the Pacific Ocean, while on the east side the Andes Mountains shield Chile from neighboring countries. Remarkably, the driest desert in the world is also located in Chile, the Atacama Desert. The elongated country is about 19 times larger than the Netherlands and has more than 17 million inhabitants.
Santiago de Chile
The capital of Chile is Santiago de Chile, a historic and lived-in colonial city located in the lowlands of Chile. However, the largest city is Puente Alto with more than 600.000 inhabitants. Santiago itself has about 200.000 city dwellers. Other important places are Antofagasta, Arica, La Serena and Osorno. The cities often look colorful, with friendly locals on every street corner.
Chilean diversity
What makes the country especially special is the unprecedented diversity of natural beauty and landscapes. In the north of Chile you will find the arid, hot Atacama Desert and the Andes Mountains with its peak at 6.969 m altitude. More to the south lies the indestructible and beautiful Patagonia. Fireland is located in the southernmost tip of Chile. Glaciers, snow-capped peaks, green bush and the roaring Pacific Ocean with tiny Easter Island many miles off the coast. In short, every day you can see a different Chile!