Chile is a unique country in the world in terms of geography. It boasts not only the longest country in the world on a north-south basis but also the southernmost city in the world, Puerto William. The entire eastern edge of the country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean while the entire western border by high Andes. It is these extremes that create unique geographical and temperate zones. Moreover, this relative geographic isolation has played a key role into the diversity of the people that are known as Chileans. Chile has a population of 15,508,000 with about a third of those people in Santiago.

Santiago is the largest and capital of city of Chile and is located in the general center of the country. The farther north one travels in the country the warmer it will get. The northern third of the country is basically the Atacama Desert, sections of which, such as the Azapa Valley, are said to be amongst the hottest places on earth. Conversely the farther south one travels in the country the colder it will get. Patagonia, shared with Argentina is known to much of the world as the “ends of the earth.” This region is the adventure seekers dream, complete with wide expanses of unspoilt beauty and uninhabitable lands.

Chile is a land of geographical and cultural contrasts that most likely does not exist in any other of the Earth’s nations. The best example of this is one of Santiago’s principal selling points. The capital city is known as one of the only two cities in the world (Beirut, Lebanon would be the other) where you could potentially ski and surf in the same day. Even the poorly constructed and ‘taco careterras’ (Chilean slang for traffic jam) one could surf at the world famous Vina del Mar in the manana and then drive 3 or 4 hours to the cordillera for a bit of night skiing.

Chile is divided into 13 Regions (the relative equivalent of a state or province). These include the Santiago Metropolitan area, Easter Island (or Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui depending on your political or apolitical affinities), the Juan Fernandez Islands (Robinson Crusoe’s island) , and territories in Antarctica. Chile has strived to populate all of their regions (including their icy and isolated isles) in order to maintain control of all of their territories. Still to this day it is uncertain where the actual border lies between Argentina and Chile in the Patagonian region.

Fabiola and I would explore most of the country except for the extreme northern and southern areas. Traveling around I got a good idea of the geographic richness the sliver of a land has to offer. Arica is the northern most city and the capital of Region I. At times this area was part of Peru and Bolivia. However, as a result of winning the War of the Pacific at the end of the 19th century, Chile gained control of much of these lands. However, still to this day, the urban areas of this region are heavily Peruvian and the rural areas are mostly made up of indigenous peoples and the descendants of the Incas. There is also another interesting side to Arica. It is perhaps the only city with a large Asian population. This is mostly due to Japanese migrants from Peru (which has one of the largest Japanese populations in the world outside of their country of origin). Arica enjoys a free trade zone where goods can be bought cheaply as well as being profitable most from its fishing industry and bird manure industry. The irony is that despite Chile’s acquisition of land from the Peruvians 100 years ago, the current Peruvian waters are the most ideal for this sort of industry. This is due to a variety of factors, but the main reason is the uniquely warm waters produced by the Humboldt Current.

The next two cities in descending order are Iquique and Antofogosta. Iquique is a popular tourist destination because of its beautiful and pristine beaches while Antofogosta is a thriving city (the third of fourth largest in the country), which developed from the cultivating of the copper mines in the interior. Along with its counterparts of Arequipa, Peru and Cochabamba, Bolivia, Antofogosta has been nicknamed the “City of Eternal Spring,” due to its ideal climate. Traveling farther south and passing Copiapo and Vallenar you know you have left the desert regions and entered into the semi arid regions of the country when you have reached La Serena. La Serena is also the beginning of the middle chunk of the country where the majority of Chileans reside.

La Serena along with its twin port city of Coquimbo is a popular beach tourist for Chileans. The Santiago Metro region also includes Valparaiso, the original port and capital of the country. This is also the second or third largest city in the country depending on the statistics available. Vina del Mar, located adjacent to Valparaiso is one of the most popular beach destinations in all of South America. San Antonio, to the south is one of the biggest and fast becoming, the most important port in the country. Other lesser significant cities are Los Andes and San Felipe to the north and Rancagua to the south of Santiago.

Tightening the belt of the population center of Chile is the large and increasingly metropolitan Concepcion. Nearby Temuco is another large Chilean city with the heaviest Mapuche population (local indigenous group) that has traditionally lived in this area since before the Spanish arrived. Temuco enjoys influences from mainstream Chilean styles and ideas as well as traditional indigenous ways. Walking in the busy financial district and encountering cars and horse drawn carts competeting for some road space best exemplify this.

Moving farther south one enters into greener pastures and smaller, heavily German populated cities such as Pucon, Valdivia, Osorno, and Puerto Montt. Pucon is one of the tourist/backpacker capitals of South America as it resides directly below the Volcano Villarica, which is ready to erupt any day now. Valdivia is a storybook city for Latin American that could be any city in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Osorno is the home of the majority of German immigrants that arrived in these southern lands during the first half of the last century and before. Puerto Montt is the stronghold for the south as it acts as sort of a capital for the lower half of the country as well as being a gateway to the Isla of Chiloe, Chile’s largest island, complete with rich and ancient myths and folklore.
The discontinuous road weaves through the Austral Highway and into Patagonia. In this icy and tundra south, Punta Arenas is a relatively large Patagonian city with a distinctly European feel. Patagonia is home to Torre de Paine, a world famous wilderness park where thousands of hard core adventure seekers come every year to traverse 10-day circuit and enjoy pristine views. The Patagonian region also claims to have more islands than any other country in the world as they are dispersed from the mainland like ice cubes falling off the iceberg. In total Chile is an environmentally country diverse country, containing just about every form of biodiversity known to man from arid deserts to tropical rainforests to frigid ice caps.
Santiago