Introducing Chile
Travel Alert: A strong earthquake hit the central Maule region of Chile at the end of February causing considerable damage to cities, towns and infrastructure in areas including Concepción, Valparaíso, Talca and the Juan Fernández islands. The quake also pushed large waves into the Chilean coast, disrupting and damaging coastal towns. An aftershock measuring 6.9 occurred south of Valparaíso on 11 March. Travellers to Chile should exercise caution and monitor news reports. Check Safe Travel for current government warnings, or the BBC for news on the situation.
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Spindly Chile stretches 4300km – over half the continent – from the driest desert in the world (near San Pedro de Atacama) to massive glacial fields. Filling up the in-between are volcanoes, geysers, beaches, lakes, rivers, steppe and countless islands. Slenderness gives Chile the intimacy of a backyard (albeit one fenced between the Andes and the Pacific). What’s on offer? Everything. With easy infrastructure, spectacular sights and hospitable hosts, the hardest part is choosing an itinerary. Consider the sweeping desert solitude, craggy summits and the lush forests of the fjords. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the isolated Isla Robinson Crusoe offer extracontinental exploits.
But don’t forget that Chile is as much about character as it is setting. Its far-flung location fires the imagination and has been known to make poets out of barmen, dreamers out of presidents and friends out of strangers. A few wrong turns and detours and you too will be part of this tightly woven family who barbecues on Sunday. Don’t forget to bring an extra bottle of red to the long, lazy dinners that await.
Travel Alert: The town of Chaitén, in the Los Lagos region of southern Chile, is under threat from the ongoing volcanic activity of the nearby Chaitén volcano. Any travellers visiting the Los Lagos region should exercise caution and monitor news reports. Check Safe Travel for current government warnings, or the BBC for news on the situation.
Make it happen
- Search and compare cheap flights to Chile
- Take a culinary adventure through the wine regions of Chile and Argentina
Last updated: Jul 16, 2010
Tips & articles
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Chilean literature
4 July 2010
Reading the local literature before you go is a good way to get a greater understanding of a destination....
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Best adventure travel ideas
22 June 2010
If you’re after an outdoor adventure, look no further. In this excerpt from Lonely Planet’s...
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Chile after the earthquake
15 April 2010
Our guest blogger, Eileen Smith, provides us with this update from Chile. The word for dustpan and shovel...
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
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Santiago to Buenos Aires via Mendoza
by ajf6 6 replies, last post 01 August 2010
Hello, I'm going to be going to Santiago and Buenos Aires in early September and need to find out how to get from one place to another.…
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Horse-riding through Patagonia - and beyond?
by ozsma 4 replies, last post 31 July 2010
Hi there, I have the idea I would like to ride on horseback across the countryside, a must-visit place is Cuava de los Manos about 100…
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Fundraiser Gig for Querubines Orphanages
by voluntarioglobalba 0 replies, last post 29 July 2010
Music is My Sanctuary-Fundraiser Gig for Querubines Orphanages ROUND 2! August 1, 2010 at 5:00 pm at the Bar Gitano located at Chile…
Chile
Our Top Picks For Chile
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1 Valparaíso
Hills bright with teetering colored houses, serious seafood and kicking port nightlife
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2 Easter Island
Enigmatic moai draw in adventurers to explore this eerie speck of land on horseback or foot
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3 Santiago
Chile's hedonistic heart has the hottest restaurants, the busiest bars and the longest nights
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4 San Pedro de Atacama
An adobe oasis surrounded by geysers, sand dunes, salt flats and lost Andean villages
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5 Pucón
Suit up for high-octane outdoor adventures, smoldering volcanoes and Mapuche etnoturismo
Fast Facts about Chile
- Pisco produced annually
50 million liters
- Head of state
President Sebastian Piñera
- Famous for
Tierra del Fuego, Pablo Neruda, Isabel Allende, pisco, wine, General Pinochet, Patagonia
- Did you know...
that Chile is the world's fifth largest exporter of wine?
- She said it
You can tell the deepest truths with the lies of fiction - Isabel Allende
- Highest point
Ojos del Salado (6893m)
- Population
16,601,700 (4.6% of which is indigenous)
- Number of moai on Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
887
- The oldest known Chinchorro mummy...
dates back to c 5050 BC (some 2000 years before Egypt started mummifying its dead)
- Number of vicuña remaining in Chile
25,000
Our favourite Chile Blogs (beta)
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Minister Felipe of Mideplan Chile visits Socias of Fondo Esperanza and reveals results of the national socio-economic survey
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 29 July 2010
By Lorena Gil, Kiva Fellow/KF12, Fondo Esperanza - Chile On my first official day at Fondo Esperanza I was quickly whisked to a press release event already underway at a local communal centre in Santiago, Chile, where socias (borrowers) of Fondo Esperanza conduct local weekly meetings. The Ministry of Planning and Cooperation (Mideplan) of Chile chose this location to reveal the results of the national socio-economic survey (Casen 2009)
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Snowboarding in the world’s driest desert. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Blog: Chronicles of a year-long break-up - 27 July 2010
Arriving in San Pedro de Atacama feels like reaching the very end of the earth only to realise that everyone else has arrived before you. On the bus journey from Argentina we had seen tantalising glimpses of the other worldly landscape we were expecting from the region – huge stretches of chalky white ground; looming [...]
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Chilean swear words and their kindergarten equivalents
Blog: Bearshapedsphere - 27 July 2010
Chileans are a bunch of potty-mouths. There, I said it. I have never heard so many, so colorful, so floridly descriptive garabatos (swear words) any place else in my life. Of course, I've also lived here for a long time, and seem to have an ear for such things. I also think that your grandmother (but certainly not mine) was right, and that they lose their impact when you use them all the time. And if you were wondering, for the most part I don't participate.
