Chile Travel

With its entire western coast made up of the Pacific Ocean and its eastern borders made up of the impassable Andes mountains, Chile has a maximum width of only 265 miles. Running north to south, Chile begins at Tierra Del Fuego and stretches about 2,880 miles in length all the way to Peru and Bolivia, making it the longest country in the world. I've been to Chile two times so far, the first trip I visited the southern Patagonia area mainly to see to the national park Torres Del Paine. On my second trip I was able to explore the capital and their famous beach called Vina Del Mar, one of my favorite beaches in the world.

Chile Links	Above is a Panoramic view of Santiago Chile, one of South America's safest and most beautiful capitals. Santiago is located right in the center of the country, and is famous for its tall buildings such as the high rise apartments seen to the right.

	Santiago is also one of the most modern cities in South America along with Sao Paulo Brazil and Buenos Aires Argentina. Currently under construction in Chile is the Costanera Center which will include commercial space and several towers, one of which will reach 980 feet making it the tallest structure in South America. Above are two photos of Santiago's subway system that is used to transport the areas nearly 6.5 million people. The subway here is very cheap and efficient, but surprisingly it was the cleanest one I've ever used.

Chile's capital was founded by the Spanish Conqueror Pedro De Valdivia, who arrived to the area in 1541. Soon after his arrival, fighting began between Valdivia and the Native Americans living in the area. The battle was a victory for Valdivia, who finished it by conquering the small hill known today was St. Lucia, and later used this same location to officially found the city of Santiago. Today St. Lucia is a very popular place to visit in Santiago, and has dozens of memorials, parks, and vantage points throughout the hill. On the left is a photo of a large fountain which is near the main entrance to St. Lucia, on the right is another photo of a viewpoint further up the hill.
These two photos taken above and on the right are also from St. Lucia. The hill of St. Lucia is very rocky and steep that is covered with unique plants and many memorials. On the left is a strange flower I saw growing off of a tree branch, on the right is an unmarked statue of a soldier that must be dedicated to those who helped defend Santiago several hundred years ago.

Above are photos from Plazas de Armas in Santiago. Plazas de Armas are found in many South American cities and are their downtown square, usually surrounded by government and religious buildings. On the left are two policemen on horseback with the main cathedral in the background, on the right are shoppers and tourists going about their day.

The church seen on the left is known as the church of San Francisco, and is considered to be Chile's oldest building. Though severally The church seen on the left is known as the church of San Francisco, and is considered to be Chile's oldest building. Though severally damaged numerous times in earthquakes throughout its history, the church has always been rebuilt from its early days in the 16th century to the major earthquake of 1960. Inside is a museum providing lots of history and artifacts from the church. In 1998, San Francisco church was also labeled a world heritage sit

The purpose of my second trip to Chile was to climb South America's highest mountain of Aconcagua located a few hours away in Argentina. After the climb I returned to Santiago to do some shopping with a friend I made and went to Santiago's nicest district. On the left you can see its almost like entering an amusement park, with signs pointing to the different districts and attractions. On the right is the main area of the shopping district known as Acrauco.

The downtown area I was at had plenty of bars and places for night life, and I did go out with some friends I met later on during this trip, but honestly I felt like most of the hostels here in Chile were crazy enough. The photo on the upper left is a hostel that I spent a lot of time at, each night they would have a different theme with an overwhelming amount of alcohol served, one thing they certainly lacked though was ice cream! I took that photo in the shopping district of Santiago, and for whatever reason a young man working in the store didn't want me taking photos of their ice cream. After climbing Aconcagua, all I wanted was to eat ice cream, visit the beach and relax with drink. Below on the left is me celebrating by drinking a margarita and in serious need of a haircut after 3 weeks on the mountain. On the right is me entering the water in Chile's famous city of Vina Del Mar, I went from nearly 7,000 to 0 meters in altitude in only a few days!


Vina Del Mar definitely reminded me of a beach town in California, but unfortunately my day in the sun was lost because of overcast skies that also kept the weather pretty cool in the low 60s or 20c. Above you can see hotels and other large buildings directly on the beach, where you can also find some small casinos. On the right is a photo of steep hills that are held up with huge concrete walls and have houses on top.

What I liked most about Vina Del Mar was the exotic feel the city had. I felt like I was in a city that was a melting pot of culture from both North and South America along with Europe. I even liked the design on the apartment building on the left and the Vina Del Mar clock on the right. Below is a photo of downtown Vina Del Mar and its main river just before it exits the city. On the lower right is Vina Del Mar's main commercial street called Valparaiso, where all kinds of restaurants and exotic shops are found, and even at least one tattoo parlor.



	Something that took me by surprise was the architecture of Vina Del Mar. Almost every building in the city seems to be unique. There are castles, buildings designed to be like ships and boats, and futuristic looking buildings as well all across the city. On the upper left is a photo of a church that I thought looked like a sand castle. The real castle on on the right had an Africa theme, and was just one of many unique shops and other restaurants in the city.

	And finally from Vina Del Mar, some flora and fauna found living among people in the city. On the left is a type of bird that I found living in the trees along the city's main river. The seaweed of course was found on the beach.

The rest of these photos are all from the southern part of Chile which has permanent snow and ice; you can tell immediately it is quite different from the northern part. I visited this area known as Patagonia in their summertime. On the left is a photo of the Sorreno glacier, one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. You can see how it looks like their was a rush of water coming down that mountain that flash froze.
Something else I did while traveling in Patagonia is take a quick boat trip up and down the Fjords. These next two pictures are of the many waterfalls that can be seen along the way. Patagonia has some of the most amazing scenery in the world. The mountains, waterfalls and turquoise water all combine to give spectacular views.

Another place of some interest to visit in Chile's Patagonia is Milodon cave. The cave has a wide entrance and opens up into an enormous room. When the cave was explored in modern times, some human remains were found here dating back to the ice age times.
This area of Chile is heavily populated with wildlife. Above are some baby birds that I found living in a rotted part of a large tree. On the right, a fox can be seen standing in front of a snow capped mountain. This fox was with a pack of 3 other foxes who were passing by and seemed used to humans.

Above are some guanacos in the national park Torres Del Paine. This was one of my favorite national parks in the world and enjoyed it by simply sitting for hours watching the guanacos. In the first picture, the guanaco on the right appeared to be the leader of the pack. He was definitely the biggest and would chase the other ones around, sometimes biting their hind legs. The right picture shows a lone guanaco walking with a huge snow covered mountain in the background.

The guanacos are the most famous wildlife in the national park, but this area of the world is also a bird watchers paradise. Unfortunately this trip was several years before I started to care about photography so I don't have any close up shots. The large bird on the left appeared to be some type of heron. On the upper right is a colony of hundreds of cormorants, only seen as black dots in the photo.
In my previous photo with the guanacos, the mountains in the background are the most famous peaks of Torres Del Paine. The photo above shows some different mountains with a huge glacier at the top. On the left is a turquoise waterfall.


	On the upper right is a picture of the Torres Del Paine mountains being reflected in a lake. The other two pictures show another popular glacier to visit in Patagonia. The top picture was taken from the distance, and you can notice that on the glacier itself.

Lisa from USA: Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

Jaqueline from USA: Thanks for sharing the exhilarating experience and the beauty of Chile. Gives me heads-up of where to tour when I visit there this coming October. Now I'm really excited and can't wait till then!:-)

Paul from Chile: Next time try a Pisco Sour instead of a Margarita.

George: Will do!

Naima from Canada: The birds' picture is out of this world! I really love it! BRAVO:)

Bashir from Pakistan: Beautiful pictures.

Mehdi from Iran: so beautiful ,hope to see chile as soon as possible.

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