Touring Chile: An ancient land rich in culture and mystique

Travel

Touring Chile: An ancient land rich in culture and mystique

A tourist's view of Chile.

The Parinacota Volcano's nearly 21,000 ft. height marks the border between Chile and Bolivia. Flamingos feed in the reflection of its permanent snowcap.

Vizcachas are small rodents that live in colonies at high altitudes on the Chilean altiplano. They have thick fur and a long tail, the result of an unholy union between a rabbit and a small dog.

The high desert is an open expanse of hearty grasses sandwiched between a dome of blue sky and a surrounding ring of volcanic peaks.

The rhea is distributed widely across the arid regions of Chile and Argentina. It is a distant relative of the African ostrich.

Iquique's neoclassical Municipal Theater dates from the late 19th and is made of Oregon pine brought in as ballast in ships exporting Chilean nitrate.

Vast herds of domesticated llama graze freely across the altiplano.

The Iglesia San Marcos, a prefabricated iron church made in the Paris workshops of Gustave Eiffel, was shipped around the world and erected in 1875 to replace an older building destroyed by a tsunami.

The vast Salar de Surire is one of many salt lakes on the Andean altiplano. Its waters are replenished by melting snows and volcanic hot springs.

The vicu⿿a is the smallest of the American camelids. Once nearly extinct from over-hunting, tens of thousands now roam freely in the Reserva Nacional Las Vicu-as.

The guanaco, a wild relative of the domesticated llama, grazes freely in the Andean highlands of several South American countries.

Hundreds of geoglyphs, like these far in the distance across a quebrada, are found in the desert of northern Chile. Their age and exact meanings are uncertain, but they are believed to have served as waymarkers for ancient caravans on their way to the seacoast.

The splendid adobe church in Cariquima is typical of the style of the Chilean altiplano, with its square bell tower and blue door.

Detail of the entry door to the church at Cariquima.

A locally-made lock on the church door at Cariquima.

Now an UNESCO World Heritage Site, these rusting remains in the desert near Iquique are reminders of the enormous wealth generated by the Chilean nitrate industry up through the mid-twentieth century.

A church in the village of Isluga, near Colchane, is built of adobe in the local Andean style. The Isluga Volcano towers more than 18,000 ft. skyward in the background.

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The Parinacota Volcano's nearly 21,000 ft. height marks the border between Chile and Bolivia. Flamingos feed in the reflection of its permanent snowcap.

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