Warning: We are not going to get into any touristic information or set out in detail any of the following places.About this information please check our section "The World of the Travelling". In this present section we are going to give personal information such as our own experience from our trips, anecdotes, recommendations,etc; the sort of useful information you search for before beginning your trip on, but impossible to find in any touristic guides.
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CHILE-PATAGONIA-EARTH OF FIRE
The best time to visit this country is December, January or February.
You need your passport, with a validity for six months.
The language spoken in Chile is Spanish, though in many native ethnic groups the "quetchua, aymara and pasquence" are also spoken.
Chile´s currency is the Peso. Credit cards usage is wide spread.
As for climate concerns, let´s say that due to the fact that this country has so much orographical variety, it also has a varied climate. For instance,, climate is very warm in the north (Atacama desert); the centre is mild with hot summers and cold winters; and in the extreme South (Patagonia-Earth of Fire) climate is subpolar. Rainfalls are from June to September, though in Earth of Fire rains all year .Pascua Isle has a tropical climate.
SANTIAGO- This city is surrounded by the Andes; its winters are very cold, and in summer there is a high percentage of pollution in the centre of the city due to the natural wall of the Andes; there are, however, some close areas to the city which are less polluted.
The most interesting places to visit are: The Mint, that is also the residential palace; Bellavista neighbourhood; St. Cristobal Hill.
To buy souvenirs we recommend the "Poblado de los Dominicos "(Dominique village) next to the also so-called church. It is a comples of shops, handcraft workshops, jewelry shops, wood, and so on. This complex is closed to traffic, with trees, benches and shelter, which is good for you to walk under no heat.
We also advise you to see a folkloric performance at night, as this country has a vary varied folklore, from "the Cholka dance" to the exotic Polynesian dances from Pascua Island.
We advise you to visit the following places from Santiago:
Viña del Mar, and"the garden city". The latter is a pretty touristic sea-piece city with beautiful beaches, modern buildings and well taken care gardens. It has a casino; Besides, there is a famous flowered clock at the entrance of the city; and the fifth Vergara, internationally known by the song festival that is celebrated there every year;
Valparaiso: This city has an important port, which had a very prosperous epoch before the building of the Panama Channel; in fact, this was the port where all the boats moored at when they crossed the Magellanes´ Strait towards the Atlantic or Pacific. This city has a particular orography: the city is built on several hills and there are urban cable cars that drive you to different neighbourhoods ( a remembrance of Lisboa city). There are neighbourhoods which keep their aristocratic European style. We recommend you a visit to Pablo Neruda´s house-museum.
If you wish to visit a colonial property, with a horse breeding place, big vineyards, and so on, we recommend you the property "Los Lingues", which is near Santiago. Moreover, if you want to visit some cellars, where the famous Chilean wine is made, we point out the Undurraga cellars in Maipo Valley as one of the best among the many ones in Curicó Valley.
Atacama: It is situated in the north, getting in through Calama. Here we find the biggest salt mine in the world, and the driest desert so-called Atacama, which is 1,000 Km long.
In St.Peter of Atacama you should visit the wothwhile archaeological museum and Quitar fortress; at night we recommend a walk along Moon Valley.
Punta Arenas : We are now at the Chilean Patagonia, in the Megallanes Strait. It is better to go here form December to February as it is a very cold place. This is the starting point to Natales port, where the National Park of the Paine towers is. You get into Naples port crossing a very accidental road. Some parts of this road are not paved, only with stones and pebbles . It is amazing to see that all cars have a metallic protection in the windscreen . However, all of them are broken eevn with such protection. This trip lastes 4 hours.
Natales harbour- The trip to the National Park of the "Paine towers"
Lastes 2 and a half hours . We recommend you to pay a visit to Milodon Cave ( an interesting well kept prehistoric cave),through astonishing blue lakes. As it is a protected national Park you can see free herds of guanacos (a kind of llama) , foxes, condors and eagles.
Before getting to the Paine massif you go past the Paine´s river fall, a very beautiful waterfall ( in this area there are winds which can go 100 km/hour). This massif has a very peculiar shape.
Although this field trip can be organized in one day, staying in Natales harbour , we recommend you to stay two days in paine towers, at a hostal placed in the middle of it, as it is a natural wonder.
We advise you to get up before dawn to admire the sunset behind the Paine Towers as these keep completely red by an aurora borealis. Such image becomes an spectrum being reflected on the lake´s waters. For nature lovers this image will be one of the best ever.
If you spend the night at Pehoe Island you will be able to have first contact with the Patagonian Glaciers with the Grey Glacier. The accessible part which is visited is placed in front of an enclose small lake. This lake is full of ice floes or small icebergs of an intense and pure blue colour. The intense colour of these glaciers is due to their age. They date from the ice age. By the years the ice has been losing its oxygen and has become pure frozen hydrogen.
Patagonia Connection- This is a quite unknown tour tour in Patagonia as it is based on an extraordinary but concrete program.
This tour allows you to saty in Puyuhuapi baths and visit San Rafael small lake as well as its glacier. Because this glacier is placed on a fiord its access to it is quite dificult. However, in our opinion, it´s one of the greatest and most beautiful fiords.
Distances in Chile, as well as in all America, are large. Thus, it is convenient to visit some parts by plane. Lan Chile, Chile´s airways company issues cheap bonus for domestic flights.
To have access to Patagonia conection you can go through Montt port or Santiago. You have to take a 3 hours trip to Balmaceda, following Austral road until Chacabuco Port, going by Aysen region and there, you will find the express Patagonia catamaran´s quay. This is a quite fast boat designed by this sort of crossing. Such boat has comfortable setas, large windows to see the landscape, and a dinning-room on the top floor.
The trip to cross the fiors Aysen, the Puyuhuapi and Ventisquero Channel until the Puyuhuapy baths takes three hours.
Puyuhuapi Baths : Its hotal is nicely placed on a bay called Dorita. Its rooms are a sort of bungalows, and there are also dinning place. In these baths there is a big spa, with Thalassotherapy, saunas and yakuzzis of sweet and salty waters, and covered swimming-pools of a great comfort.
Its best appeal is the outer thermal baths which are placed in the middle of a beautiful tropical vegetation.
There are many thermal swimming-pools and even these have natural water, this water changes gradually its temperature in every pool (some to the extent of reaching 46º C). In the 46ºC pool there is a step that gets you through the sea. Thus, you can have a bath at the austral see at 0º C which is a revitalizing contrast.
Again in Catamaran and through Puyuhuapi channel, passing by "The Three Crosses Golf" and " The Elephant´s Estuary" you get to" San Rafael´s Glacier". It is one of the few virgin amazing places on Earth.
The glacier descends from the Andes mountain range at 3000 metres.It´s 20.000 of age. San Rafael´s amall lake is full of ice floes or small blue icebergs. The catamaran docks at the bay or fiord. You get to the glacier in small zodiac launches. You collect some ancient ice and it is traditional to drink a whisky with such ice when you get to the catamaran.
As for the so-called "the Land of Fire in Chile" we have to say that there is a beautiful militar village in Williams harbour. It is placed on Beagle´s Channel, south parallel 54. We eill see it in more detail in Argentina´s file.
Pascua Isle: it is in the middle of the Pacific ocean, far from any inhabited piece of land, at 3.760 km from the Chilean coast.Its interesting history, its approaching legends, its more than 600 huge stone statues (known as "Moais") is part of a culture which has developed standing out from the rest of the world. As interesting places to visit we would point out Vahiua; Alkahanga; the ancient Rano Raraku volcan, where most of the Moais were built; Anakena beach (coconut beach). From the hill of Orongo you have a magnificient sight of little islands such as Moto Nui, Iti i Kaokao. In Vinapu there are two temples, the main one called Thairi. This has the same shaping as the Machu Picchu in Peru.
Do not miss either the Polinesian dances.
