Geography

Chile is a large country in southern South America. It borders the Pacific Ocean and the south of Peru, with the Andes mountains running alongside its eastern border separating it from Argentina. Chile is widely known for its complex geography, which contains many diverse areas and climates. For instance, the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world) has a relatively low temperature, and it experiences consistent dryness and coolness with little to no rainfall and average temperatures of 66 °F in the city of Iquique and 65 °F in Antofagasta. However, the temperatures in the Atacama tend to rise during the summertime, reaching above 85 F.In contrast, the southern region of Chile tends to experience significant rainfall, cool temperatures all year round, and strong westerly winds. Because of these conditions, this region is home to the chinchilla and the degu, moreover, it is also an excellent place to ski during the winter! Additionally, Chile has a large range of multiple different elevations throughout each region. In the southern part of the country, specifically the Patagonia region and Magallanes there are many small islands with elevations around 1,500 meters. Off Chile’s western coast is Easter Island –Isla de Pascua) where the elevation rises from sea level to only 507 meters, whereas the highest peaks of the Andes are approximately 6,959 meters above sea level. Due to its elevations, Chile additionally tends to have a wide range of rainfall levels. For example, the city of Concepción experiences about 50 inches of yearly rainfall, though Patagonia usually has around 20 inches. Furthermore, Chile is experiencing significant changes that are affecting its climate and overall area. The country is experiencing tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and many other natural disasters, and the situation is only getting worse. For these reasons, Chile is an extremely complicated country in terms of geography and landscape. Traveling here is extremely beneficial since the environment can vary to people's liking.