Chile is a long, thin country that goes from deserts and mountains to lakes and even icebergs. When my husband and I spent a year there, we made sure to cover the major zones south to north. We lived in Santiago and made weekend trips to see what Chile had to offer. There are 36 national parks sprinkled throughout the country. We saw spectacular landscapes, ancient geology, Mesozoic era trees and peculiar animals.

Southern Chile National Parks we visited:

Laguna San Rafael National Park. In the heat of her Chilean summer Christmas visit, we took my sister south to see a frozen landscape. No one looks better in a life jacket. The boat trip was long but worth it. See how small the raft looks by the glacier.

When my parents visited three months later, we also went south of Santiago, to Torres del Paine National Park. The mountains look sculpted by giants.

Chile is a bit bigger than Texas; between the sizes of Turkey and Morocco. Big for a state, not very big for a country. It is larger than Germany and the UK combined (not including protectorates). We saw more variety in one small South American country than we’d ever seen.

One day as we walked across a Santiago courtyard, a young Chilean called out, “Bienvenidos al país más hermoso del mundo.” Welcome to the most beautiful country in the world. We smiled, thanked him and said in Spanish that we agreed it was very hermoso. Every land has its own attractions, and Chile has a treasure trove of them; the Andes Mountains, the ocean, the lake district, dry deserts, blue ice masses, flamingos, penguins and Arucaria trees. More family adventure stories later this month!

Gracias for reading Fake Flamenco! Olé! –Rebecca