Chile: deserts and glaciers

as it entered the twentieth century Santiago began to expand eastwards into the new barrio alto and north into Bellavista; in no time the city started gobbling up outlying towns and villages at great speed and Gran Santiago today stretches 40 km by 40 km. The rapid economic growth of the last decade has seen high-rise buildings sprouting up in the central area, particularly in Providencia and Las Condes, but the city’s core still sticks to the same street pattern marked out by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541, and its first public space, the Plaza de Armas, is still at the heart of its street life.

Located at the northernmost tip of Chile, at an altitude of 2430 meters, San Pedro de Atacama is the gateway to the Atacama Desert. San Pedro de Atacama is surrounded by majestic sites with unique landscapes in the world: the Moon and Death Valleys, geysers, salt flats, turquoise-colored lagoons, and some of the highest volcanoes on the continent.

Puerto Natales is located 254 km north of Punta Arenas, a picturesque town on the shores of the Ultima Esperanza fjord, in a region of great beauty. In addition to being the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park and the spectacular Balmaceda Glacier, Puerto Natales also allows for connections to Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina, just across the border, with the town of Calafate as its Argentine counterpart and the Perito Moreno Glacier as its main attraction. Puerto Natales is also the terminal for ferries that navigate the channels between the islands of Patagonia all the way to Puerto Montt.