Our journey brings us to Chile, a long, narrow ribbon of land stretched between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. There are around 20 million people living here, and the capital is Santiago, a bustling metropolis surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The official language is Spanish, spoken with a very fast and unique local rhythm.

Chile covers about 756,102 square kilometers, or 291,933 square miles. To imagine its size, the country is roughly the same size as the state of Texas in the U.S., or about the same size as Turkey. While it is very skinny—only about 110 miles, that’s 177 kilometers wide on average—it is incredibly long, stretching over 2,600 miles or 4 184 kilometers from north to south.

The most popular sport is Football, but the national sport is actually Chilean Rodeo, where riders in traditional capes called mantos show off their skills. Their national animal is the Huemul, a rare and shy Andean deer that lives high in the mountains.

The flag features two horizontal bands of white and red with a blue square in the top left corner containing a single white star, where the blue represents the sky, the white stands for the snow of the Andes, and the red symbolizes the blood spilled for independence.

The food is a treat for the senses. You must try Empanadas de Pino, which are savory pastries filled with minced meat, onions, raisins, a whole black olive, and a hard-boiled egg. Being a coastal nation, they also have incredible seafood, like Chupe de Centolla, a rich and creamy king crab stew.

Chile is home to the Atacama Desert, the driest non-polar place on Earth; some parts of this desert have never recorded a single drop of rain in all of human history! Because the air there is so clear and dry, it is also the world’s capital for Astronomy, housing the most powerful telescopes on the planet to peer into deep space. In the south, you’ll find Torres del Paine, a national park filled with bright blue icebergs and jagged granite towers. Chile also looks after Easter Island (Rapa Nui), located far out in the Pacific, which is famous for the Moai—hundreds of giant, mysterious stone statues carved by ancient people.

From the shimmering salt flats of the north to the glacial fjords of the south, Chile is a land of dramatic contrasts. ¡Gracias! That means “Thank you!”