Wild Landscapes of Atacama with Latin America Delights

At Chile’s northernmost end, the dizzying railway from high Bolivia comes down to the sea. Arica, the City of Eternal Spring, has a population of 169,000. and is located in the Atacama Desert. See San Marcos Cathedral, designed by Gustave Eiffel, and marvel at Pre-Incan relics in the City Museum. Or leave the city to venutre to the White City of Arequipa, the Incan capital of Cuzco and Machu Picchu and the ancient Inca city in the clouds.

Santiago, city (1992 pop. 4,233,060), central Chile, capital of Chile and of Santiago prov., on the Mapocho R. Chile’s largest city, housing a third of the country’s population, it is the commercial and political heart of the republic and a manufacturing center with iron and steel foundries. The city is modern in appearance, but its ground plan is colonial. Since its founding in 1541, Santiago has survived floods, earthquakes, and an attack by the Mapuche people. In the early 1970s it was the scene of mass political demonstrations.