By Amalia Damgaard
By Private Chef Amalia Damgaard CHILEAN PANORAMA Although it appears slim and small, Chile is a long and narrow country about the size of Texas, with a vast coast line covering about 3,998 miles. The Pacific Ocean borders to the west; Argentina is a neighbor to the east; Bolivia, to the northeast; and Peru, to the north. Because of its geographical location, Chile has an unusual and fun landscape, with deserts, beaches, fjords, glaciers and icebergs, fertile lands, the Andes mountains, over 600 volcanoes (some active), and sub-artic conditions in the South. Since Chile is below the equator, their seasons are different from ours in the United States. So, when we have winter they have summer, and so on. Even though Chile had years of political and economic turmoil, it has evolved into a market-oriented economy with strong foreign trade. Currently, it has the strongest economy in South America, with a relatively-low crime rate, and a high standard of living. Chile is a land rich in beauty, culture, and literature. It is called “the Switzerland of South America” because of its natural splendor. World renowned poets, Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, won Nobel Prizes. The majority of Chileans are descendants of Europeans, namely Spanish, French, and German, and others in smaller numbers. Allegedly, the original inhabitants of the region prior to Spanish conquest were not natives but merely nomads who lived in the area. Their descendants are today about 3% of the population. A mixture of the so-called natives and European settlers is called “mestizo.” Today’s mestizos are so well blended that they look mostly European.
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