If you look more closely at the map of the South American continent, you will see a country that is located like a long strip facing the Pacific Ocean. The country spread over an area of 756,096 square kilometers is called Chile. Chile, which is considered to be the country closest to Antarctica, has many beautiful places. Therefore, tourists from all over the world come to Chile every year to see its beauty. In that way, there are places that foreign tourists who come to the country like to visit more. This article presents you with some of those places.
1) The tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama
The city of San Pedro de Atacama is located at a distance of about 1630 km from Santiago, the capital of Chile. Known as the gateway to the famous Atacama desert, there are several attractive places around the city. Therefore, tourists coming to Chile must come to the tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama. Tourists have got the opportunity to go there and spend their time in peace because there are various types of hotels and lodges built around the city. In this way, people going to San Pedro de Atacama tourist town will have the opportunity to visit the following places.
Valley of the Moon
The Valley of the Moon is located at a distance of about 17 kilometers from the city of San Pedro de Atacama. The name Moon Valley is attached to it because when you walk there, you feel like you are walking on the moon. The Andes mountain range is clearly visible in the Sanda valley, which is a large area consisting of salt mountains. It is quite difficult to visit the area in the afternoon due to its very dry climate, but it is a very beautiful experience to visit it in the evening. That’s because you get the opportunity to witness the fascinating sight of the moon rising up as the sun sets. A tourist who spends the night in the Moon Valley gets the opportunity to clearly observe the night sky. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to watch the sunrise in the morning. That is why people who come to the tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama do not forget to spend a night in the Valley of the Moon.
Sejar lagoon
Located about 20 kilometers from the city of San Pedro de Atacama, this lagoon has been created due to desert subsidence. Due to the increase in the salt concentration of the water contained in the lake by more than 30%, it is possible to bathe while floating there. Therefore, tourists who come there compare the Dead Sea and Sejar lagoon and call it the ‘floating lake’. Tourists coming to the tourist town of Pedro de Atacama are among the must-sees while bathing in Sejar lagoon, where the collection can be seen while enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Many say that it is a strange kind of experience.
El Tatio Hot Springs
Located about 89 kilometers from the city of San Pedro de Atacama, El Tatio Hot Springs is another wonderful place for visitors to Chile to visit. El Tatio Hot Springs is located at an altitude of 4200 meters in the famous Andes mountain range. Due to the strange climatic conditions that exist here, this has been identified as an extremely extreme ecological region on Earth.
With over 80 hot springs, the El Tatio hot spring complex has become the largest hot spring area in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also considered as the third largest hot spring complex in the world. You can see how the water shoots up 7-8 meters from these wonderful hot springs which are very hot. El Tatio thermal pools are built around the hot springs, so many tourists come here despite the cold climate of the Andes.
Valley of Death
The salt dunes formed millions of years ago are located near the city of Pedro de Atacama. A certain area located between the salt mountains is called the Valley of Death or the Valley of Mars. Such a name is attached to that area because no species of plants or animals can live there. Some tourists say that they feel as if they are in another planet while visiting the area, which consists of mountains mixed with different types of rocks and salts. Therefore, the name Mars Valley is attached to it.
Moi statues on Easter Island
Easter Island, which claims an area of 64 square miles, is located about 2300 miles west of the west coast of Chile and about 2500 miles east of Tahiti. Geologists predict that this triangular island with a length of 22.5 km and a width of 11 km was created as a result of many underground mahal eruptions that took place in the distant past. Claiming a mountainous topography, the highest point of this island is the Yamahala called Rano Kaau. It is a decommissioned yamahal with a height of about 1969 feet.
On Easter Sunday 1722, the Dutch explorer Jacob Rogeveen accidentally landed on this island. That day Rogevin and others stayed on the island and rested for a while
After a few hours went for a walk on the island. They got to see something that surprised the tourists. That’s a lot of wonderful statues carved out of stone. The group of explorers had visited many islands and countries before but had never seen such statues before. The following facts were written in a report written by Rogevin after the discovery of Easter Island.
“We were very surprised to see those giant stone statues. The problem of how the people who lived on that island straightened these gigantic statues of heavy weight that stretched as high as 30 feet without following a special technique remains in my mind even today.
Rogeveen and the group realized that the island they landed on by accident was a place where there was an old civilization. They named it “Easter Island” because they landed on the island on an Easter Sunday.
Currently, there are about 600 Moai statues left on Easter Island. The height of the smallest statue is about 3 feet while the height of the biggest statue is about 66 feet. The largest statue weighs about 80 tons. A distinctive feature is that some of these idols have a red stone cap on their head.
Although archaeologists examined the idols of Easter Island, they could not understand the technique used to harvest the idols. It is still an unsolved mystery as to how the red stone caps found only on some Moi statues were put on them.
Archaeologists are expressing an opinion about how the moi statues of Easter Island stood upright. They say that there are evidences that a large number of palm trees were grown in this island in the distant past. Generally, a well-grown palm tree is about 60 feet tall and 7 feet in girth. Archaeologists speculate that these idols may have been straightened with ropes made from the trunks of such palm trees and palm fibers. Archaeologists have further said that the palm trees of Easter Island have become completely extinct today due to the harvesting of so many Moi idols.
Another feature of these statues is that all these statues are made with large heads. Also, the fact that almost all of them are designed with their backs to the ocean and looking at the land is also a unique fact.
In addition, caves of archaeological value were also found on Easter Island. Among the artefacts found in those caves, the wooden boards with characters known as Rongo Rongo attracted everyone’s attention. Archaeologists believe that the script is similar to ancient Egyptian and Indian scripts.
But even today we have not been able to find out what they say. As such, what the Moi statues say, as well as what is said on the tablets known as Rongo Rongo, is an unsolved mystery.
There is an opinion that the people who lived in this island in the past built statues to remember their dead ancestors. It is speculated that the monuments of important people on the island may have been built at a higher height. Also, there is an opinion that red hats may have been worn to the monuments of a group of dignitaries. Among the Moai statues on Easter Island, about 15 statues have been placed on a special stone slab called Ahu. It is speculated that they were made in memory of the leaders of the Rapa Nui tribe.
Torres del Paine National Park
A group of beautiful stone towers found in the Patagonia region of Chile is called Torres del Paine. The southern part of the famous Andes mountain range also belongs to the Patagonia region. Cerro Paine is the tallest crag in the Grande Torres del Paine crag. Its height is recorded as 2,884 meters. Other stone towers located there have heights of 2650 meters, 2500 meters, 2460 meters, 2,100 meters. Because of the beauty of the rocky area created in that way, a national park was created around the year 1959.
There are some wonderful places in this national park. Katuka Kalu, which is one of them, got its name because of the high PH value of its water. Another place visitors to the park like to visit is Gray Glacier Lake. When you go near the lake formed by a glacier, you can see the beautiful mountain peaks in the distance. Apart from that, not only the Gray Glacier located near Gray Lake, but also Lake Sarmiento, Midogan Cave and Salto Grande Falls are also tourist attractions.
