Compared with the great deserts of the world, the Atacama Desert is one of the smallest. It has no more than 250,000 km2, covering the three northern regions of Chile. In 1961, the famous American climatologist Glenn Trewartha wrote that "In the Chilean desert reigns an intensity of aridity that is not known in any other desert on earth". The Tamarugal Pampa and the uninhabited area are definitely the driest ones. There, the water balance is negative, meaning that more water goes out by evaporation and vapor-transpiration then the water that comes in by rain. The amount of rain in the Atacama Desert is only a tenth of what rains in the Sahara Desert. The explanation for the low rainfall is, among other factors, the presence of Pacific Anticyclone. This reduces the formation of rain clouds and allows only a mantle of stratocumulus of low thickness, which is almost permanent. This is why clouds usually follow the sunrise on the coast, which later changes to partially cloudy or sunny afternoon.
Despite the large population concentrated along the coast between the regions of Atacama and Biobío, the Coastal ridge that limits it is largely uninhabited. Its special geographical features and the poor accessibility favor the isolation, so this costal ridge has large areas with little human intervention, keeping a similar landscape to the one that was known centuries ago. However, in recent decades, from the region of Valparaíso to the south, the mountains have been extensively used in agriculture and forestry.
Sometime in the past the country was divided into five regions: Norte Grande (Far North), Norte Chico (Near North), Zona Central (Central Zone), Sur Chico (Near South) and Sur Grande (Far South), each with similar geographic features, whether regarding to its climate, biogeography or shape of relief. The Andean parks, each of them with its unique beauty and physiographic, are located in the Sur Chico (Near South). Due to the high ecological and scenic value of the Sur Chico region, the state declared 8 national parks and a similar number of national reserves, in an area of less than 310,6 miles from north to south, in order to protect and preserve it for future generations. Here you would find the parks Laguna del Laja, Huerquehue, Villarrica, Tolhuaca Conguillío Puyehue, Vicente Pérez Rosales and Alerce Andino. They grow in a volcanic land of mountains and Valdivian jungle sculptured and carved by glaciers, rivers and volcanoes.
We call Chile "Country of mountains", referring to two mountain ridges that go from north to south, "land of the blue mirrors", for its lakes and lagoons of different shades of the Austral zone, and why not "country of thousand islands", if we take in consideration the fact that nearly two thirds of its South American territory are islands of various sizes. There are more than four thousand islands in the Patagonia; some of them are situated near the coast, between Arica and Puerto Montt. Some of the latter are protected by SNASPE (The National System of Protected Wild Areas), including the islands of Chañaral, Cachagua and Mocha. Easter Island and Juan Fernandez archipelago is considered "oceanic islands" because they are in the Pacific Ocean, far from the American coast.
The region located south of Puerto Montt has special connotations and is known throughout the world. The word Patagonia is associated with beautiful landscapes, skies and clouds, solitude and immensity. It is also related to tourism and ecotourism activities, cruises and sports such as mountaineering fly fishing, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, rafting and in general the concept is outdoor living. Patagonia is an area shared by Argentina and Chile, on the southern part of South America. In these latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, this is the only mainland, together with the distant Antarctica of the South Pole. In comparison to other continents: Africa’s southern tip is parallel only to the Metropolitan Region of Chile, while Victoria in Australia, is parallel to Temuco. Thus, Patagonia reigns in maritime domain of the planet, giving it its unique character.
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