CHILE UPDATES #29
#1 Perk about living in central Chile
#1 Perk about living in central Chile
For a country which accounts for just 0.2% of the world's population and just 0.5% of the world's landmass, Chile sure does rank highly for a lot of global economic, agricultural, and industrial characteristics*.
Apart from being the world's number one copper producer, Chile also exports more dried apples than any other country on the planet and is considered the most economically free nation in Latin America (The Heritage Foundation ranked Chile as #7 for highest economic freedom worldwide in 2015)**.
It's the world's third largest raisin, hazelnut, and frozen raspberry exporter and also ranks third globally for molybdenum production.
As for concentrated grape juice and frozen fruit exportation, Chile comes in as number five. It's ranked as number seven for silver production and tomato paste exportation and is the world's eight largest wine producer.
But apart from these more quantifiable global rankings, I want to talk about one of Chile's more qualitative characteristics today; it's geographic diversity.
While it's impossible to come up with a completely objective classification for which country is the world's most diverse geographically, you can't deny that Chile comes out pretty high on the list.
I got to thinking about this the other day when a few friends and I made the hour long drive from Santiago up to the La Parva ski area, rode the chairlifts up a couple thousand feet (the ski area has been open on weekends recently for mountain bikers and hikers), and started our ascent into the high Andean Cordillera.
Apart from being the world's number one copper producer, Chile also exports more dried apples than any other country on the planet and is considered the most economically free nation in Latin America (The Heritage Foundation ranked Chile as #7 for highest economic freedom worldwide in 2015)**.
It's the world's third largest raisin, hazelnut, and frozen raspberry exporter and also ranks third globally for molybdenum production.
As for concentrated grape juice and frozen fruit exportation, Chile comes in as number five. It's ranked as number seven for silver production and tomato paste exportation and is the world's eight largest wine producer.
But apart from these more quantifiable global rankings, I want to talk about one of Chile's more qualitative characteristics today; it's geographic diversity.
While it's impossible to come up with a completely objective classification for which country is the world's most diverse geographically, you can't deny that Chile comes out pretty high on the list.
I got to thinking about this the other day when a few friends and I made the hour long drive from Santiago up to the La Parva ski area, rode the chairlifts up a couple thousand feet (the ski area has been open on weekends recently for mountain bikers and hikers), and started our ascent into the high Andean Cordillera.
Photo taken less than 25 miles from Santiago
No matter where you are in Chile, you're pretty much never more than 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean or from the towering heights of the Andes Mountains and within a single afternoon it's possible to drive from coastal sand dunes, across miles and miles of wine country, up to the base of a 20,000 foot snowcovered peak.
Growing up in the midwest, I used to daydream about the next time I'd have enough time off of work or school to make a trip out to see a new section of the Rocky Mountains or the California coast.
These days, I make the drive between Chile's Pacific coastline and the foothills of the Andes every week and still find it hard to believe how many microclimates and different geographic zones I pass through during the course of just a few hours.
Easy access to some of the most varied and diverse landscapes on the planet.
To me, this has to be one of the biggest perks about living here in central Chile.
Growing up in the midwest, I used to daydream about the next time I'd have enough time off of work or school to make a trip out to see a new section of the Rocky Mountains or the California coast.
These days, I make the drive between Chile's Pacific coastline and the foothills of the Andes every week and still find it hard to believe how many microclimates and different geographic zones I pass through during the course of just a few hours.
Easy access to some of the most varied and diverse landscapes on the planet.
To me, this has to be one of the biggest perks about living here in central Chile.
