One of the most important aspects of life in Chile is the nature and landscape. The country is so long and skinny that there is a lot of diversity. To the north, there is the Atacama Desert. The altitude is so high that the climate is very dry—it hardly ever rains. In the south, you can find Patagonia, a region of mountains and glaciers. Along the western coast, you can find massive numbers of beaches and port cities. It is often too cold to swim off of this coast, but it has some beautiful sights. The Andes run along the Chilean border between Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. The majority of the land between all of these important places exists under a very temperate climate. There is not a lot of difference in the climate in these areas, and the temperature does not vary much, either. That is why Chile is a great place to grow grapevines for making wine, olives, as well as to cultivate other fruits and vegetables. There are very few herding animals native to South America. Cows and horses are not native to South America—only llamas and vicuñas. The people have had to domesticate these animals to use them for transportation and other important jobs.
