Chile’s Facts
Capital: Santiago
Official Language: None
National Language: Spanish
Government: Unitary presidential constitutional republic
President: Michelle bachelet
Currency: Peso (CLP)
Time Zone: CLT and EST (UTC-4 and -6)
LandMark: lauca national park
Lauca National Park is located in Chile’s far north, in the Andean range and is one of the top tourist attractions in Chile. The most spectacular feature in Lauca is the beautiful Lago Chungará, one of the world’s highest lakes. Looming over it is the impossibly perfect cone of Volcán Parinacota, a dormant volcano with a twin brother, Volcán Pomerape, just across the border with Bolivia.
Festival:
Fiesta Tapati on Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
On mystical Easter Island, the February Fiesta Tapati sees painted bodies become art. A queen is chosen for the festival from amongst the young people, who compete for the honor in swimming and canoeing competitions using small boats and rafts made of totora reeds. The teams prepare traditional costumes, songs and dances, and share the stories of myths and legends in oral narrations. Body painting, called Takona, is the festival’s chief characteristic, where the islanders paint their bodies with symbols of their mythic origins using natural pigments. Physical skill is also put to the test in the Haka Pei competition, in which the most daring young men hurl themselves at great speed down a mountain, tobogganing over banana tree trunks.
Tourist