Averaging only 320 miles of width yet shaped like an elongated Serrano chili pepper, the country of Chile boasts 6,800 miles between the arid northern desert to the glacier laden southern tip. All Andes on one side and all ocean on the other. During 3 weeks in March we traveled the entire length of Chile via cruise ship, rental car, and bus. Ken caught you up on the bottom 2/3s which we experienced from the comfort of the cruise ship. I'll pick up where we were dropped off in the colorful port city of Valparaiso, about an hour north of Santiago.

The pounds we packed on during our gluttonous two weeks at sea began to melt away the minute we hit shore and scoured Valpo's hills looking for adequate accommodations. Our digs onboard made this a tough act to follow. We settled for a dark antique filled guesthouse on Cerro (Hill) Concepcion in the high-priced tourist section. Valpo is most famous for it's ascensores (tram -like elevators) that deliver folks from the flat commercial center of town up to the densely inhabited and steep hills above. We rode several both ways but mostly hiked up and down the hills in our 3 days there, shedding fat with each agonizing step. Weary of the same kind of Cruise Ship ports we'd been visiting for over a month, though, we rented a car to explore the beach scene an hour or so north.

Horcon was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Tiny, friendly and light years away from being urbanized it was just the place to kick back and watch rural Chilean life. We found a rustic cabana overlooking the sea and settled in for a week of gorging ourselves with the freshest, cheapest and most delicious seafood we've had in years. Ken even discovered the gastronomic delight of eating a sea barnacle. You know, those insidious invaders we're always scraping off the bottom of Polaris? These...only 20 times larger. The thing inside looked like an alien creature but Ken assured me that, when cooked, it tasted like delicately sweetened crabmeat.

The rocky Pacific harbor is steep in Horcon with only a narrow swath of sand for the numerous fishing boats (panga style) that brought in the daily catch. They had the most curious way of hauling in the boats that we've ever seen. Two fellows on horses rode out into the water where the boat skipper connected himself to the lines tossed by the riders. A swift kick in their sides and the horses headed to shore with boat in tow. Once on shore the operation got a little more complicated where logs were placed under the bow assisting the horses in the task of hauling the boat completely out of the water and onto the beach. A different usage for horses.

We toughed out a very chilly week fighting off the damp temps so reminiscent of the Oregon coast bundled up in every piece of long clothing we owned. But we ate like royalty and drank some of the best wines of our trip while warming ourselves next to the space heater. Autumn in South America was fast approaching and it was time to head north.

A comfortable 27 hour bus ride took us the rest of the length of the country, though we'll never again experience that Argentine bus luxury. We watched the sun set over the Pacific falling asleep shortly after and awoke totally confused. Overnight it seemed we had been transported to the moon! A more bleak and lifeless terrain we have never seen. This parched region was actually the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth. As awful and boring as that might sound there was actually a haunting beauty there that escapes description. We rode on in silent awe of the surrounding emptiness as the hours marched dryly by. Our awe turned to amazement as the landscape morphed again and our bus descended into canyons thousands of feet deep only to grind laboriously up the other gray and desolate side. This with the ocean mere kilometers away.

We arrived happy and well rested to Arica, Chile's northernmost city, where we settled in for several nights to give the north the same due we'd given the south. Arica boasts summer temps year round and sunny skies 365 days a year. It houses two of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel's creations prior to the Eiffel Tower, one a church and one the old customs house. The church, prefabricated in Paris of stamped and molded cast iron and coated with paint, is by far the most unusual Catholic church we have ever stepped foot in.

Twelve miles east of Arica we found the Museo Arquelogico San Miguel de Azapa where the world's oldest artificially preserved mummies reside. Created by small groups of hunter/fishermen that inhabited northern Chile and southern Peru from 7000 BC, the Chinchorro mummies predate their Egyptian counterparts by over 2000 years! The museum they reside in was a fabulous treat that held our interest for hours culminating in an entire room dedicated to an enormous olive press, of all things. Understandable, however, considering the countryside surrounding Arica is lined with olive orchards.

You may be wondering what's good to eat in Chile besides locally grown olives and suculent seafood? Our favorite was pastel de choclo, kind of a meat pie with a sweetened corn flour dough topping. Other favorites were pastel de jaiva (crab pastry) and cazuela, beef or chicken stew. And the wine...did we mention the great Chilean wine? Although we also drank a great deal of rum, contraband leftover from the cruise, mixed with hot chocolate to fend off the damp cold.

Besides its rich geographical dimensions and delightfully varied menus we need to give recognition to the warm and friendly people that call this diverse country home. We had a heads up when we met our new friend Doris in Buenos Aires. As a native of Santiago she was so enthusiastic giving us suggestions of what we should see and eat in her homeland. Wherever we landed in Chile we found the residents to be just as eager as Doris, more than happy to engage in conversation or to lend a helping hand. After a couple days in Horcon we felt like part of the community. Fish mongers called Ken by name and our landlords graciously shared with us their homemade empanadas.

From the 'end of the world', in all it's glacial beauty, to the bone chilling rain and colorful fish markets of Puerto Montt, to hilly and quirky Valparaiso, to our step back in time to charming Horcon, to happily basking in the 'driest place on earth'; in Chile we experienced the most gaping extremes of any of our travels to date. It is a country worthy of more than the time we gave it. But Peru was calling us, as it had been for years. We were helpless but to move on and answer it's siren song.