Iquique, Chile

Grandma and Grandpa are visiting Iquique, Chile with their friends.  We all came here to go paragliding.   The climate is perfect for this sport.  It is the driest place on earth. 


The prevailing wind comes from the East over the High Andies Mountains.  As the wind goes up over the mountain it gets colder.  


Have you ever seen a mountain with snow on it's top?  That is because it is really cold up high.  When the air gets cold it can not hold water and the rain all falls back down to the earth.  All the rain falls on the East side of the Mountains in the Amazon River Basin and none of the rain comes over to Iquique.  

But Iquique is also on the Pacific Ocean so the air is moist and cool.  Temperatures range between 65 degrees at night and 75 during the day.  Perfect !!!


The people and plants get all their water from the East in a pipeline.  There are a lot of minerals just East of here for mining and a big shipping port to bring goods in from other countries for distribution throughout South America.  The people here have a lot to do and seem very happy.


Here is a picture of Grandpa on launch on the big hill above the town.  The Pacific Ocean is 1500 feet below.













Here is a picture of the town of Iquique.  Grandma took the picture as she flew her paraglider over the town to land at the Beach.

Here is a picture of the Beach Landing area.

Here is a picture of the Golf Course.  Looks like they have figured out how to have a golf course without using massive amounts of water for the fairways and putting greens. 

Loads of Love