Chile trivia: 50 questions and answers

Santiago. Santiago is the capital and by far the largest city. Valparaíso is home to the National Congress, but it is not the capital.

Ecuador. Ecuador does not border Chile. Chile's neighbours are Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

True. True. Ojos del Salado rises to about 6,893 m and is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile.

More than 4,300 km. Chile stretches more than 4,300 km from north to south, but on average it is only about 175 km wide.

Pedro de Valdivia. The Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago on 12 February 1541. The Mapuche captured and killed him in 1553.

18 September. Chile's national day is 18 September. On that day in 1810 a governing junta was formed in Santiago, the first step towards independence.

True. True. After the war of 1879 to 1884 against Bolivia and Peru, Chile gained a large desert region and Bolivia lost its access to the sea.

False. False. The Chinchorro people began mummifying their dead thousands of years before the Egyptians. Their sites near Arica are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

False. False. After the Battle of Curalaba in 1598, Araucanía stayed independent in practice for almost three centuries, until Chile occupied it between 1861 and 1883.

About 56 percent. About 56 percent voted No, against about 44 percent for Yes. Free elections followed in 1989 and democracy returned in 1990.

1888. Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888, through an agreement signed by the naval officer Policarpo Toro and the Rapa Nui leader Atamu Tekena.

A filling of minced beef and onion. Pino is a filling of minced beef and onion. It goes into empanadas de pino and under the corn topping of pastel de choclo.

Mashed avocado. A completo italiano has tomato, mashed avocado and mayonnaise, red, green and white like the Italian flag.

The Chiloé Archipelago. Curanto comes from the Chiloé Archipelago. Its name comes from the Mapuche word kurantu, meaning 'stony'.

False. False. The Chilean pisco sour is made with pisco, lime juice from Pica and sugar, with no egg white and no bitters. The Peruvian version uses egg white.

A cold drink of dried peaches and husked wheat. A cold drink of dried peaches and husked wheat: mote con huesillo is dried peaches cooked with sugar and cinnamon, served cold with husked wheat. It is sold from street carts in summer.

Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda wrote Oda al caldillo de congrio. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.

True. True. Once, literally 'eleven', is a light meal of bread with tea or coffee eaten later in the day.

About 10 percent. A tip of about 10 percent is customary, and some restaurants add it to the bill. Leaving nothing is seen as rude unless the service was very bad.

Arica. Arica is Chile's northernmost city, about 18 km south of the Peruvian border.

Valparaíso. The National Congress has met in Valparaíso since 1990, even though Santiago is the capital.

True. True. Hanga Roa is the main town and harbour of Easter Island, on the island's west coast.

Castro. Castro, the capital of Chiloé Island, is famous for its palafitos.

Nearly 1,000. Easter Island has nearly 1,000 moai, carved by the Rapa Nui people between about 1250 and 1500.

False. False. Torres del Paine is a national park, created in 1959, but it is not on the World Heritage List. Chile's World Heritage Sites include Rapa Nui National Park, Valparaíso and the Churches of Chiloé.

The royal mint. La Moneda opened in 1805 as the royal mint, which gave it its name. It is now the seat of the president.

San Pedro de Atacama. The Valley of the Moon is about 13 km west of San Pedro de Atacama, in the Atacama Desert.

True. True. El Tatio, at 4,320 m, is the largest geyser field in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest in the world.

Wood. The Churches of Chiloé are built entirely of native timber, with wooden shingles to resist the rainy climate.

True. True. The Atacama in northern Chile is the driest non-polar desert, and some of its weather stations have never recorded rain.

Valdivia, Chile, 1960. Valdivia, Chile, 1960: the earthquake of 22 May 1960, of about magnitude 9.5, is the strongest ever recorded.

Gabriela Mistral. The Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Pablo Neruda won it in 1971.

The Juan Fernández Islands. Selkirk lived on one of the Juan Fernández Islands from 1704. It is now called Robinson Crusoe Island.

Copper. As of 2019, Chile was the world's largest producer of copper, mining more than a quarter of the world's supply.

False. False. Chile is on average only about 175 km wide, and just 64 km at its narrowest, although it is more than 4,300 km long.

An avocado. An avocado: palta is the Chilean word for it. Chileans put mashed avocado on bread, sandwiches and hot dogs.

Right away. Al tiro means right away. You will often hear it from waiters.

A traffic jam. In Chile, taco means a traffic jam.

True. True. In Chile guagua means a baby or small child.

False. False. Fome means boring. The Chilean word for great or awesome is bacán.

La cuenta, por favor. La cuenta, por favor means 'The bill, please'.

Con permiso. Chileans say 'Con permiso', with your permission, when they leave the table or need to get past someone.

Health. ¡Salud! literally means 'health'. It is also said after someone sneezes.

True. True. It is polite to say 'Sí, por favor' or 'No, gracias'.

Nice to meet you. Mucho gusto means 'Nice to meet you'. You say it when you are introduced to someone.

131. Call 131 for an ambulance. 132 is the fire brigade and 133 is the police.

False. False. Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, so summer is from December to March and winter from June to August.

True. True. 11 September is one of the dates when nationwide protests often take place, so visitors should keep clear of demonstrations on that day.

About 2,400 m. San Pedro de Atacama is at about 2,400 m, and trips from there go higher, so altitude sickness is a risk.

From the official booths inside the terminal. Unlicensed drivers at Santiago airport have overcharged travellers, so take a taxi only from the official booths inside the terminal.