Atacama Desert Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1000-km (600-mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is one of the driest places in the world (the driest being the McMurdo Dry Valleys ) , as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than the polar deserts. According to estimates, the Atacama Desert occupies , or if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included. Most of the desert is composed of stony terrain, salt lakes ("salares"), sand, and felsic lava
Sport in Chile mainly in the cities of Iquique, Tocopilla, Antofagasta and Arica, as well as some other cities such as Santiago, San Antonio, Melipilla and Concepción. Basketball is a popular sport in Chile. The country earned a bronze medal in the first men's FIBA World Championship held in 1950, and won a second bronze medal when Chile hosted the 1959 FIBA World Championship. Chile hosted the first FIBA World Championship for Women in 1953, finishing the tournament with the silver medal. In the last few years, basketball has regained the popularity it had in Chile in the 1950s and 1960s. The Basketball