American Cordillera
The Cordillera continues on through the mountain ranges of Central America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and becomes the Andes Mountains of South America. The Andes with their parallel chains and the island chains off the coast of Chile continue through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile to the very tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego. The Cordillera continues along the Scotia Arc before reaching the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Norte Chico, Chile
Norte Chico is a highly mountainous district where distinct ranges or elongated spurs cross the country from the Andes to the coast, forming transverse valleys of great beauty and fertility. The most famous of these is the Elqui Valley. The deep transverse valleys provide broad areas for cattle raising and, most important, fruit growing, an activity that has developed greatly since the mid-1970s. Nearly all Chilean pisco is produced in the near north (Chilean laws defines the pisco as a drink produced in the Near North). The cultivation of the soil becomes possible, at first through irrigation and then with the aid of light periodical rains.