Buenos Dias from Rancagua, Chile! Located in Central Chile, about 85km south of Santiago, Rancagua played an important role during Chilean independence and is now the capital of the 6th region of Chile. See what a little effort gets ya? With a population of over 190,000, Rancagua is also the capital of Chilean rodeo, and hosts the national championship every year during the South American autumn -- March & April (strange to think of having fall in March to us Northern Hemisphere types, I know...).

There's copper in them thar hills! Rancagua is also home to El Teniente ("The Lieutenant"), the world's largest underground mine, with about 1500 km of underground copper galleries. Codelco now runs the mine, which has been in operation since 1904. The main method used to mine the copper is something called "block sinking", in which the force of gravity helps mine extraction. Sounds sort of like a Southern Florida sinkhole, doesn't it?

If you're up for it, and you happen to be in Central Chile, you can come to the mine for a tour. Here you'll get to explore inside the mine and see the caves of Los Cristales (14,000 year-old crystals), the Hall of Crushing (doesn't that sound medieval - "Sinner! Thou hast been sentenced to...The Hall of Crushing!"), the Civic Quarter, plus the above ground stuff, too - the Sewell, Caletones Foundry, Acid Plant, and the truck loading facility. Definitely one of those trips you'll tell your grandchildren about one day. The beans enjoyed the mine tour, and thought it was nice to meet their distant cousins in copper.