Latin America\’s first pope returned to Spanish-speaking South America for the first time, bringing a message of solidarity with the poor and with an ailing planet. It was the first visit by a pontiff to Ecuador in three decades, and thousands of excited people massed to greet him. The next stop on the pope’s South American tour is Bolivia.

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Railway museum with numerous steam locomotives from the Colonial period.

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Atacama desert, a 15 million years old desert, located in south America stretches over 1000 kilometers. Located between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, rises the most arid desert in the world. The Atacama desert is so dry that mountains of height 6,885 m have no glaciers, making them unique in the world. Studies have shown that the Atacama desert received no appreciable rainfall between 1570 and 1971, and some ancient riverbeds appear to have been dry for 12,000 years. The place is pretty cold despite being the driest desert and the temperature ranges between 0°C to 25°C.

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Cotopaxi is one of South America’s most famous volcanoes and one of its most active ones. It has produced more than 50 eruptions since the 16th century. It last erupted in 1877, and it destroyed Latacunga, but now a days the volcano is not showing any activity. Stratovolcano is located on the Eastern Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes, 60 km south of Quito. It is the biggest attraction at the Cotopaxi Volcano National Park. It reaches a height of over 6,000 meters. Over 4,500 m there is snow.

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credit: Dave Lonsdale

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credit: flurdy

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