Bowling Green, Ky. - Twelve students and three faculty members from Western Kentucky University's Department of Geography and Geology returned Wednesday from a one-month field camp experience in Chile and Argentina.

Students who participated in the department's annual international field-camp experience were Bowling Green senior Laura Blackburn, a marketing major; Bowling Green sophomore Mary Blackburn, a history major and Laura's sister; Union sophomore Elizabeth Boggs, a theatre major; Bowling Green junior Wendy Warren, a recreation major; Louisville senior Ashley Littell, a geography major; Lewisburg junior Mindy Keeling, a broadcasting major; Lewisburg senior Travis Keeling, a geography major and Mindy's brother; Louisville junior Rebecca James, a Spanish major; Louisville senior Adam Hitt, a broadcasting major; Elizabethtown senior Christopher Hawkins, a geography major; Munfordville senior Benjamin Estes, a geography major; and Nashville graduate geoscience student James Chaney.

Leading the field camp were Department of Geography and Geology Head Dr. David J. Keeling, along with faculty members Debra Kreitzer and Will Blackburn.

During the one-month program, students completed a 3,600-mile transect of the rugged and beautiful Andean mountain range. Traveling north from Chile's capital city of Santiago, the group visited agricultural communities such as Ovalle and Vallenar, and fishing communities like Bahía Inglesa and Taltal, before reaching the Atacama desert, one of the driest locations on the planet.

From the Atacama, the students experienced a high-mountain crossing of the Andean altiplano, with the road reaching a dizzying and oxygen-deprived 15,000 feet as it traversed the western and eastern branches of the southern Andean range.

In Argentina, the group visited the historic colonial city of Salta, experienced horseriding and moonlight rafting in the Andean foothills, studied viticulture in San Juan and Mendoza, and skied on the slopes of Aconcagua, the Western Hemisphere's highest mountain. The return trip across the Libertadores Pass to Chile provided students with an excellent example of how a lack of infrastructure can severely inhibit economic and social relationships between neighboring countries.

Throughout the trip, the students engaged with new economic, social and physical landscapes, learning about people and places in different contexts. In the town of Taltal, Chile, the students met the mayor and his administrative team and engaged in a discussion about the importance of globalization and international understanding.

In the port city of Antofagasta, Chile, several students visited a primary school and held impromptu language and cultural exchanges with several classes. In Argentina, students learned how the world's fifth wealthiest country at the beginning of the 20th century became economically bankrupt by the beginning of the 21st century.

"The department's international field camp program, now in its fifth year, provides students an outstanding opportunity to engage with different places and cultures," Dr. Keeling said. "Each student learns something different about themselves and their place in the world as a result of participating in wonderful programs such as the Chile and Argentina field camp."

The department previously has successfully run field-camp programs in Australia, Hawaii, Bahamas, Great Britain and Ireland, and has programs planned for Tanzania, the Bahamas and China for 2006.

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For information, contact Debra Kreitzer at (270) 745-5984.