It is said that the astronomical seeing on Tololo can be predicted by the number of condors spotted. They ride the thermals from the valleys, sometimes reaching the peaks of Tololo (2200 meters). Thermal turbulence will degrade th seeing. The error in seeing can therefore be approximated by the formula:
 

I've had the pleasure of learning the ropes on three of the telescopes on Tololo; the 0.9 m Schmidt, the 1.5 m, and Blanco the 4 m.
 
 

The Blanco 4 meter telescope on Tololo. (See the LMC & SMC?) (Roger Smith/AURA/NOAO/NSF )

OK, so they've convinced me...Chile has to be the best place in todo el mundo to put an observatory. Turbulence in the Pacific pushes the clouds away, making for fantastic observing conditions (0.3 arcsecond seeing and such).

A jump away from Tololo, on Cerro Pachon, Gemimi South, the 8 meter sister of Gemini North (in Hawaii), is being built (Got a tour...Everything is 5 x lifesize!) as well as SOAR, a 4-meter telescope currently refered to as the "circus" since it is dome-less and has a tent for a roof (to view the progress of SOAR on SOARcam http://www.physics.unc.edu/~evans/soarcam/soarcam.html. At La Silla, ESO (European Southern Observatory) claims a community of telescopes.

Gemimi South

ESO's La Silla (the Saddle).