South America is pretty much a blank slate what comes to halo enthusiasm, so it is encouraging when we got contacted from Venezuela by Franklin Fernández, who had written an article presenting the best displays captured in his country. Judging by the random big displays that have popped up from different corners of South America over the years, there is reason to think the continent as one of the better areas for halos, and now the Venezuelan displays Fernández has scoured from the internet add credence to this notion.
What is more noteworthy is that the best displays are concentrated in the western part of the country which is where the Andes mountain chain ends. This gives more weight to what some of us may have already thought, that the curse of the equator is cancelled by the Andes. Unlike in the Philippines where I have been observing, or Singapore of which halo scene I have heard from Jia Hao, all-sky displays must be a regular occurrence along the tropical segment of the Andes chain and presumably sun pillars are not such rarities either. And we don't know what kind of odd radius jewels there might be lurking as these shows don't tend attract so easily the attention of the uninitiated.
Franklin's article is available in Academia.edu and Scribd. He will keep adding displays to it as they come and says the document has already created buzz. Could this be the start of Venezuela and eventually the continent's other Spanish speaking countries waking up to halos? All prospects are that a dedicated observer, in particular along the Andes chain, would be in for reaping it big.
(The display above was captured by TikTok user danny3461 on 6 October 2024 in Macoa near the city of Machiques at the west of the country. In my hastily made stitch the parhelic circle is full despite the large gap on the right. The show was documented by a handful of other people as well. See also the impressive high sun display on X of an unknown date in Caracas)
