Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
On the plus side, I hoped I would have an opportunity to dive with
Dr. Cea, who himself was an avid scuba diver, and see some of the rich
marine life along the coast of Chile. The Mediterranean climate of the
coast is similar to that of California and South Africa. Both have a
cool current that flows from the Poles as well as upwelling of nutrient-
rich water. This upwelling supports abundant plankton, which in turn
feeds huge schools of anchoveta—a small fish that forms the basis
of the world's highest-tonnage fishery, a critical industry in Chile.
And of course this productivity continues up the food chain, for an-
chovetas feed flocks of cormorants, which then produce nitrogen-rich
guano deposits, found on the o¤shore islands of Chile—another im-
portant natural resource that in the past contributed to the country's
economy.
ARRIVING IN SANTIAGO
I was met at the airport in Santiago, the capital of Chile, by a friend
of Dr. Cea. He'd arranged for a hotel in town for my overnight stay
and provided directions on where to catch the bus to Coquimbo the
next morning. Once I'd settled in at the hotel I had a couple of hours
to look around the city. Like other cities in the world, Santiago had
shops, bustling crowds of people, and too much tra‹c. The striking
di¤erence here was that standing on most street corners were soldiers
carrying submachine guns. This was definitely not America.
The bus ride the next day made me appreciate how long and nar-
row Chile really is. The only main highway in Chile runs from one
end of the country to the other, with the ocean on one side and the
mountainous Andes on the other. On this road, buses are the princi-
pal means of transportation; made for serious long-distance travel, they
o¤er air conditioning, comfortable seats, toilets, and snack and drink
dispensers. I was quite impressed.
Four hours later we arrived in Coquimbo, and I realized we had gone
a mere fraction of the 2,500-mile length of the country. The northern
part of Chile is extremely arid, with some areas never having seen rain.
The countryside around Coquimbo, though not quite that dry, re-
minded me of some of the drier regions of the California desert.
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