Field Trip
This Friday I went on a field trip with Professor Castro's class, Living Chile a Land of Extremes (I am not in the class but was allowed to attend because I have an interest in the material). The purpose of the field trip was to show some of the varied biota and geology of central Chile.
Acacia trees near the town of Rungue. Central Chile has a Mediterranean climate and used to have much more varied tree populations. Humans came in and changed the vegetation, primarily with goats. The goats rip out vegetation, and after the area is cleared, acacia can come back more easily than all other trees.
A field next to the road where they grow palta. Palta being avocado, and being all over the place (It's almost as popular as mayonnaise). Seeing row upon row of avocado trees I begin to understand where all the palta in Santiago comes from.
La Campana National Park, Palmar de Ocoa. The palm trees in the photo are Chilean palms. They are now a protected species and people are not allowed to cut them down anymore (they used to cut them down for palm oil). Palmar de Ocoa contains the largest number of them anywhere, but they can also be found in prominent botanical gardens around the world such as the New York Botanical Garden and Kew Gardens in London.
So what is the largest number of these trees at any one place in the world? 60,000.
View from Cerro de la Virgen (Hill of the Virgin) in the town Los Andes, from which you have a good view of the Coast Range and the Andes. (This is an eastward view of the Andes.)
No Hill of the Virgin would be complete without the Virgin Mary, so here she is. This particular virgin is the Virgen del Valle (Virgin of the Valley). 
Here are flowers left for her by devoted followers.
Apparently John Lennon has devoted followers on the hill as well, though they cannot spell his name.
Here is the road down from the hill. There were many scary hairpin turns on the way, and I was exceedingly thankful that the bus driver turned the bus around before we got back on.
A tunnel in which it rains all the time, which is particularly odd in central Chile because the region is exceptionally dry (I think that was the first time I've seen rain since I got here). Fabia (coordinator of the Stanford Center who sometimes seems to know everything) said that water filters through the rocks, and some of it drips into the tunnel, and that 's why it rains.
Monument to the victory of Bernardo O'Higgins against the Spanish in 1817. O'Higgins is the Chilean equivalent of George Washington, and Chile achieved independence in 1818 (though the date they celebrate for independence is 1810, when they first thought of the idea).
Acacia trees near the town of Rungue. Central Chile has a Mediterranean climate and used to have much more varied tree populations. Humans came in and changed the vegetation, primarily with goats. The goats rip out vegetation, and after the area is cleared, acacia can come back more easily than all other trees.
A field next to the road where they grow palta. Palta being avocado, and being all over the place (It's almost as popular as mayonnaise). Seeing row upon row of avocado trees I begin to understand where all the palta in Santiago comes from.
La Campana National Park, Palmar de Ocoa. The palm trees in the photo are Chilean palms. They are now a protected species and people are not allowed to cut them down anymore (they used to cut them down for palm oil). Palmar de Ocoa contains the largest number of them anywhere, but they can also be found in prominent botanical gardens around the world such as the New York Botanical Garden and Kew Gardens in London.
So what is the largest number of these trees at any one place in the world? 60,000.
View from Cerro de la Virgen (Hill of the Virgin) in the town Los Andes, from which you have a good view of the Coast Range and the Andes. (This is an eastward view of the Andes.)
No Hill of the Virgin would be complete without the Virgin Mary, so here she is. This particular virgin is the Virgen del Valle (Virgin of the Valley). 
Here are flowers left for her by devoted followers.
Apparently John Lennon has devoted followers on the hill as well, though they cannot spell his name.
Here is the road down from the hill. There were many scary hairpin turns on the way, and I was exceedingly thankful that the bus driver turned the bus around before we got back on.
A tunnel in which it rains all the time, which is particularly odd in central Chile because the region is exceptionally dry (I think that was the first time I've seen rain since I got here). Fabia (coordinator of the Stanford Center who sometimes seems to know everything) said that water filters through the rocks, and some of it drips into the tunnel, and that 's why it rains.
Monument to the victory of Bernardo O'Higgins against the Spanish in 1817. O'Higgins is the Chilean equivalent of George Washington, and Chile achieved independence in 1818 (though the date they celebrate for independence is 1810, when they first thought of the idea).
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