Let’s spreadthe voice of sustainability around the World!
The following are the latest steps towards recovery:
- The entire operations and touristic services in the Chilean Patagonia, Torres del Paine NP, the Lake District, Atacama Desert, San Pedro de Atacama, Altiplano, Santiago, Valparaiso, Easter Island and the Araucanía are fully normal and safe.
- Total recovery of the tourism infrastructure located in the wine valleys of the 6th and 7th regions including Cachapoal, Colchagua and Maule valleys might take up to 3 months depending on each valley particular damages. Nevertheless there are unaffected sites and many wine tours are currently working without problems.
- Santiago City is working in total normality. The Chilean National Aeronautical Authority announced that Santiago’s International Airport is working at 100% of its aeronautical capacity and the total recovery of passenger transit infrastructure is schedule for the next two months.
- The Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF) -The Chilean agency in charge of national protected areas- announced that most national parks and natural reservoirs in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th regions have been reopened and there are just a few cases still closed partially or totally, mainly those near the earthquake epicenter.
- Recovering works are well organized and fully implemented in the specific zones strongly affected by the earthquake in the 6th, 7th and 8th regions.
We encourage all world travelers, agencies and tour operators planning trips to Chile during this year to continue their plans as set originally since our nation is ready to welcome you all.
Sometimes Nature is a tough teacher but Chile is a good student.
Rodrigo Mata
Product & Destination Manager at Cascada Expediciones, Chile.
In 2007 began the research, led by German paleontologists from the University of Heidelberg and the Natural History Museum of Karlsruhe, as well as a paleobiologist of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the INACH, also with the cooperation of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).
The scientists conducted three major findings in the Tyndall Glacier area: an ichthyosaur with two embryos inside, traces of bone marrow (soft tissue, something quite rare in the world) and a Jurassic ichthyosaur (199 to 145 million years) much older than the others found in the area. These developments positioned the site as a new paleontological point of reference in the world, it is now the most important place for Cretaceous ichthyosaurs due to the number of individuals found, from babies to adults over 5 meters, as for having at four different species at least, and the finding of preserved bone marrow.
Ichthyosaurs were reptiles that lived over 150 million years in the planet seas, while dinosaurs ruled the land. The first appeared during the Triassic (250 million years ago) and reached their greatest diversity in the Jurassic, they began the extinction during the Cretaceous (90 million years ago). They resembled today's dolphins at first glance and its size could reach 15meters in some cases. Although they breathed atmospheric air, unlike today's reptiles that have to leave the water to lay their eggs, anatomy and adaptation to the marine environment allowed them to incubate the eggs internally and give birth in the water.
Torres del Paine, Ichthyosaur, fossils, Tyndall Glacier, Jurassic, Cretaceous
