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About 1000 kilometres north of Santiago
you will find a small town with only 13.000 inhabitants named
Chañaral. Today the the old houses are an evidence of more
wealthy industrial days in the past, when the town exported cupper and
minerals to Europe. Chañaral
names itself as "The gate to the
desert of the Atacama" and is a good place to start 'hunting' Copiapoas. Actually it is possible
to ride a bicycle or even walk from Chañaral
to the closest plants even though it's more comfortable to hail a
local taxi or drive with Sr. José Luis who brings tourists
around in the area. If he's not busy you may find José Luis in
the morning when he will be around near the hotels to gather costumers
or you may find him at the café just behind Pullmans bus-station.
When the cold Humboldt-current from the Antarctic passes the coast of
northern Chile heavy dunes of daily fog (camanchaca) is created. The
west wind brings daily fog dunes to the shore of the northern parts of
Chile all
the year round. The fog brings some humidity to the areas near the
coast but not enough to measure it as rain. Rain may occur rarely
- with years' interval under influence of the El Niño
effect.
The shown species of Copiapoas
are all found north of Chañaral on the mountain plateau and
along the road to the national park 'Pan de Azúcar.
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