Dispatch 1: Walking on diatoms, eating Cuban food, at MIA

Previously, I had mentioned in a fall teaser that the Pyenson Lab is off to South America this fall. (Well, NDP is; Jorge has plenty to do in DC).

I'm sitting in the Miami Int'l Airport, connecting to Santiago, Chile, where we'll be starting this trip. First, we'll pack up and go to San Juan, Argentina, for the Latin American vertebrate paleontology congress. Then, we'll return over the Andes, regroup in Santiago, and drive north to Caldera, the town that sits in the middle of our fieldwork area. With funding from the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution, we're investigating the taphonomy and formation of the Bahia Inglesa bonebed, which is preserved in ~late Miocene marine rocks around Caldera. We're especially interested in what this bonebed tells us about marine communities from this time, and it compares with the rich diversity of marine vertebrates that thrive in the Humboldt Current today.

But, here in MIA, I'm reconnecting with a veritable institution: La Carreta, an amazing Cuban restaurant that serves empanadas non-pareil and El Presidente beer. Consider both the fuel for paleontologists. (Especially in the Carribean...baiting Jorge). Of course, it's only really relevant because the hallway floors in the D terminal are adorned with large-scale bronze microscopy sections of diatoms (see below).

Links to follow once I'm in Santiago.

 Correction 19 Sep 11: Title and links updated, and image rotated.