Today was much of a driving day, 276 km (c 4 hours) to arrive at Marlon’s home in Feira de Santana. From here, we’ll make a 7 o’clock start to Salvador Airport to pick up John Senior from New Jersey for his second stint on the Brazil circuit (just check back to the Rio Grande do Sul notes for October and early November). We’ll also change our little Chevrolet Minerva for a larger Fiat Doblo.
Just one cactus stop today, (S1624) which was our third stop in 1999 and then our first opportunity to see lots of Melocacti in habitat. So Melocactus ernestii, Tacinga inamoena ssp subcylindrica and Cereus jamacaru were all photographed for comparisons with ten years ago.
Soon after arriving at Marlon’s the heavens opened and his cactus collection, outside under shade cloth, got a good watering. We went out for a meal + beers, just around the corner, where they had a special promotion, buy one beer, get one free – so we bought seven bottles after which Marlon managed to negotiate another beer ‘on the house’ which of course deserved a free one as well. We have to get up at 6 tomorrow morning ……!
The Cactus Trip Diaries 
Leave a Reply