The Cactus Trip Diaries

Juan and I left Lonquen after lunch for a relaxed drive to Olmue where we had arranged a visit to Ingrid Schaub and Ricardo Keim and their plant collection / nursery Alvaralto. We had enjoyed their hospitality on a number of occasions in the past and this time was no exception, noting the latest changes in the cactus garden, seeing some new, yet to be described novelties and discussing the state of cactology in general.

Juan and I had already booked ourselves in to the cabanas where we had stayed in 2007 for our hike into the Parc Nacional La Campana where tomorrow we’d try again to follow in the footsteps of no less a person then Charles Darwin and reach the top of Cerro Campana (the Bell, due to its shape) to visit Eriosyce garavantae in habitat.