The Cactus Trip Diaries

Wednesday, 10 November, 2010 – Chañaral to Taltal

As Angie reported the first scraping of frost from the car windscreen to get her into a good mood for work, we prepared for a day in the Pan de Azucar National Park.

 Florencia back at base in Lonquen and Juan, our man on the spot had managed to contact a friend who had been a National Park ranger, in charge of the operation at Pan de Azuca. He still had plenty of contacts, so emails were fired off to the CONAF operation in Copiapoa who had sanctioned our visit to ‘the parts that lie beyond the recent barriers’ to the man in charge at Chañaral who in turn had granted authorisation to the rangers in the Park to let us go where we asked. This included, in principle at least, a visit to the Pan de Azucar island, where there is a Humboldt Penguin colony who nest between the cacti. When I visited such a colony on Isla Chañaral and Juan did the same on Isla Damas, the cactus that they had chosen for their burrows were the pendant stems of Eulychnia chorosensis. But the Eulychnia here was understood to be E. iquiquensis. and had it developed a pendant habit on the island?  We still don’t know, because although the authorisations were in place, the fishermen who needed to take us to the island said that the waters were too rough for their pangas. Although the Ocean seemed smooth enough, there were big waves breaking over the rocks off the island. There was no formal landing zone so it would have been a landing from a small boat being thrown about by the waves, onto rocks often covered by water and therefore slippery like ice due to seaweed growing on it. Common sense dictated that we abort that mission this time.

But back to the events of the day. Pedro, the superintendent at Chañaral met us at the supermarket, hoping to get a lift into the Park, as his car was being repaired. As we were quite full with our luggage and 4 people, he rang ahead.

We made a stop before reaching the southern entrance to the Park (S2016) where C. cinerascens and C. serpentisulcata grew together at km 9. Nice to get both species in the same picture as it illustrates the differences best.  Weather was quite overcast, not unusual for the Atacama – just like the Marine layer in California.

We moved on to a small cove (S2017) for more C. cinerascens and C. serpentisulcata, before driving on to km 19 – just before the sign announcing that the cacti along the road are C. cinerascens. Here we put John and Mark to the test for finding Thelocephala. They passed with flying colours, in finding Eriosyce (Thelocephala) odieri ssp kraussi s.n. T. malleolata at S2018.

We then went to various ranger stations around Caleta Pan de Azucar before eventually receiving the key to a chain that blocks the road on the way to Las Lomitas. First we had to drive past the sign posted track for c 200 m. to avoid a fixed barrier across the track. There was a side track that got back to the original track. The chain is in the narrow canyon where in 2003 Cliff screeched to a halt as he had spotted Eriosyce rodentiophila on the rocks.

We were very pleased to once again reach Las Lomitas (S2019). One of my goals was to retake a picture that I wanted to use for the Eulychnia book. It shows the man made fog nets that were used in experiments of how much water could be collected in this way, surrounded by Nature’s own fog nets, Eulychnia, covered in lichen and algae. I’ll have to use photoshop instead, to remove a mark, made by dirt on the camera sensor, because the clouds were in and did not present Las Lomitas at its best. We found C. esmeraldana and Cylindropuntia invicta as well. However, the foxes were missing, having moved on when the area was barred to visitors. Rangers also talked of packs of feral dogs becoming a problem to visitors and wild life alike.

S2020 was at the point where the track to Planta Esmeralda joins the track along the ridge leading to Las Lomitas, producing more images of C. esmeraldana and Eulychnia iquiquensis.

For S2021 we dropped down the track a bit to where the densely spined C. cinerea ssp columna-alba (s.n. C. melanohystrix) grow, as well as C. esmeraldana and Eriosyce (Thelocephala) esmeraldana.

Unfortunately we had to return back the way we came, back to the ranger station and then out of the Park in the east to meet R5 and head for Taltal.

Tuesday, 9 November, 2010 – Caldera to Chañaral

On the October trip we had taken on this stretch of our trip to Argentina and back as part of a full day’s driving between Vallenar and Chañaral. Today we took the whole day to make 10 stops along about 100 km of R5. So we are travelling at a much more sedate pace and seeing more than just the highlights.

After a quick stop at the Super Marcado, we were on our way, and took the turn east off R5 to Quebrada El Leon, where we made a number of short stops, first S2006, still on the flat stretch before reaching the coastal hills, where we found Copiapoa leonensis, a small growing plant, usually solitary here, but sometimes up to three headed, Eriosyce (Thelosephala) odieri ssp kraussii, C. marginata, again solitary plants and evidence that Euphorbia copiapina lives below the ground, with the remains of the leaves already dying back after a brief period of growth when moisture was available.

S2007 was just a bit farther along as Juan spotted the fruits of E. kraussi as we drove past at 30 km p hr – amazing!

We found much the same plants at S2008 at the foot of the coastal hills, but here the remnants of a few Eulychnia could be found. The woolly buds confirmed that it had to be either E. breviflora or E. iquiquensis, but the stems had been so beaten up that there was no fresh new growth visible to confirm wooliness of the areoles. y bet is on E. breviflora.

S2009 was a stop at the Sanctuary for a formation of ‘Granito Orbicular‘ where round lumps of granite appeared to be embedded in sedimentary rock.

We stopped again at Santuario Santa Gemita (S2010) where Copiapoa was extremely photogenic in the strangely shaped granite rocks. Where as two or so weeks ago it had been purple coloured Calandrinia flowers that had coloured up the Desert, here it was a yellow flowered Calandrinia that was in full flower. Seeing the Desert in flower, whatever the colour, remains fantastic. Also spotted Eriosyce taltalensis (pygmaea), Cumulopuntia sphaerica and a rosulate viola (yellow flowers). The Eulychnia seemed to be E. breviflora, but there was little new growth to look for woolly areoles.

S2011 was another roadside shrine near to where we had pulled over in October. Rollcall: C. calderana, Euphorbia lactiflua and fantastic granite rock formations.

The nest stop at El Morado (S2012) was a repeat of another October Stop and this time John & Mark were on their knees – for Thelocephala krausii of course – in flower, alongside C. calderana.

Another stop (S2013) came as we approached Barquito. I thought it was the same turning that we took in 2007, bit this track ended at a disused mine. C. cinerascens was here, the form that Backberg called ‘applanata‘. The Eulychnia now had a woolly hypanthium AND woolly areoles: E. iquiquensis or perhaps its synonym E. barquitensis? Tried as we might to spot Eulychnia along this stretch of R5, this was the first one spotted since E. breviflora at S2010.

S2014 was the turning that we meant to have taken for the last spot and which now brought us to the location where in 2007 Rudolf and a group of super fit climbers (including Juan) went straight up the hill but told the not so fit to take one or two alternative routes to see C. hypogaea. I believe that ultimately we (Juan) did find this plant, but in the ‘car park’ as well as high on the hill. This time there was little scope for stomping around.

S2015 was another quick stop to inspect the other side of the Quebrada, but only produced more small plants of C. cinarescens. Next time I’ll come better prepared!

Although we had been looking forward to Chinese food, this would have to wait until the way home, as the hotel opposite was fully booked. So on we went to the Hosteria, once the domain of ‘God’s Gift To Waiters’, no doubt a highly reliable gentleman but at one pace, without an overdrive facility when circumstances demanded it. Unless he was ill or on holiday, he seems to have been replaced by a team of ladies who between them managed to provide us Pisco Sours, fine red wines and excellent dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately the accommodation was still rather basic and small, so we have booked ourselves into the usual hotel for the return journey, on 14 November, if my memory serves me right. So the Chinese having to wait until we return.

Monday, 8 November, 2010 – around Caldera

Exactly a month after I left England and I’m already well into my second trip. ‘Doesn’t it get boring?’ Not as long as you have days like today!

Yesterday we finished on S1999 and I had been wondering when I stopped for Summer where I would be for S2000. It could not have worked out better, although it was not a cactus stop, because S2000 was for pictures taken on the way to and at Mina San Jose, where 33 miners had been caught below ground for 69 days. The drama started in August while we were in England and the early prognoses was for them to be released around Christmas. They were actually coming above ground amidst massive global publicity as we were staying in San Pedro de Atacama during the previous trip. Lots of information is available on the internet, for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident

I had already posed in the Plaza in Vallenar where one of the rescue cylinders was on display.

In 2003 we had looked for Copiapoa megarhiza along this ‘Caldera to Copiapoa loop road’, an alternative to Ruta 5 that links the two towns along a well maintained dirt track that passes by the entrance to the mine. This time, perhaps better practiced at the art of finding cacti, we had little trouble identifying a candidate hillside and struck lucky for S2001 where we found many C. megarhiza. I had expected strong similarities between these plants and yesterday’s . coquimbana ssp andina, as it seemed strange to me to find any C. coquimbana north of the Rio Huasco. Early gut reactions confirm C. andina’s relationship to C. coquimbana as it clusters more readily than C. megarhiza.

S2002 was just 1 km off Ruta 5 as we headed to our next stop.  Cumulopuntia sphaerica grew here, as it did everywhere else we visited today – a remarkable resilient taxon. There was also a cute, almost leafless orange / yellow coloured Alstroemeria sp. and a few plants of Eulychnia acida struggled on.

S2003 took us to a stop from our 2007 Copiapoathon for C. humilis ssp longispina. The location was readily found and again the plants looked to have survived a long period of draught although some old broken off heads had given rise to regeneration by good looking young stems.

S2004 was for a single, lonely, giant E. acida plant, a venerable giant!

For S2005 e returned to Morro Copiapó and the traditional look at C. marginata and E. (Thelocephala) odieri. There was again a strong breeze and I joked that I had stapled my hat to my head – again. The strong wind gets behind my glasses and irritates my eyes, resulting in an uncomfortable underwater type look at the plants with tears running down my face. Despite this, I found the first few odieri plants, not in the least because they were in flower and advanced bud. I managed half a dozen more plants but then had enough, the wind and my eyes were just not making this an enjoyable stop for me this time.

We returned to Caldera via Bahia Inglesa and promised ourselves a night here on our way back.

Tomorrow we return to Chañaral with the promise of Chinese food.

Sunday, 7 November, 2010 – Vallenar to Caldera

Going past old haunts is all very well, but a good balanced program also includes something new. And so we headed north on R5 until the second turning west to Carrizal Bajo. But we went in fact about 100 m farther and took the turning east to El Donkey, a name that had always intrigued me during the many times that we drove past here. This time we had a cactus excuse: Ingrid and Ricardo had published a new cactus species from here in 2009: Copiapoa coquimbana ssp andina. We drove the 26 km on good dirt to El Donkey, which turned out to be a one ‘horse’ town. A rather dilapidated house and a cloth covered structure with a sign to announce that it was the commune’s meeting house and a dog that seemed rather over anxious to welcome us.

We made a stop (S1993) for some Eriosyce eriosysoides growing in the rocks. Also found were the omni present (for the last few days) Cumulopuntia sphaerica, and some rather poorly Eulychnia acida. Yet they were still flowering or in bud and bald hypanthium leaves no doubt about their ID. On latitudes where it co-exists with other species, E. acida tends to be the one that grows inland, while the other takes over the coastal niche.

We carried on for a few more miles, until passed the abandoned mine at Mercedita. After this five shack settlement the track deteriorated fast and it seemed wise, at the next turning round point, to do just that. We had already earmarked some stops for the way back.

The first of these S1994 gave us C. coquimbana ssp andina, C. sphaerica and Eulychnia acida.

Not satisfied with this at S1995, at km 21.2, we had spotted some Copiapoa against the rocks on the way up. Our more detailed visit gave us more pictures, including two plants in flower. Mark was the first to find one of these and commented that the flower was reddish in colour. I found my plant much lower down the rock face and found it to be more orange in colour. I must check out the colour given in the description of the plant. As a Dutchman, it is tempting to describe am orange flowered form as fa. naranjaflora. Other plants as reported for S1994.

S1996 was for a location previously visited for Eriosyce (Thelocephala) aerocarpa. The plants were not too difficult to find and Juan was especially pleased as it was the first time that he had found seed at this location.

As we seemed to be in Thelocephala mood, S1997 took us back to see E. (Thelocephala) challensis, onlt a fortnight or so after our last visit. It seemed that uanacos had feasted on the plants since then, as it had become more difficult to spot plants and there was plenty of evidence that their scraping had been rewarded with plant heads.

A bit farther along the track to Carrizal Bajo S1998 became again the ideal group photo stop as large clumps of C. dealbata are hard to beat for impact.  Having spotted one E. acida among all the E. breviflora last time, I had a closer look but here, some 12 km inland, the mix was roughly 95% E. breviflora, confirming its status as the coastal plant.

As time pushed us on, the last stop of the day, S1999, was a quick one for E. (Thelocephala) monteamargensis. We had driven through the same area that two weeks ago had been awash with purple flowers but that today looked as desolate as any part of the Atacama usually does. Amazing, what a transformation. There were just one or two patches along the track, perhaps benefiting from a little more humidity along the road?, that had a square meter of purple left, but the impact was lost.

We’re spending two nights at Hotel Puerto do Sol in Caldera, with wifi in each of the Cabana type tipi huts.

Saturday, 6 November, 2010 – Huasco and Labrar

We started the day with a stroll back to the Plaza in Vallenar for more pictures of the cylinder that brought the 33 miners to the surface in nearby Copiapó. This time there was no opportunity to pose inside the cylinder. Never mind.

On to Huasco to the usual E. napina spot (S1985) where most evidence of any field flowers had gone, but the cacti still looked healthy and plumped up. All the cacti previously listed were found.

Then to Freirina, for a look at Copiapoa alticostata. (S1986)

 Finding the track out towards Labrar was the usual puzzle, until we stumbled across a brand new dual carriage way, the Freirina by-pass. We had signs of this as we drove from Vallenar to Huasco, but the entrance and exit to the by-pass bits were still coned off.

I suggested that we’d drive to the Labrar Chimneys without further stops, and look at interesting spots on the way back. I really enjoy the drive with its two Cuestas, leading up to passes before zigzagging down into the next valley. But minutes later I asked for a brief stop at a Eulychnia in flower (S1987). Buds, flower position (lateral) and spination on flowering stems (non-differentiated) confirmed that this was E. acida, but the stems had the procumbent growth habit of E. chorosensis. Copiapoa alticostata now grew side by side with C. coquimbana. Miqueliopuntia miquelli was in flower, here with nice pink flowers. A rather more spiny form of E. napina ssp lembckii also grew here.

S1988 marked our arrival at the chimneys of Labrar. I was happy that they had survived last January’s earthquake. The had done so since 1830! Yes, the cracks were showing and they had a worrying lean, but the British house bricks, brought over as ballast on the sailing ships that came to collect the coal and copper ore, had done very well to stand the test of time. Another Miqueliopuntia miquelli with pink flowers was photographed. Our arrival coincided with the camanchaca rolling in over the hills. The temperature dropped by some 7C. Light also went flat and it was rather darker than desired, so before long we headed back north.

S1989 was one of the stops that we’d promised ourselves for the way back. It was near a spot where previously we had spotted white waxed Copiapoa coquimbana. It was still foggy, but the plants looked in excellent health and were well worth a picture, despite poor light. Also another M. miquelli in flower and I did a double take as I saw a strange looking Eulychnia. It turned out to be E. chorosensis and Echinopsis (Trichocereus) deserticola growing intertwined with each other.

S1990 was for five images taken at Cobaltaria (?), a former cobalt processing plant. We did not stay long. Who knows how much toxic waste could be found here. No cacti found.

Not far on, and Juan spotted two large Eriosyce aurata growing on rocks (S1991) but even before we had walked over to the plants we stumbled across another cactus. Naming seems to have gone mad for this plant for which growers would have to squeeze ‘Eriosyce eriosysoides ssp atroviridis fa huascensis‘ on their labels.

Mark took over the driving duties and as we headed back to Freirina he thought that he had gained extra engines as the rest of us were having a snooze, accompanied by the usual snoring.

Back on tarmac, on the Huasco – Vallenar road, on previous visits we had spotted a big aluminium built structure that we understand is a massive meat processing plant. It’s an eyesore, stuck behind low hills but still visible at times from the road. Juan directed us on to a track leading up to a couple of these low hills near this factory (S1992). As soon as we got out of the car, we started seeing cacti. Tiny Eriosyce napina ssp lembckei were everywhere, no challenge spotting them here. In the distance we could make out the electricity substation at Maitencillo that used to be our standard site for these plants on previous visits. Here the plants were so plentifull that we had driven over them to get to where we had parked. E. villosa and C. alticostata were also around, as well as some miserable looking Eulychnia acida. It was an interesting stop, as although this plant location would not survive much longer – there were already plenty of bulldozer tracks to see that this site would be developed – but is was more evidence that once upon a time, E. napinas would have been thick all along the Rio Huasco. Let’s hope that it there will still some spots left that will remain undeveloped.

Back in Vallenar we went for another picture shoot at the Copiapo Miner’s Rescue cylinder followed by an excellent value for money meal at the small restaurant on the corner of the plaza.

Friday, 5 November, 2010 – Guanaqueros to Vallenar

Once again, the first priority of the day was to get our puncture fixed. The owner of the cabanas, Mr Farr, an 85 year old Chilean of British decent, from somewhere in the Midlands, advised that there were no Vulcos in town, we had to drive to Tongoy, 7 km south along the coast. As breakfast was not included in the Cabanas and all shops had been closed in town last night – and still this morning, we arrived at Tongoy much to early, found the Vulco but of course it was still closed. A drive through town revealed that the same was trye of the many small eateries along the beach. At one of these, two men were sweeping the terrace and carrying crates in from a truck. Juan asked them what time they opened for breakfast and the welcome reply was along the lines of ‘As you are here, now!’

The tyre that had been patched in San Pedro was patched again and this time an inner tube was fitted to help to keep the air in. It would serve as the spare from now on. 

First stop of the day, S1981 was just south of La Higuera, just as we had again conquered the Cuesta Buenos Aires (or was it B. Vista?) prompted by clouds just forcing themselves over the coastal hills. Eulychnia acida was here with slightly more hairy hypanthium than I regard as typical. C. coquimbana and Eriosyce had sent E. heinrichana as its representative, found first in advanced bud, then in flower.

We turned west on a track after the usual turning to Los Choros at El Trapiche. We had often commented on the hills along R5 here, not sure if mining was systematically removing the hill or if the hill itself was the result of decades of spoil tipping from mining activity elsewhere. Se stopped to explore a hillside (S1982) expecting to find Eulychnia and Eriosyce aurata, but only Cumulopuntia sphaerica prevented this from being a ‘no cactus’ stop.

S1983 was farther along our new track and here the sight of two resonably sized E. aurata (E. spinibarbis or E. algarobensis – take your pick) were spotted growing on the hills. One of them was actually in flower. Life became less clear cut when the track repeatedly split in two and deteriorated rapidly until it appeared that we were following a digger that was making a new track through the mountains a hundred meters in front of us. The driver looked surprised to see Juan appear next to his cab to ask for directions to either Choros Alto or Carrizalillo. The names seemed meaningless to him, he probably came from a larger town like Vallenar or La Serena and was just doing his x week stint on the digger with instructions to clear a track from A to B. It seemed best to turn around and head back to R5.

S1884 was for a stop at E. (Thelocephala) fankhauseri, where again, after some searching, we found these amazing little plants, mainly through Juan’s eagle eyed spotting the wooly fruits that were proudly standing above the soil, ready to be blown off by the ever present wind. 

We booked ourselves in for two nights at the Hosteria in Vallenar and decided to stroll into town, ending up at the Restaurant Bavaria. Great food as usual. A walk to the Plaza revealed a crowd of people gathered around a structure. Closer examination showed that one of the cylinders used to resue the 33 miners a few weeks earlier was on display here and you were actually allowed into the capsule to see if you would have fitted a potential rescue. I did. John did not. Lose those pounds John! 

Thursday, 4 November, 2010 – Lonquen to Guanaqueros

We were back in our usual routine of alarm at 7 a.m., breakfast at 8, on the road by 9.

The early stretches of R5 are now about as familiar to me as stretches of the A303 in England. Rather than another visit to Pichidangui, we decided to stop at Los Molles,(S1979), the Type Locality of Eulychnia castanea. I had been here a few years ago, and it was good to see that the road surface had improved with much tarmac. Along the coast we found the same plants as at Pichidangui, except that Eriosyce chilensis here was the type, not ssp albidiflora. If Eriosyce subgibbosa was here, not in flower, we could not distinguish it from E. chilensis. Alstroemeria sp. Callandrinia sp and Nolana sp were all in flower – Spring had sprung. An excellent stop to start the trip.

S1980 was along the track to Fray Jorge which again had been changed. We eventually reached the (new) official entrance to the Park and were met by one of the wardens who told us that officially they close at 4:00 p.m. but, as it was 16:15 he’d let us in. I assume that we would have had to pay the full admission fee so we politely thanked him for his offer but told him that we wanted to get to Guanaqueros. Juan asked him why they kept changing the track and the entrance gate. He explained that the current track went through some small settlements that could now benefit from the passing traffic during the tourist season. Again, we saw all the expected plants: Cumulopuntia sphaerica, Eriosyce aurata, E. nigrihorrida, Echinopsis (Trichocereus) chiloensis ssp skotsbergii and Eulychnia acida.

Wednesday, 3 November, 2010 – Lonquen: another airport run

The British were coming.

A quick check on the internet so ensure that their plane was expected on time – it was in fact running a little early – but Juan and I arrived in plenty of time to wait for some 20 minutes for our new travel companions, Mark Plumer from Middlesborough and John Ede from Newdigate, to emerge from immigration formalities.

Florencia’s parents had again been kind enough to allow us to spend the first night at Lonquen. It is really appreciated to have the rest of the day of arrival off to adjust to the weather and time zone conditions. 

Tuesday, 2 November, 2010 – Around Lonquen, Rest Day

Today’s rest day was not that restful, as Juan and I had to take the car into Santiago to have it serviced. We dropped the car off around 1 p.m. and were told to return around six to pick up the car. We spent the afternoon killing time in a small restaurant with wifi.

At seven we were expected at the meeting of the Chilean Cactus Club where I was due to give a short presentation at short notice. I had picked the Bahia module from my WISLW 2009-2010 talk, showing Arrojadoa marylanae, our visit to the Melocactus conoideus project in Vitoria da Conquista and our explorations for Melocactus azureus, all from Brazil, a year ago. The main presentation was an indebt look at cactus pests and some of the methods available to control them.