The Cactus Trip Diaries

Monday 30 June 2003 – Olmué to Aeropuerto Internacional Arturo Merino Benitez at Pudahuel pt 2

Sunday 29 June 2003 – Olmué to Aeropuerto Internacional Arturo Merino Benitez at Pudahuel pt 1

Saturday, 21 June 2003 – Caldera: ‘Hunting for fossils’ and ‘Morro Copiapó’

We were torn between what to do today: look for those magnificent fossilised shark teeth that were there, just for the taking, or give the Morro Copiapó a serious once-over. As we had two cars, the problem was easily solved: Ian would take the Nissan with Anne, Benjy, Bryan and Paul Sherville shark (teeth) hunting, while Cliff, Finn, Angie and I took the Kia to take a look around the Morro Copiapó.

Ian writes of their experiences:
Looking for Megalodon teeth

‘To provide a break from full time cactus hunting, and in the hope of finding a fantastic 5 inch long razor sharp fossilised shark’s tooth (as had been shown to us by the teenage son of one of the Chilean Cactus Society members earlier in the trip), car 2 set off westwards from Bahia Inglesa towards a bay that the hotel staff had indicated was where the smaller teeth they had, on proud display in reception, could have come from. The road passed the turn off to Morro Copiapo that we had taken earlier on the trip and we continued for nearly another 20 km or so until the bay in question was found. Spurred on by Benjy’s offer of free beer for the rest of the trip if we could allow him to find such a tooth, the car party for the day (Ian, Paul S, Ann, Bryan and Benjy) scoured the length of the beach enjoying the stunning scenery, only finding a bed rich in oyster shells but no teeth. We wondered if the beach was the right one as the hotel staff had been rather vague so decided to continue further along the coast.

This again gave some stunning views and allowed some photography of wading birds in lagoons behind the beach but the geology was wrong. Retracing our tracks we passed the first bay searched and the area then looked promising so Ian suggested a stop here (he is supposed to be a geologist). The orangey-yellow sandy sediments that were present looked very promising and it wasn’t too long until the first shark and fish teeth were found along with some other nice marine fossils including vertebrae, bivalves and gastropods. The preservation was not ideal so a lot of the teeth had the enamel preserved but had lost the dentine so they tended to fall into 2 sections. When showing Paul Sherville what to look for, he insisted what I had found was a bird’s beak (he can be a real twit sometimes!)

By working our way down towards the sea we were able to find more teeth including better preserved ones in iron concreted pockets. It was from such pockets that I am sure that the bigger teeth purchased from the market at Caldera in the following days had been won. At the coast we were also rewarded by spectacular cliffs of horizontally bedded sediments that were very photogenic if one was bold enough to get near the edge overhang to get the best angle!

I believe that small shark and fish teeth were found by all at this stop and though maybe not being as big as the ones subsequently bought there was the immense satisfaction of finding them ourselves. Another stop nearer Bahia Inglesa was made in an attempt to find more fossil beds and although this was unsuccessful, Ian was only a few metres from the car when he spotted what he thought was a discarded sweet wrapper. On closer inspection it turned out to be a red Thelocephala (Eriosyce odieri) seed pod – all that was visible above the ground of the plants. Further investigation by all car members identified other plants in the otherwise barren gritty plateau so yet again even with another agenda we had managed to find some more of our beloved cacti.’

More cacti on the Morro
We also drove down the track first taken on 8 June (was it really that long ago?), but continued only a few kilometres further before turning west towards the ocean. This brought us out to the south side of the Morro – while Copiapoa prefer to grow on north facing slopes. There was again a low cloud base – not good photography conditions, so at our first stop (S0187) we recorded the stop data, but as there were no Copiapoa or Eriosyce to be seen, left without taking a single picture.

The track was in places of dubious quality, so we were glad to reach the beach for a break from being shaken around. We had passed some clumps of Copiapoa marginata and had noted the place for a stop on the way back, so that the beach stop was limited to taking pictures of spectacular 3 m. (9ft) high waves (or were they higher?) crashing on the off shore rocks. There is a small delay – the combination of human failings and electronic wizardry in the camera – that resulted in the first frames always capturing the wave after it had ‘fizzled out’. Later images were better – who cares how many you take when you can discard the failures and do not need to worry about the cost and your remaining stock of slide film?

On the way back we stopped at the best location noted earlier (S0188) and found some good large clumps of C. marginata but also a distressing amount of dead plants. Again, we needed to remind ourselves that these may be the result of natural mortality over many years, rather than of a sudden disaster striking this population.

A little further east, we found a tempting track north that seemed to lead to a saddle between two higher parts of the Morro. Eventually we agreed the track had become impassable, so left the car and continued on foot (S0189) finding many large clumps of C. marginata as well as seedlings. While looking for seedlings, one of us commented that there should be ‘Thelocephala’ here as well, and once we focussed our search on these small geophytes, it did not take too long before Angie (‘I can never find those small things’) was the first to find one. Others soon followed and as usual, the largest of these miniatures was found about a meter from where we had left the car.

Satisfied with our day, we went back to the hotel to discover how the other car party had enjoyed the day.

Friday, 20 June 2003 – Chañaral to Caldera

Rudolf was keen to establish how Copiapoa calderana and C. marginata grow together (or not) between Chañaral and Caldera. Our contribution was to make regular stops along Ruta 5 between the two towns and to photograph what we found. And so we would stop roughly every 10 km, or as soon afterwards as promising terrain would appear close to the road, while Rudolf and Leo spent the day driving up tracks inland and make some hikes to see what they could find.

It is much too early to say anything meaningful until we’ve mapped our stops, merged our images with similar stops in the area in 2001 and those made at the start of our trip this year, compare these with Rudolf’s findings etc. At this stage, I’ll make do with simply listing the stop numbers and reporting what, in the concept of Benjy and my understanding of Copiapoa taxonomy, we saw. It is interesting to note that when discussing such issues with other Copiapoaphiles, many have differing concepts of what a particular taxon is. You can argue until you see blue in the face – such concepts are deeply ingrained, sometimes based on interpretation of available literature, sometimes on a particular photograph in one of the authoritative works (many of which disagree with each other) – or elsewhere, or by what a person has seen in collections and habitat. Who is ‘right’ and who is ‘wrong’ is a mute point. As a result the following list should be regarded as those ‘working names’ only, that I am comfortable with at present, but may change my mind on, depending on new information. Not very scientific, but most snapshots of projects during the ‘work-in-progress’ phase are messy.

stop# Location Taxa
S0180 Punta Animas aff. Copiapoa cinerascens / calderana/serpentisulcata intermediates, Eriosyce rodentiophila

S0181 Los Toyos aff. C. calderana ‘spinosior’, Eriosyce rodentiophila

S0182 South of Puert Flamenco aff. C. calderana

S0183 South of Caleta Obispo No Copiapoa found, Cumulopuntia sphaerica, Eulychnia sp.

S0184 North of Rada Blanca C. calderana (few)

S0185 South of Rada Blanca C. calderana (many:- seedlings through large mature plants)

S0186 Near Punta Zentena, in and along a dry river bed. C. calderana

Beyond S0186, the terrain consisted of lose sand plains – not suitable for Copiapoa – or any other plants for that matter.

Tired and confused we arrived back at Hotel Rocas de Bahia, where the bar was ready and waiting for us and where we took a look at the itinerary for the following day. During our last visit, some members of our party had wanted to spend a day here, looking for fossils, while others wanted to carry on looking at Copiapoa in their environment. Angie and I went out for a walk along the beach and found a small supermarket open. We just wanted some bread rolls for the following day, but were surprised by the large number of fossils on display and for sale. Unable to withstand the temptation, I bought a Megalodon tooth, 9 x 7.5 cm in size, and produced this at dinner with a casual ‘Look what Angie and I came back with from our stroll along the beach.’

This established two distinct parties – the ‘fossil hunters’ and the ‘cactus hunters’ – for the following day.

Thursday, 19 June 2003 – Chañaral: Pan de Azucar part 2

We followed Leo and Rudolf north along Ruta 5, until, near the turn off to Cerro Colorado, they turned west onto a track. Not until several miles from Ruta 5 was there a sign, in the middle of nowhere, to indicate that we had just entered the Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar from the east side.

We made three brief stops S0173, S0174, and S0175, where Rudolf showed us three ‘different’ plants or plants that we had not expected to find here – so far inland and out of the reach of regular fogs. Although….., I had seen large notices on Ruta 5, warning drivers to switch on their head lights during fog. The barren, bone dry landscape made the signs seem quite funny, but perhaps fog is not such a rare occurrence here after all. The first plant Rudolf showed us was Copiapoa hypogaea barely visible in a crack in the rocks, but a huge tuber became visible once the rock was removed. This plant is watered regularly – at least once every 6 – 12 months, when ever Rudolf passes by, it receives about a litre of the best drinking water (sin gas). The second plant, also growing in a crack in the rocks, is still a mystery.

It was quite large, with longish spines for its size and very dark in body colour – probably due to its shaded location. C. serpentisulcata is the most likely candidate in my reckoning, but quite a distance from its mates and no other Copiapoa near by. The third remains even more of a mystery, looking like a young plant intermediate between C. serpentisulcata and C. marginata (C. bridgesii) if such a thing exists.

Rudolf and Leo then went their own way for a day of climbing and hiking, while we followed their instructions and aimed for two hill tops visible when you approach Pan de Azucar from Chañaral which we had christened ‘Fog-net Hill’ and ‘Antenna Hill’. The difference was that we were approaching these from inside the Park. On each occasion we judged the track impassable for our vehicles some way away from our goal. Never mind – instead we spent some time exploring at the point where it seemed wisest to turn around.

But before that, our next break (S0176) was a comfort break (where the males in the party lined up along one side of the track while the two ladies found large rocks on the other side). This brief stop provided us with pictures of C. columna-alba and C. marginata – although Benjy is keen to use the back-in-favour name C. bridgesii for this northern form.

S0177 just happened: as we turned a corner, the track had been dug out through a low hill, making us eye-level with the gently sloping plain in front of us with the densest population of C. columna-alba that I have seen to date! There was no need to negotiate a stop – both cars pulled up and we piled out with our cameras a great sight!

S0178 was the point where the road to Antenna Hill seemed too steep. We did not mind, as we were at the foot of a hillside covered with large clumps of C. serpentisulcata. We tried for ‘Fog-net Hill’, but again, used common sense (which later gained us the title of ‘a troupe of girls’ blouses’ from Leo and Rudolf) and turned around at S0179.

This spot seemed less rewarding with a few miserable specimens of C. bridgesii and C. columna-alba. But a more detailed inspection was rewarded by a number little gems: C. hypogaea in its dark, rugose splendour, and some small Eriosyce (Neoporteria) sp. most too shrivelled to identify, even though some were in flower. The lichen on the Eulychnia iquiquensis were blood red in colour and also made for some interesting shots.

Graham Charles was kind enough to point out that the woolly areoled Eulychnia are now covered under this name, rather than E. breviflora, which was the preferred name at the time of the 2nd Edition of the CITES Cactaceae Checklist.

On my return home, I found that I had also taken some pictures at another unnumbered ‘toilet stop’, so these have been catalogued under S179a, as I do not want to renumber all subsequent stops.

And so back to Hosteria Chañaral for a continuation of the pool game of the previous evening, and the bar. Benjy sent me a comment about yesterday’s report:

Paul, you missed out a bit on your daily report for Chañaral: ‘Benjy / Rudolf doubles : Kings of the Pool Hall, 5 games, all wins, no losses.’
‘Misspent Youth’, as Rudolf would say…. I say: ‘SIMPLY THE BEST’.
Benjy

Benjy, Rudolf was right – I have corrected your typos!

Wednesday, 18 June 2003 – Chañaral: Pan de Azucar part 1

Today was the first day of our explorations of the Parque Nacional Pan de Azucar. We took the easy way in, sign posted from Ruta 5 in Chañaral and even before reaching the official gate, were keen to take a closer look at the clumps of Copiapoa that could be seen from the road. (S0164). They were C. cinerascens, heads with white felted apex, giving the impression of being somewhat flattened, leading to Backeberg’s name C. applanata, now a synonym, and C. serpentisulcata with darker heads where the spines formed a peak at the apex. There were many plants that looked just like the text books indicate they should, but there were also plants that were more difficult to decide on, likely intermediates – and why not – the plants grow (and in 2001 – flower) side by side.

At the next stop (S0165), just inside the park, having paid our admission fee, the white spines of C. cinarescens stood out nicely against the dark rocks on which they grew.

When we stopped again (S0166) we could now see C. grandiflora, seen earlier during our trips from Secret Valley, and possible intermediates with one or both of the two taxa seen earlier today. If only we could jump into the future, to the day that a probe can determine what name to attach to a plant by a combination of chromosome counts, DNA and iso-enzyme analysis. Would we believe the result? And where would be the fun of not being able to speculate and argue about the possible identity of these plants in the bar at the end of the day? I blame the discoverers of these taxa for not clearly labelling each plant in the Park correctly.

At a split in the road (i.e. track), we followed the sign for ‘El Mirador’ where in 2001 we had found a huge wonderful stand of Copiapoa columna-alba. These were at least consistent in appearance, just like the uniformed foot soldiers in the army they resembled.

On arrival (S0167), we found a chain across the track to the car park, so had to climb up a 3 m. (9 ft) high slope to reach the plateau on which the plants grew – wonderful plants of all ages, from small seedlings (well, no sign of flowering in any event and only a centimetre or two in diameter – but probably already more than 10 years of age!) to ancient monsters with stems over 1 meter (3 ft) tall, all slanting at about 60 degrees in the same direction – north, to the sun at mid day. These old guys had folds in their stems like some sumo wrestler. And looked at closely, they were not so uniform, with some stems off-setting and others definitely clumping. Spine counts per areole could also vary from plant to plant and from head to head on the same plant. Of course cameras clicked when ever a cristate head was found. At the edge of the stand C. serpentisulcata had also joined the party.

On our way to the next stop, the Park buildings at Las Lomitas, we paused to take pictures of a small herd of guanaco crossing the road. Once severely threatened with extinction, due to over hunting, their numbers have increased dramatically since the protection of the National Park has eliminated legal hunting there. Ironically, their favourite snack is Copiapoa laui and where ever we found this plant in nature, the guanaco’s hoof marks, having recently scraped away in search for these plants, was there in greater number than plants found. Another example of how man-kind’s interference with nature can upset a delicate balance.

Las Lomitas (S0168) was shrouded in cloud, with drops of water dripping down the lichen covered Eulychnia – a shame, as I had hoped to take some pictures to the north from here, where, at c. 800 m. above sea level, on a clear day you can see Esmeralda and the Cachina Valley, and follow the coast line to see the mouth of the Guanillos and Tigrilo Valleys. Also the views south, towards Chañaral, had been spectacular in 2001.

Instead, we fed the three Chilean Desert Foxes, that seemed to have survived being hand fed cream-crackers in 2001, when we left them anxiously looking for a drink to wash them down.

From here, we followed a track south, along the edge of the steep drop to the ocean that was only visible for brief spells as the cloud temporarily lifted. In 2001 we had found Copiapoa laui along this track, mainly because one plant had been in flower. Instead we found some slightly larger heads of a Copiapoa in the humilis / hypogaea complex – ‘squishy’, as Rudolf would say. (S0169 and S0170). Was this C. hypogaea? C. montana? C. esmeraldana lost at high altitude?

We made two more stops on the way back to Chañaral: S0171 was more like an emergency stop, as Cliff slammed on the anchors as he had seen a golden spined football – Eriosyce rodentiophila as we came around a bend in the track. S0172 was more controlled as we were itching to take come more pictures of C. columna-alba on the march.

Again, we found the marvellous fish restaurant, at Barquito, just south of Chañaral on Ruta 5, where we were able to watch the pelicans and sea lions compete with the local fisherman, fishing from the pier. Well, not quite ‘end’, as some of us got involved in a game of pool at the hotel, where the beers and Pisco Sours seemed to make it more difficult to pot the balls. Square pockets did not help either.

Tuesday, 17 June 2003 – ‘Secret Valley’ (near Esmeralda) to Chañaral

Looking at the mass of cactus taxa that I have scribbled in my notebook and at the hundreds of Angie’s, Cliff’s and my digital images that are stored on Angie’s laptop, it is difficult to believe that today we are only half way through our trip. Looking at our slightly modified itinerary, there are still lots of exciting places and plants to come.

Everyone was up early, because Rudolf and Leo wanted to be dropped off at the northern most edge of the Pan de Azucar, near Las Lomitas. Some of our party were keen to join them, so we drove their Toyota Hylux to a suitable point near Esmeralda, where Rudolf figured their hike would end, and then all (Rudolf, Leo, Ian, Benjy, Finn and myself) crammed into the Nissan to drive the party to the drop-off point, some 800 m. above sea level. My role was to drive the Nissan back to Secret Valley, after taking some pictures at the drop-off point (S0159) of Copiapoa hypogaea.

When I arrived back, the remainder of the party had packed away the tents and were ready to go. Having seen the Guanillos Valley yesterday, today was the turn of the next valley north – the Tigrillo Valley, home of KK 1385 – Karel Knize’s Copiapoa tigrillensis n.n.

As we turned each corner, the temptation to stop and photograph the impressive clumps of C. longistaminea and the stands of C. columna-alba but we knew we would pass these plants again on the way home, so waited until we reached the end of the valley for another picture stop (S0160). These were gorgeous plants, forms of C. longistaminea, but with some beautiful orangey spination. It became easier to see how this taxon varies as it moves north with its last outpost at Cifuncho, seen earlier at S0129. The scenery too was spectacular, with the plants nestled between huge lumps of granite that had been weathered away by wind, sand and sea. Again there was an Eriosyce sp in evidence as well.

Rudolf had told us that there was another valley, north of Tigrillo, so this is where we made our next stop (S0161) with much the same mix of cacti as at the previous stop. On the way back, but still in view of the ocean, we finally gave in to our craving to stop earlier and took some nice shots of the army of C. columna-alba seemingly in a hurry, all leaning at some 60 degrees, heading north (S1062). Cliff also managed to find an empty shell of what was once an Eriosyce microcarpa.

More C. columna-alba were shot (by cameras) later at S0163, before returning to Secret Valley to await the return of the hikers. We got back into our usual car-parties for the ride back to civilisation and a shower and bed at the Hosteria Chañaral, but not until after some beers and Pisco Sours in the hotel bar, to exchange stories of today’s finds.

Monday, 16 June 2003 – Taltal to ‘Secret Valley’ (near Esmeralda)

Ricardo and Rudolf had confirmed that the coast road from Taltal to Cifuncho was now passable again – it had come to an abrupt stop for many years, round about the point where Copiapoa rupestris ‘rubiflora’ is reported to grow. I wanted to see this plant, as I was a little sceptical about a ‘red flowered’ Copiapoa.

If you have any flowering size Copiapoa in your collection, you’ll observe that the bud is red in colour, yet when the flower opens, it is yellow on the inside. When the flowers close up at night, they can give the impression of being reddish in colour, as the red of the outside of the petals comes through. Clearly, if Copiapoa have the ability to produce red pigmentation for some part of the petals, then the extent of the red pigmentation can vary from plant to plant.

Having taken several wrong turnings in Taltal to get onto ‘the coast road’ (track), we made a stop (S0154) to look for cacti. We fanned out and reported back some 10 minutes later – not a very promising stop, with only Cliff having found some (mostly dead) C. rupestris plants.

So on to S0155 where to the west of the track we had more luck, finding quite a number of C. rupestris but, alas, none in flower, so that the question: ‘How red are the flowers of Copiapoa rubriflora?’ will remain a mystery for me for a while longer.

As we continued our journey, the track turned inland and the leaning stems of Copiapoa columna-alba appeared on the scene, beautiful plants growing on dark soil (see my comments for S0128 on 10 June) and worthy of a quick stop (S0156) and a picture. Our GPS indicated that we were indeed not far from S0128 and we kept the GPS running as we drove on, to find that this track did indeed take us to and past this previous stop.

We turned east on the Taltal – Cifuncho road, hoping to pick up the track south to Esmeralda a bit further along. As we reached the road from Taltal to Ruta 5 we realised that we should have turned west instead and so had to take the long way to Esmeralda, and on into the Guanillos Valley, where we had a lunch appointment with Rudolf, Leo, Ingrid, Ricardo, Peque and Frankie. Despite our poor navigation we were only 15 minutes late.(S0157). Where do you point the camera first? Take your pick from: Copiapoa longistaminea, C. grandiflora, C. esmeraldana and C. laui with C. longistaminea the only taxon in flower this time – in May 2001 all four were in flower at the same time and Marlon was seen running about the place following a small black bee that in turn visited flowers on all of these Copiapoa, making it more than likely that one of more of these taxa are natural hybrids. A mauve flower among the rocks revealed a small Eriosyce sp. (more reading to do! Anyone able to suggest a name?)

A closer look at the new growth on the Eulychnia revealed the wonderful white felted areoles that indicate Eulychnia saint-pieana, a name that certainly deserves to be retained for the hobbyists, although the botanists see it as the more widespread Eulychnia breviflora that does not always have this attractive feature. Unfortunately there was no seed on these ceroids as all the fruit had been found first by a borer insect.

Rudolf showed us a clump of C. longistaminea that is also pictured (from 1994) on page 93 of ‘Copiapoa in their Environment’ and duly posed for pictures standing next to the plant, a copy of the book in hand. It takes a little bit of mental agility to recognise the scenery, as the picture in the book displays a mirror image of what we saw.
Even the small dead clump to the right in the picture is still exactly as it was nine years ago!

Eventually we had feasted enough and moved on, as we had another appointment – with the late Alan Craig. Alan and Gwen had been to Chile on many occasions and in particular had enjoyed visiting the Guanillos Valley. So when Alan died in 2001, Gwen and friends decided to put up a small memorial on the beach at the mouth of the valley. I had promised Brendan Burke (one of the friends) that we’d drop by and say hello and we were glad to be able to keep our promise (S0158).

We had arranged to meet Rudolf and Leo for a night’s camping at the mouth of the Guanillos Valley, but arrangements had been a little vague and a group of Chilean sea weed harvesters had already taken up the best spot. So Benjy and I decided to take us to ‘Secret Valley’ (S0074) where we had camped in 2001. You won’t find this name on any map, as it was one of those location names that are created spontaneously during a field trip, in this case by Attila and Rudolf during their 1994 trip. It is not so secret these days as the GPS details were published in their book.

When we arrived I was amazed to see that time had stood still since 2001. The remains of our campfire were still as we had left them. At that time, Leo had put a large stem of Copiapoa columna-alba (these grow here in large numbers) on to the camp fire and Rudolf had taken its core temperature (21 C as I remember) as it went on to the fire and again, at the end of the night when we scrambled into our tents (same core temperature – indicating either the plant’s amazing ability to protect this critical part of its anatomy from the heat of the sun, or that Rudolf needs to get a new thermometer …☺). The remains of the stem looked exactly the way we had left it two years earlier – without obvious signs of decay. Tents were put up, dead Eulychnia wood gathered and pictures taken of our plant-companions for the night. As we were lighting the fire, Rudolf and Leo arrived, having guessed that we would make for Secret Valley.

We enjoyed another great night, this time perhaps being a bit more careful during late night calls of nature, as meeting a small C. ahremephiana (at Botija) is one thing, but tripping over a 100 cm stem of C. columna-alba is quite another!

Sunday 15 June 2003 – Taltal: Mt. Perales and beyond

I was a little concerned when I got up. A peek through the window revealed a bright sunny day. I walked outside and took a look inland – not a cloud in the sky. Ah well, the weather can change and clouds may drift in by the time we get to the top of the hill.

We had the usual quick breakfast, a couple of rolls with slices of cheese. One feature of the fridge in our cabana was that although it had various temperature settings, the result was the same – very cold. As a result, Angie would spend a few minutes with her hair dryer to defrost the cheese so that the slices could be pulled apart, while I made the coffee.

We made one stop (S0150) along the track about half way up the hill and saw Copiapoa cinerea and its forms Copiapoa haseltoniana and C. tenebrosa. The track had not improved during the last two years and the silence all round us was only broken by the noise of the Nissan coming up the hill. It had a metal plate that acted as a guard to protect the oil sump etc from damage from
stones and boulders and should be held in place by four nuts & bolts. It was now only held on by one and as a result, the sump guard scraped along the track, making a poor attempt at levelling it for our descend later. The Copiapoa were a beautiful white to bluish grey that combined beautifully with the clear blue sky!

S0151 was made at the top of the hill, and still not a cloud in sight to recreate the magical effect that we had witnessed two years ago. The ground was thick with between large Echinopsis (Trichocereus) and Eulychnia stems and small leafless shrubs, of which I was only able to recognise Euphorbia lactiflua (unless there is another plant up there as well that bleeds when a branch breaks off) and Oxalis gigantea.

But where as the action in 2001 had been on the east side of the hill, over looking the then cloud filled valley, this time I went to take a look to the west and found that the trip was still worth while as a beautiful view over Taltal unfolded. Last time, the clouds had prevented this. A few wispy clouds were beginning to drift in, but not enough to spoil the view or to recreate the 2001 view.

On the way up, we had passed a turn off where a track headed east along what Rudolf had very aptly christened ‘The Ridge Way’. We crawled
along this, as the track was in a very poor shape, but offered spectacular views, including the occasional steep drop either side of it. We could hear the Nissan scrape along behind us. We stopped (S0152) at a place suggested by Rudolf, where Copiapoa rupestris (and not much else) grew. This had to be a continuation of the population that we’d seen at the end of the Quebrada San Ramon, where it had been accompanied by Copiapoa krainziana but there was no sign of anything like a white spined plant here.

There was one more stop (S0153) to feast our eyes on ‘proper’ Copiapoa cinerea, white bodied plants with jet black spines, just one or two per areole, before returning to Taltal. Is there such a thing as cactus-indigestion after seeing so many beautiful plants today? And is there a cure? Sure there is – more of the same tomorrow!

Saturday 14 June 2003 – Taltal to Paposo and back

Two days earlier, we had passed a photo stop for Copiapoa eremophila because we had missed the ‘two dead busses’ turning off the main road. Today we would make up for this, but decided that the rather dust covered plants along the side of the main road would have to do (S0144). Also found were some nice Neops (Eriosyce taltalensis subsp. paucicostata). Looking at my images now, we also saw Eulychnia taltalensis and Trichocereus, but after seeing them at most stops to date, they seem to have become part of the general scenery and not worth jotting down in my notebook anymore.

Cumulopuntia sphaerica (aka Opuntia berteri) is another one that is found in most places and so doesn’t make it on to my list. I’m going through our digital images and slides (as they are returned from the processor – I send them in batches of 3 films at the time as I know of people who sent all their film from a cactus trip in one go, only to loose them all as the lab. had a disaster processing that particular batch), to add any cactus taxa in the pictures to my list of plants seen at a
particular stop.

For our next stop (S0145) we moved back down the hill to the northern edge of Paposo where, right next to a thermo electrical station, was a quaint, well maintained cemetery. Between the cemetery and the ocean, we found Copiapoa cinerea / haseltoniana and Eriosyce taltalensis subsp. paucicostata – plenty of opportunity to take some pictures of cacti with the ocean in the background.

Reviewing these images later, it seems that we may not have been as careful as we should have been to keep the horizon straight as in many you’d expect a water-skier to come in from one side of the picture and ski ‘down the slope’ to the other. A bit of trickery using Photoshop will sort this out – more work 🙂

We spent the rest of a relaxing day driving back to Taltal, making random stops along Ruta 1, which is lined all the way with Copiapoa – at least where the narrow strip of land between the ocean and the foot of the coastal hills is wide enough. Our next stop (S0146) was just south of Paposo and we found much the same plants as at our previous stop, although the cinereas here seemed be more green rather than bluish grey. When taking pictures of cacti in habitat, it is important to provide an object in some of the photos to provide a scale to allow the viewer to get an impression of the seize of the plant. Lens caps and coins are perhaps most often used – but will the audience know the size of a Chilean coin? For a big clump of Copiapoa cinerea, a lens cap or coin would not have been visible. I used my hat on a number of occasions to indicate scale and the final results are quite amusing, especially on plants where the apex has started to elongate to eventually become a crested head. Such plants gained the nick name ‘smilers’, and we found a number of these.

S0147 – and still the same plants as before, but here the Eriosyce taltalensis subsp. paucicostata was much greener – probably the form seen in cultivation as ‘viridis’. The diameter of the heads on the cinerea seemed to increase.

At S0148, north of Playa Cachinales, plants with heads of up to 30 cm (12″) in diameter were found with stems on some plants trailing along the ground reaching lengths to 180 cm (6 ft): these must have been the plants for which the name Copiapoa gigantea was erected.

But just as you think that they can’t get any bigger, at our next stop (S0149) we found some real monsters, as well as a ‘different’ Eriosyce (Neoporteria) sp. The spination on the Copiapoa was much lighter in colour – horn coloured to white – than the predominantly black to grey spined plants at Paposo.

Over our dinner that night I enthused about our target for the next day – early morning on top of Mt. Perales where in 2001, Marlon had taken his magnificent ‘Cacti above the cloud’ pictures.