The Cactus Trip Diaries

Sunday 4 October 2020

Last Sunday we had a small but nonetheless cozy meeting where I had intended to share images of my first trip to Chile in 2001. I was a little overconfident that I had all my trip presentations on a plug in hard drive so had done far too little time prepare for the presentation, only to find that in 2001 I was dragging two analogue cameras and about 40 rolls of 35 mm film with me, together with a prototype of one of the early Nikon cameras thanks to the father of a classmate of my youngest son, who was (and still is, I believe) the Marketing Manager of Nikon Europe.

Having to take life easy after I had a heart attack in 2006, I scanned all my conventional slides to digital format.

Why start in May? The above image was taken in May 2001. The area was covered in flowering lupines. My camera gear now is a whole lot better now so this will be an opportunity to retake the image with better results.

This Sunday I’ll entertain you with images from Chile around San Pedro de Atacama, to La Quiaca on the Argentina / Bolivia border before heading south to the Quebrada del Toro and on to Salta.

We did this stretch and more; Yavia cryptacarpa and the Blossfeld Oreocereus forest as well as most taxa in the Eriosyce Pyrrhocactus group and in the genus Tephrocactus.

Topic: Sunday Chez Paul Zoom Meeting
Time: Oct 4, 2020 07:30 PM London
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86899665067?pwd=bGJhcjJMLzF5dCtCOGhUUHBERmNMdz09
Meeting ID: 868 9966 5067
Passcode: Hols2021

I look forward to seeing you there.

Monday 21 September 2020

I really enjoyed the Second Weekend in September, that just like previous ELK events, once it has passed, soon is filed in the memory banks and planning moves on to ELK 2021, hopefully along the lines that we’ve got used to in previous years.

The ‘core’ members of our ELK party are already talking about a get together in the Netherlands, to visit our friends who run C&S nurseries, chat, eat and enjoy a drink or two. I did not get my annual ‘red cross parcel’ for the first time since my move to the UK in 1967 and I have not yet experienced what I can bring back legally since BREXIT kicked in. I have long run out of Zoute Drop (licorice), Zaanse Stroop Wavels and to pick up some Dutch junk food in the shape of ‘een broodje kroket’.

Here in Wiltshire, at Solstice Park, we celebrate that today in about 91 days, on 21 December, the days start getting longer again. In the mean time I’ll have to make do with playing back old presentations, starting with Chile 2001 this coming Sunday.

Sunday  September 27, 2020 07:30 PM British Summer Time

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82356570320?pwd=aUx6K09vWi9ZZDdHT1F6clh3c01Jdz09

Meeting ID: 823 5657 0320
Passcode: 2001Chile

Anyone who wants to give a Zoom presentation, even just to try out the format, let me know.

Hope to see you there!