The Cactus Trip Diaries

A faithful reader, Ian, reminded me today that the Diaries currently end abruptly on 3 January 2011 in Vallenar. Were we OK, did we arrve home safely?

Sorry folks. Yes, we are all safe and well and arrived back in the UK after a completely unremarkable journey from Vallenar. In brief:

4 January: Drive from Vallenar to Lonquen. We were still a bit concerned as we were on 3 dodgy tyres plas a risky spare, unable to find replacement tyres of the correct size. We were a bt more confident after the rubber had behaved itself yesterday, so Cliff pushed the self exposed max speed up to 100-120 km.

I took pictures from the car window of the Eulychnia mainly from between Vallenar to La Higuera, just before the Cuesta Buenos Aires. Were these E. acida or E. breviflora? Particularly as we got stuck behind small convoys of trucks and busses, which brought our speed down to c 80 km.p.hr. it was possible to distinguish ceroids with lateral buds/flowers/fruits (i.e. E. acida) from E. breviflora with its large, woolly honey coloured hypanthia. The poor quality of the images shot on the move mean that they are extremely unlike to ever appear in a talk or publication, but they help to confirm that E. acida is the prominent Eulychnia inland, as R5 heads south from Vallenar, but that it is replaced somewhere between El Trapiche and La Higuera by E. breviflora as R5 turns towards the coast. Juan reports observations from his previous trips that E. breviflora is the common Eulychnia in Quebrada Honda. Yet, above Los Hornos at our regular leg stretch stop, E. acida is the prominent Eulychnia, with just the odd E. breviflora found. All these images are recorded as S2195 and this is the last stop number of these trips.  We started at S1894 on 9 October 2010, so I make that 301 photostops.

We arrive back at Lonquen around 6 pm and by 8 sit down for a meal at the local Chinese restaurant.

5 January: a rest and packing day when I start logging all the Stops into my access database. When the day starts to cool down a bit (Lonquen in January is a hot place) Juan and I go and get the car washed. Unbelievable that this gleaming white car that drives away from the car wash is the same as the filthy dust covered car (inside and out) that has been our home for the last 89 days.

The punctures are more a natural consequence of driving 23,180 km then a defect of our vehicle. Although we had mainly used national highways, such as Ruta 5 in Chile and Ruta Nacional 3 and RN 40 in Argentina, the Argentinian roads can be very variable in quality, changing from smooth asphalt to long stretches (100s of km) of gravel roads with some poorly maintained stretches catching out the driver.

We went out to eat at a local Chilean Steak House and then dropped John off at Santiago Airport, around midnight. John’s flight was due to leave at 7:00 a.m. the next morning, which meant a 4 a.m. check in or a 3:15 departure from Lonquen if we were to drop him off. We were very happy when John suggested that we’d drop him off around midnight so that the rest of us could enjoy a good night’s sleep. He reports that he slept well on the airport benches.

6 January: Cliff and I are due to leave around 8 p.m. Cliff is on a flight departing some 20 minutes earlier than mine. In Madrid we will join the same flight to Heathrow IF flights depart and arrive on time. After some haggling with airport officials I manage to get myself transferred to Cliff’s flight.  We leave Santiago exactly on time and arrive at Madrid ten minutes earlier than scheduled, easily making the connection to our flight to Heathrow.

We had joked about all the snow and ice that Europe experienced while we were sunning ourselves in South America but could this weather prevent Angie and Cliff’s daugthers from picking us up for the ride home?  Fortunately the temperature rose a few days earlier and there is no trace left of the snow and ice.

Let’s hope that these roads are still clear on 3 February, when I leave from Heathrow for some two and a half months in California and Mexico. The Cactus Trip Diaries will continue again on 3 February.

Not much to report; we made it safely through (roughly) the first half of our journey home. The road builders had performed miracles on the work to turn R5 into a dual carriage way from Caldera to Copiapó. The extra width was not yet available, but looked to be ready any day soon.

Some 5 km out of Copiapó we were directed onto the new Copiapó  by-pass that went through a virgin piece of desert to meet up again with R5 some 20 km south of R5. The road was as smooth as a baby’s bottom, but John still kept the speed down to be on the safe side.

Tomorrow is the last stretch to Lonquen.

Today can best be described as another Cactus Explorer’s Admin Day.

Top priority was to track down a vulcanisation tire fixer to fix the tire. Eventually we found one, who was recovering from a hangover. is friend offered to open up for him and take the tire off the wheel. We thought it best not to hold a match too close to this gentleman. We found the hole, but also ‘the next potential hole’ – a cut along the wall of the tire and asked for a ‘just in case’ patch to be put there too.

The actual patching surgery was performed by the man himself. We left with his warning to only use this tire as our spare. Great! Now we had three tires like that!

The rest of the day was spent updating Diaries, sorting pictures, watching TV and dozing.

At 8 p.m. we went for our last planned meal at Club Taltal where we were joined by Elizabeth and Norbert Sarnes from Germany for a great evening of cactus talk. We look forward to continuing the conversation at E.L.K. in September.

We have c 1,200 km to drive to Lonquen over the next two days, sticking to R5 and to speeds of 80-90 km.p.hr.

Less than 12 hours into 2011 and we picked up another puncture! Not a good omen for the new year!

We had decided that it would be OK to give the car some gentle exercise by taking the Taltal to Cifuncho coast road to show John some nice views of Taltal and to show him Copiapoa desertorum and Thelocephala weisseri.

We stopped just past Bahia Isla Blanca (S2194) as the first cacti – Copiapoa columna-alba – appeared on either side of the road. We wondered if Eriosyce occulta might grow here. We did not find any, but that does not mean that they do not. ‘Occulta’ means ‘hidden’ and few cacti are better at playing hide-and-seek when not in flower. We did however find a few plants of C. taltalensis, not at their best. The C. columna-alba added a few more pictures in the ‘Cactus with Ocean background’ category.

At the Playa Los Dos Amigos we decided to follow the good quality gravel track along the coast for some unexpected exploring. But before we could reach the end of the track, Cliff, with his window open, reported a hissing noise and sure enough – the puncture.

Today is the first day that 1 January is a compulsory holiday in Chile, except for restaurants and hotels etc, so all Vulcanisation places are shut, leaving us to again catch up on Cactus Explorer’s Admin. And that included a phone call with Angie at the Hotel.

We had established that most places would be shut today, but Club Taltal had said that they would be open for lunch until c. 17:00 hrs. We were there around 14:00, but they were closed. Fortunately Las Brisas was open and the new Peruvian waitress was rushed off her feet. We timed our arrival just right – thirty minutes later and people were waiting outside in their cars until a table became available.

Nothing wrong with having dinner during the afternoon! Except – what do you do in the evening. We took a stroll into town in the hope to find somewhere to at least have a beer, but everything was closed. Back on Capt. Arturo Pratt (aka Taltal High Street) two policemen seemed to be trying to help a tourist couple with the same challenge. We walked over, keen to learn their advice. Juan was the first to recognise the couple: Elizabeth and Norbert Sarnes from Germany, whose Patagonia presentation we had enjoyed at ELK 2010.

The policemen could not help, so in desperation the six of us returned to the Plaza where at least the kiosk was selling Coca Cola and Sprites plus crisps, Duritos etc. An amazing 4 bottles each! A whole evening of mainly cactus related chat and without a drop of alcohol to pass our lips! It is possible!

After New Year’s Eve in Pichidangui 2007/2008, I had high expectations for New Year’s Eve in Taltal.

Not knowing what to expect, we had made some advanced enquiries – first at Club Taltal where we had learned that the fireworks would be set off at midnight on the hill above ‘the Taltal Flyer’, the little steam loco and two carriages that remain as a memorial to the local railway service. To be able to join in with the festivities, the staff explained that they would open thirty minutes earlier than usual at 19:30! And close at 21:00. Great, we would not be hungry leaving 2010.

We turned up at 19:45 but everything was still shut. We looked at other options: Las Brisas, the fish restaurant at the end of town was closed; Las Brasas, the ‘new’ find tried on 30 December had said that they would be closed and only re-open on 4 January. The new ‘sometimes open’ restaurant opposite Hotel Plaza had its doors open  but all the chairs were stacked on top of the tables, suggesting ‘closed’. Not keen on a rumbling stomach New Year’s Eve we walked back towards the square and were very pleased to see the staff of Club Taltal turn the corner to open the restaurant at their regular time of 20:00 – the routine is just too deeply ingrained.

It was only 22:00 hrs as we left, fully fed and watered (wined) when we were back on the Plaza – the ONLY people on the Plaza – where was everybody? We decided to go back to the Hotel where I promptly fell asleep.

Juan was good enough to wake me at 23:30 and within minutes the four of us were walking towards the Taltal Flyer. The streets were still empty, but there were now Guy Fawkes type dummies along the road – either stuck on small bikes, too small for previous owners or on stakes with very surprised looks on their faces. The UK has a tradition to do something similar on 5th November – Fireworks Night – when dummies of Frenchman Guy Fawkes are set on fire to commemorate his attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 as part of The Gunpowder Plot.

We reached the Taltal Flyer and stood around with twenty or so other people who, prompted by their mobile phones, suddenly started to kiss each other and wishing each other Feliz Nuevo Año!

And that was that. We walked back over the Plaza, but apart from a dozen policeman hugging each other as they passed on best wishes to each other.

Back at the Hotel there was a family party in progress. I went to bed and went straight to sleep again. Others complained that the party went on until early in the morning.

Happy New Year everyone!

Yesterday’s puncture required a bit more thought. We now have a dodgy off-side rear tyre, the original spare, of unknown quality, as the near-side rear and a dodgy spare that required us to have an inner tube fitted in November. The sensible thing would be to buy at least one new spare tyre, even at GBP 140 and only a week until we go home, but it turns out that the Chevrolet is such a new model that it’s unusual tyre size (17) is not held as a stock item. We had already experienced this in Santiago at the end of November when we had tried to get a replacement.

The dodgy tyres are at the rear, so should be OK if we keep the speed down to 100 km.p.hr. and take it easy on the bends. Taltal is c. 1,100 km from Santiago and another 30 km to Lonquen and we all feel optimistic about making that. In the case of further problems, we have a roadside assistance number to ring, so the trick is to stay on Ruta 5 where there is plenty of passing traffic to get Juan to somewhere in reach of phone mast. Routes where it’s unlike that we’ll see another car all day or be within reach of a mobile phone signal, such as a drive to Botija, planned for today, or Vicuña to Ovalle via Hurtado (the ‘Golden Balls’ circuit, planned for Monday) are best cancelled. Apologies to John, for whom these locations are all brand new, but he agrees that at this stage safety is best and everything that we’ve seen since 24 December has been a welcome unplanned bonus.

How will we fill the time? We went to the ‘mass cinerea site’ north of the Taltal – Ruta 5 road near Las Breas and spent a relaxed morning taking pictures of these magnificent plants in amazing numbers. Also looked for Eriosyce occulta that we found here in November, but this time But after an hour in the hot sun, even large numbers of Copiapoa cinerea can become a bit same-ish. Hoorah for cristates and other unusual things happening at the  growing point. Plus there were plenty of plants in flower with the nectar sucking hover-fly that we’ve seen before on Eulychnia was having a drink here. And finally I found one or two E. taltalensis in flower so took some more pictures of them, but unfortunately there were no ripe fruits yet – flowering seems to be late on E. taltalensis, so I hope that Juan and Flo will have better luck on an upcoming trip to the north during the next few months.

We all had plenty of things to do for the afternoon, back at the Hotel: cleaning and sorting seed, sorting images and catching up on the Diaries so that they can be posted once we have a wifi connection that works.

Tomorrow, once our heads have cleared after seeing in 2011, we’ve planned a short trip to C. desertorum, C. columna-alba and Thelocephala weisseri near Cifuncho – on good asphalt, with more ‘Cactus Explorer’s admin’ in the afternoon.

Hope you all have a great New Year’s Eve – we will!

These last three months it has become a regular routine to introduce newbies to the charms of Copiapoa cinerea ssp haseltoniana by a trip to various locations around Paposo. Today we made the following stops:

S2183 – north of Taltal between Ruta 1 and the Ocean – not the stop that I had hoped to have made as I was looking for the place where John Ede and I saw C. haseltoniana and C. cinerea growing side by side in November. Instead we were treated to a number of white spines C. cinerea that we’ll call C. albispina, although this Backeberg name was never published validly.

S2184 was at Quebrada Matancillas where in November we had found C. haseltoniana, C. humilis and Eulychnia taltalensis almost overwhelmed by field flowers. Now the cacti were covered by the remains of that flowering explosion – not very attractive but perhaps an explanation why Copiapoa scorch so easily during the early days of Spring in Europe. The grasses and weeds that practically cover the plants in habitat will also protect them against the sun. E. taltalensis had put on tremendous growth compared to the other Eulychnia species but they were late with flowering, with many buds, only half a dozen flowers spotted and no fruits.

S2185 was our regular visit to the Paposo Virgin where we saw C. humilis and C. haseltoniana, E. taltalensis and Eriosyce paucicostata. There are usually very few mature C. humilis but this time Cliff found a nice plant actually in flower!

There was still a good show of flowers at S2186 – the fog zone above Paposo. Not the cacti (same selection as at the previous stop) but Nolana and a range of bulbs that are another interest for John.

We finished off with the C. cinerea ssp haseltoniana ‘eremophila’ population (S2187) at the pylon service track. This time we only went as far as the disused caravan as there was no benefit to be gained by going all the way to the end as usual.

Once again I’m paying ‘Diary Catch up’: full days and struggling with the internet connection at Hotel Gali and a relatively high number of stops to process. But all are old familiar locations as we continue our attempts to impress John with Chilean cactus flora. I think that we are succeeding by showing him areas inland where nothing grows, combined with areas along the Pacific Coast where temperatures are very pleasant with the light sea breeze and where exploring for cacti with the sound of waves breaking on the rocks is the norm – not much chance of this in landlocked Bolivia!

Eight stops today, starting with a stop (S2175) not for out of Caldera where we saw Copiapoa calderana, relatively small plants with lots of young plants coming through – no goats or cattle! We failed to find Eriosyce (Thelocephala) krausi here this time.

We made up for this at S2176, a dead-cert krausi stop and were not disappointed. John is getting a Copiapoathon, Thelocephalathon and Eulychniathon all rolled into one at double fast speed! C. cinarescens was here as well, although not in great numbers. This location is a quarry and the plant’s days are numbered.

We drove past ‘Hoot The Virgin’ as this is more and more resembling a public toilet with paper and nappies everywhere.

 S2177 was on the way from Chañaral to the Pan de Azucar National Park at the usual stop for C. serpentisulcata. Again we failed to find any seed or plants in flower.

S2178 and still just outside the Park was our regular ‘C. cinarescens-on-dark-rocks’ stop – just too photogenic to pass by.

S2179 was at the hillside marked Copiapoa cinarescens and where in October and November we had found Eriosyce (Thelocephala)  odieri ssp. krausii (s.n. T. malleolata in October and in November, but this time, a month on, it was just too hard – no more plants in flower and any seed pods seemed to have gone as well. Without these features, plants are very hard to spot!

S2180 was a continuation of the ‘Smiler’ site, but across the track that ultimately leads to Ruta 5. We were here in 2001 when I admired many young seedlings (small yes, but probably 10 – 20 years of age) many covered to various extends in ‘Nostoc’ the cyanobacterium that grows on the lower part of C. cinerea ssp. columna-alba. If ‘Nostoc’ grows too fast, it covers the body of the small Copiapoa, making it impossible for sunlight reached the chlorophyll in the Copiapoa and so condemning it to death.

For S2181 we had moved to Cifungo and were relieved to find ‘Benji’s Plant’ in better shape than I can remember. We had not been here for a few years (2004?). People are still calling it ‘sp. Cifuncho’ but I have little doubt that it is no more than a northern form of C. longistaminea. Seeing it, or any of the solitary plants that grow nearby, in flower would help to see if the stamens are indeed longer that the petals, as the nae implies. Clff had followed John to a spot where 2-3 plants were looking good – then fell and cut his leg quite badly – bad enough to need paracetamols, but not bad enough to require us to stay longer than planned.

The last stop of the day – S2182 was to satisfy our curiosity as to where Ritter’s Copiapoa rubriflora grows. Ricardo and Ingrid reported finding red-flowered C. taltalensis at the northern end of the Bay of Cifuncho. We found quite a few plants and took some pictures of a large clump in good shape, but as none of the plants were in flower, there was no way of telling if this was indeed a red-flowering Copiapoa. egular readers of these pages will remember that we have found red-flowering plants of C. desertorum along the Cifuncho end of the coast road to Taltal. I have never found a yellow flowered form of these plants that are now classified as a subspecies of C. taltalensis.

We had booked ourselves into Hotel Gali for five nights as it appears to be the only place in town that accepts credit card payments. Shame that they have still not resolved there wifi issues, with Cliff being the only one to receive a signal intermittently. Even when I plugged their cable straight into my laptop I was unable to get any signal. Sorry for the delay in transmissions!

After last November’s Thelocephalathon, John could have expected to being taken to a few cactus locations, to be bamboozeled with names and to enter up utterly confused. We kept making stops at acknowledged cactus locations and yet it seems that we could expect Thelocephala to occur anywhere that we would chose to look.

It is certainly true that Theloocephala can be hard to spot. If they are part of the flowering desert scenario their flowers are a dead give away. Now that things have dried up, plants with fruit are certainly easier to spot plant that have not yet woken up. As well as known locations we made some random stops and found Thelocephala there as well! We agreed that south of Caldera, if Thelocephala were the size of Eulychnia, we’d be driving through a forest.

We took R5 north from Vallenar – big road works going on here to turn the Vallenar to Chañaral stretch into a dual carriage way (with tolls to be charged for the favour.). Having already been along the two roads from R5 to Carrizal Bajo, this time we took the road to Totoral.

First stop was S2168, only 3 km from R5 as I wanted an ID for the Eulychnia that grew so far inland. It turned out to be . E. acida as expected. Cumulopuntia sphaerica was here as well. 

S2169 was our usual stop at km 22, just about at the inland limit for C. echinoides here. The Eulychnia were still E. acida and Cumulopuntia sphaerica again attached itself to my trouser legs. An attempt to escape the Atacama?

For S2170, Juan took us to a track off the main road where we found Eriosyce (Thelocephala) odieri ssp glabrasence. Plants described from this area were originally described as Thelocephala fulva, now reduced to synonymy.  C. echinoides Cumulopuntia sphaerica and Eulychnia sp (no identifying features but assumed to be E. acida) were the companion cacti.

A bit farther on it was my turn to shout ‘Stop’ as the Eulychnia now had honey coloured woolly buds and fruits – Eulychnia breviflora (S2171).  The C. echinoides had a much darker body colour – probably Ritter’s C. dura came from here.

S2172 was for a surprise remainder of the Desert in Flower experience specially laid on for John as he missed out on the October and November mass flowering here. This time they were light pink plants in the Family Malvaceae that were putting on the display, but not as dense at the flowers seen earlier. There were some wonderful stands of short E. breviflora here, almost resembling decorated Christmas trees with 2-3 fruits at the top of each stem. The Copiapoa here was C. echinata and woolly seed pods kept giving away Eriocyse (Thelocaphala) odieri ssp glabresence.

Just to illustrate their abundance, we stopped at one of the ‘cactus warning’ traffic signs (S2173) for more Eriocyse (Thelocaphala) odieri ssp glabresence.

The last call of the day was Morro Copiapó (S2174) where we found the expected C. marginata and T. odieri. Usually their was a stiff wind here but today it was nice and sunny, offering some glorious views across the bay.

We reached Hotel Puerto do Sol where this time we had ‘proper’ rooms. And we managed to find Restaurant El Teatre, which was much better than any eatery we had tried in Caldera before. I’ll be back!