The Cactus Trip Diaries

It’s Sinterklaas Dag in the Netherlands and surrounding civilised countries. Kids are on their best behaviour because tonight the Goedheiligman and his (politically incorrect) Zwarte Pieten helpers, will be bringing presents to all children who have been well behaved during the last year.

Our ‘present’ today consisted of six stops, starting with S2096 where we soon decided to wear our hats under our shirts for fear of having them blown off our heads. The wind gusts were unbelievable and made sure that we did not go too near to the edge of the cliff. Talking of Cliff, Juan took a picture showing him about to push me down a 100 m. drop! Good to know who your friends are.

Despite the seemingly unsuitable environment for cacti here, Juan and John soon found some very dehydrated plants that we believe are Austrocactus patagonica.

Huge stands of Mimulus sp. with yellow trumpet flowers with a dark centre made us stop for S2097. A quick, more detailed look revealed that yesterday’s Viola was also present. And some small miniatures yet to be identified, including another, small Mimulus sp. possibly M. luteus. John ‘scored’ a bulb. And cacti were represented by Maihueniopsis darwinii (?) and Maihuenia patagonica.

‘Always include something in your pictures that allows the viewer to judge size’ is a common photography tip. At S2098, goats were disappearing behind mounds of M. patagonica. If I could have driven a Volkswagen beetle in, it would probably also have been hidden from view! These were seriously big! We made a group photo here, but standing behind a relatively low clump. John proved its toughness by standing on top of a mound and promptly regretted it, having to get a pair of pliers to extract half a dozen spines that had embedded in the soles of his boots. Some had gone all the way through! There was also a Portulacaceae sp in flower and as that Family is closely related to the Cactaceae, it seemed worthwhile to take a few pictures. The Violas were still present too.

Back on the plain (S2099) Maihuenia darwinii ssp hickenii was on show – brilliant yellow flat spines! Also found Pterocactus sp. (P. fischerii?)

S2100 was a scenery – no cacti found stop and S2101 was a repeat of S2099 plus Austrocactus patagonicus (?) and it was in flower! Very densely spined!

Not a bad way to spend St. Nikolaas day!

It was fun to have another evening with friends last night, especially as Graham offered us the opportunity to reduce his supply of Auchentoshan 18 year old single malt whiskey! Cheers Graham, we owe you one!

Despite last night’s drinking, Guillermo’s party had already left by the time that we managed to raise ourselves for breakfast. We look forward to meeting you all again somewhere, sometime. Have a good trip!

Our dilema today was to push west, into the Andean foothills to see some Andean Alpines,  or to follow up on Guillermo’s tip of looking at the scenery and cacti along the road to the north east around Nihil. As true cactus explorers we did both, of course!

First we took the road west to the ski resort of Las Leñas and stopped at around 1,690 m altitude to take pictures of Denmoza rhodacantha and Maihueniopsis sp. (S2091).

Past the ski resort, at 2,340 m altitude (S2092), the vegetation had changed dramatically and we were now seeing our first (two?) roseolate Viola and a very cute, tiny Oxalis sp. with yellow flowers. Plenty of flowers, but sadly no fruits.

On the way back down the hill, at 2,112 m. altitude, (S2093) we stopped to inspect the overflow area of the river for more Viola. We found clumps of Maihueniopsis darwinii (in flower) and Maihuenia patagonica  (in flower – but the flowers could only fully open after we had removed a few heads. How do these flowers get pollinated?), a Viola sp. and the miniature Oxalis sp. again.

It was about 13:00 hrs as we returned to Malargue, too early to go to the hotel, so onwards, north east, towards San Rafael. Before the town we turned east towards Nihil and from there followed the track along the Cuesta de Nihil with dramatic scenery (S2094). The Rio Nihil passes through a narrow canyon that in several places was damned to allow electricity to be generated as the water was allowed to pass by generators on its was down. The track was full of climbs and drops with switch backs to quickly gain or lose height. Fortunately there was hardly any traffc in the opposite direction. Denmoza rhodacantha grew on the rocks with large clumps of Echinopsis (Trichocereus) candicans and added to the dramatic affect as the sun rays played through the spines. Although there are plenty of cacti in the pictures, the scenery was the main attraction.

It seemed a lot of hard work, but eventually we reached the spot that Guillermo had recommended for Pterocactus tuberosa. As we stepped out of the car at the GPS coordinates suggested, we practically stepped on the plants – no longer in flower but many showing the evidence of earlier flowering.

We arrived back at Malargüe quite late and tired. It’s not every day that we drive 555 km just to see some cacti and scenery!

That night there was a wedding reception in the hotel, so we had to go out to eat. The party continued noisily until c. 4:30! liff, John and Juan appeared red eyed, late for breakfast. We demanded and got a 10% discount on our hotel bill. I, of course, had slept through it all!

Our friends in Guillermo’s party were moving on by the time that we came down for breakfast. We would see them again tonight.

We made six stops today:

 S2085 was at Dique de Carrizal, a man made lake that seemed to provide for local tourism at the height of the tourist season in a month’s time. Tday it was deserted with sign posted indicating the attractions and eateries. It was also very much developed for agriculture, so we had little hope of finding cacti, so were pleasantly surprised (S2086) by Cereus aethiops, Tephrocactus articulata, the papyracantha (papery spines) form, Opuntia sulphurea, Echinopsis leucantha and Eriosyce (Pyrrhocactus) strausiana.

As we drove back towards the main road, we stopped near a rocky outcrop that I had spotted on the way in. How could we have missed the large clump of Echinopsis (Trichocereus) candicans in flower?

Back on the main road, we stayed on RN40, even though it changed from hard top to a gravel road, driving through a rather flat and featureless landscape for about 140 km.  We stopped (S2087) to confirm that there were no cacti hiding between the flowering shrubs. None were found.

At S2088, to re-confirm our previous (non-)findings we found a Tephrocactus sp. (very dehydrated), a bulb, to be identified later, and our first Maihuenia of the trip, M. patagonica, again very dried up.

We were nearly all asleep with the monotony of the track when the road made a sharp bend to reveal a Lago surrounded by steep hills with an Embalsa (Agua de Toro) at the end. We stopped (S2089) for scenic shots but also found Denmoza rhodacantha and Echinopsis (Trichocereus) candicans in large numbers on the hillside as an unexpected bonus.

After driving over the dam, the road went through a tunnel. We blinked like pit poneys when we emerged again into  the bright sunlight and almost immediately spotted small globular cacti in flower – Eriosyce (Pyrrhocactus) strausiana, forcing us to stop again (S2090).

We still had 113 km to go to Mallargue, where we arrived before Guillermo’s party who had taken a different route that we intend to explore tomorrow.

In 2008 we had found Maihueniopsis clavaroides north of the town, but missed the Pterocactus that is said to grow here as well. With an extra pair of eyes, we thought that we might see if we could find it this time.

As we approached the area, our hearts sank as there was now barbed wire along a much wider paved road with evidence that bulldozers had built the road by just scraping top gravel from the areas next to the road – exactly where our plants had grown. Fortunately the road went back to dirt about 1 km before ‘our’ 2008 spot, but I think that the future for this location is doomed. Let’s hope that their distribution is wider than we found in 2008.

At this spot, this time S2079, it took a little while to find Maihueniopsis clavarioides. It had been very dry here, while in 2008 we saw them in the middle of a thunderstorm, soaking wet. Some plants were in bud and looked as though they may open later. We also found Eriosyce (Pyrrhocactus) strausiana, in flower, but again very dehydrated. Rains should start by the end of the month, but are unreliable in timing and volume. We continued to find Maihueniopsis glomerata here, with some plants still in flower, but fruits indicating that we had missed the peak of flowering. The strategy seems to be to flower before the summer rains begin, so that ripe seed will be available to germinate and establish itself before the next dry spell.

We moved about 10 km farther north for S2080, mainly because of our curiosity in the dried ‘salt lake’ at the foot of some low hills. It turned out to be a dried up mud lake, used as a watering hole for cattle when water is available, judging by the cow pats and goat droppings. Maihueniopsis glomerata had somehow survived, but the rest of the area seemed thrashed. Just as we were about to give up and return to the car, Juan (who else?) found Pterocactus gonjanii, in bud. Just two flower stems sticking out above the soil. They must have shot up after the cattle moved on to better watering holes. Maihueniopsis clavarioides  was here too, but looking very shrivelled.

 S2081 must have been a floral continuation of yesterday’s S2078 to the west rather than the east of Uspallata with the same plants present. The hillside was full of Denmoza as well as some Echinopsis leucantha and more M. glomerata. We passed a plaque in the middle of nowhere to commemorate an 1835 visit by Charles Darwin and the 200th Anniversary of his birth in 1809.

We agreed on a bit more exploration east of Uspallata and soon had found a microwave tower perched high on the top of a hill. There was a good track to the top and excellent views, but once we arrive at the top the wind was so strong that we could hardly open the car doors. A miserable looking Maihueniopsis glomerata prevented S2082 being marked up as a No Cactus Stop.

We continued a bit farther along the Ruta Sanmartinianas, the historical route taken by General San Martin and a small contingent of Chileans that cleared the Conquistadors out of first Argentina, then Chile.

 S2083 was 4 km on, where we found Cumulopuntia boliviana and a red-flowered bulb to please John.

Then it was time to return to Uspallata, briefly stopping at S2084 for a hillside full of Opuntia (O. sulphurea?). We had arranged a meeting with Guillermo Rivera and his South American Expedition tour who were staying in the same hotel as we were. In addition to Guillermo, other friends and acquaintances included Leo van der Hoeven, Graham Hole (UK), Winnie Pfendbach from Germany, Dick and Phyllis from Houston, Texas, who had been on Guillermo’s 2005 NW Argentina tour that was my introduction to this beautiful country. It also provided an unexpected opportunity to meet Craig Howe, who with his wife Liz have been on several of Guillermo’s tours and published a Diary of their 2004 experiences on cacti_etc, thus inspiring us to make the 2005 trip. As you can imagine, the beer flowed freely and the evening passed by much too quickly, so we decided that we would meet up again tomorrow night, but would take things a bit slower than the bus party.

The good news was that we had all seen the same cacti, but as Guillermo’s party had passed through the area of our first two stops in the afternoon, the Maihueniopsis and Pterocactus buds that we had seen in the morning had now opened up, so that they have pictures of the plants in full flower.

The Patagoniathon 2010 kicked off as planned with our departure from Lonquen at about 9:30.

The roads taken (Lonquen to Santiago ring road, past the airport, then R5 north, as for any regular Copiapoathon) until the turning east to Los Andes.

A fast dual carriage was got us into the mountains and when things slowed down a bit, as roads narrowed we made a brief stop to stretch our legs (S2076 – km 24, Los Espinos) and spotted a few Alstroemeria – a different sp. then encountered thus far on our travels. John was obviously more fired up and climbed through a fence to get closer pictures. Cliff was singing the praises of his new camera with incredible x30 optical zoom capability and claimed that he could almost count the anthers on the flowers some 50 meters away. Do check the lens for dust particles, Cliff!

The road climbed steeply and in places was covered by strong concrete sections not unlike a journey through the European Alps. Another leg stretch stop (S2077) and a chance to point zoom lenses at Eriosyce aurata on the opposite side of the valley. A fast flowing river made it impossible to get closer.

Then another example of the chaotic and pointless bureaucracy that is border control. It’s not just so here between Chile and Argentina, just take a look through past Diaries about the problems we have experienced trying to get ourselves and our cars in and out of Mexico / USA!

Things were not helped by the fact that there seemed to be a customs strike in progress that fortunately seemed to affect trucks and lorries only.  As usual we were passed from pillar to post – or kiosk to kiosk to be more precise, before a smartly dressed uniformed lady smiled and told us ”That’s all!’  Nice thought, but she was wrong, as 20 km down the road, at a police checkpoint, we were told that one of the forms only had three instead of four stamps. This on a form generated by the Argentinean authorities themselves. We joined another (Argentinean) car to wait to hear what should happen and were soon joined by a queue of motorbikes and cars in the same predicament. The outcome was predictable: shrugs of shoulders and we were on our way, despite the missing stamp.

It was not far to Uspallata and we made one more stop, so as not to be embarrassingly early at the hotel. S2078 gave us tall Denmoza rhodacantha, including one specimen over 2 m. tall, two Maiheniopsis glomerata and one (dead) Echinopsis leucantha. We returned to the car happy with today’s photo catch except that John, who had chosen to explore on the north side of the road, had not found any cacti at all.

We found Hotel Gran Uspallata without trouble on the outskirts of town. We’ll stay here two nights and hope that tomorrow we’ll be joined by Guillermo Rivera and a bus full of enthusiasts on his Patagonia Expedition. The passengers should include friends from Europe, so this should prove an interesting re-union! Perhaps a challenge to the annual ELK event in Belgium?

It’s great to welcome John Carr, from Selby, Yorkshire, England to Santiago de Chile.

It was  -10  Centigrade when he left home yesterday, the train to London was cancelled so an 8 hour trip by coach preceded his flight from London Heathrow to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Flight tracker again proved useless for flights outside US airspace, retorting that the flight was due to arrive 30 minutes early when in fact it touched down 30 minutes late. It was +27 C outside the airport and more like 30 C walking through the exposed car park.

It did not matter, we were in no particular rush and were in time for lunch plus an afternoon of chatting about travel plans, trips to the fridge to pick up an ice cold Cristal and brief spells at the pool.

By the way, either no one has been reading my posts or everyone has become so accustomed to my spelling mistakes and typos that nobody found it necessary to point out that I have been consistently misspelling Chile’s favourite lager, Cristal, with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’. Now I’ll have to check WordPress for a bulk search & replace function to correct all the times that I have misspelled it in the past. There is no need to notify me of other typos of which I know that there are plenty.

tomorrow we set off on the 2010 Patagoniathon!

Flight tracker is wonderful, except that it seems to work best for flights in US airspace. It did report that Cliff’s flight had not left Madrid on time and that any delays would be updated later. It suggested on one screen that the flight, due to arrive at 9:15 would be 30 minutes late, while on another screen we were advised trhat it would land at 10:08. That was the time that we pulled into the airport, got stuck in a roadworks traffic jam and ended up in the second carpark away from the terminal. ‘He might actually be waiting for us.’ I suggested optimistacally. He wasn’t, because his flight was still in the air and eventually touched down at 11:16.

Cliff emerged from customs about an hour later – much to our amazement, with Bart & Marijke Hensel! I thought that they were due to fly in tomorrow, but I got that wrong. Their Amsterdam- Madrid flight had been delayed so that they had missed their connecting flight in Madrid and ended up on the plane with Cliff. But they had also missed their connecting flight to Antofagasta so sorting out their revised flight was their next connection. It was around 15:00 hours, so not too bad and not enough time to come along to Florencia’s home for a snack and refreshments.

We hope you have a great time in Chile and look forward to learning about your experiences!

Cliff reported a nice straight forward journey from Waterlooville to Heathrow and then a series of delays in flights taking off and his plane not going as fast as it was able to, to add further to delays. 

On the way back from the Airport, we visited another  huge shopping Mall where Juan tried to get a pair of walking / climbing boots, but without success. Cliff had as much success looking for a belt, as he has lost a few pounds since the start of the October tour, also without success and I was after a hoodie to keep my ears warm in Patagonia where apparently wind is a strong feature and all four seasons can be experienced in the same day – but I was not prepared to pay mega-bucks fopr something that was designed for the surfing beaches of California. I’ll wait for something more functional and local when the need arises.

And so I settle back to my routine of computer planning the Patagoniathon and trips to the poolside with cans of Crystal.