The Cactus Trip Diaries

I had a score to settle.

In 2007, Juan, Florencia, Leo and I visited the Parc Nacional de La Campana, specifically to photograph the two Eriosyce that come from that area: Eriosyce curvispina ssp robusta and Eriosyce garavantea. E. garavantae is a challenge for any one; it grows near the top of the hill that dominates the park at 1,800 m altitude. On that occasion, I gave up about half way while the remainder of the group made it to the top and happily shared the pictures they took with me. But it was not about having the pictures, it was about having my own pictures. I’ wise enough to know that when you get older and less fit, there are things that you’d like to do but simply can’t. But it’s not easy. And the brain always looks for a solution to make it possible after all.

So while waiting for my fellow explorers to return, I was interested to learn from posters and had outs, that there is a track that can be used by 4×4 vehicles that goes to within 1.8 km to the top, as opposed to the 17 km that took 4-5 hours each way to conquer. At the time we were in Renault Clio, hardly the car for such an adventure. But this time ……

And so we sat having breakfast at the base of the hill, covered in thick cloud as we woke up, but becoming clearer as the sun was burning off the worst until by c. 10 a.m. we were ready for the challenge. Guns & Roses ‘November Rain’ was playing on my iPod that acts as the Explorer’s Juke Box. The month was right, but the outside thermometer indicated 18 C as the song was talking about walking in a cold November rain. By the time we had reached the point where the car track finished, the gauge read 27 C.

It was not the easiest track, in fact I’d put in on par with the climb to the top of Cerro Perales or the drive to the T Junction at Botija or the drive up ‘Horror Hill’ in 2003. At one stage the car was only 3 wheel drive as the rear wheel had plunged into a major pot hole and had tipped the car backwards with the opposite front wheel hanging about a foot in the air! But all crises were overcome and we managed the 10.5 km from the gate to the Mine area where the car track finished. I was under no illusion that the way back would be any easier!

We made one stop (S2073) for a handsome stand of Echinopsis (Trichocereus) chiloensis in flower and also found Eriosyce curvispina ssp. robusta in bud. So I had completed most of the trip to the top without a drop of sweat spilled or a sign of getting out of breath. But that was about to change.

The 1.8 km that remained on foot was covered at my own pace and I’m really grateful to Juan for being patient as my beta-blockers, busy protecting my heart, stopped me from going up at anything but a snail’s pace. Still, I got to the point that has a plaque dedicated to Charles Darwin in 75 minutes. Darwin is said to have reached this point on a clear day, 17 August 1834 and noticed how narrow Chile is, being able to observe from this spot, both the Andes (border with Argentina) and the Pacific Ocean. Today it was a bit more cloudy but we certainly knew that we were high up. Juan suggested that we did not make for the actual peak at 1,800 m where in 2007 only two plants were found, but instead to make for an area that was signposted as ‘Cuidado / Warning: Rodados y Pendiente fuerte’ (= land slides) where in 2007 they had found plenty of plants.

Mindful of the two light shocks that we had experienced at Ricardo’s yesterday I briefly thought about the wisdom of this proposal, but it seemed churlish after what we had already accomplished to abort the mission now. Juan discovered that he had left his best climbing shoes at Lonquen, so every step he took was hurting. Yet he risked life and limb and soon reported finding lots of E. garavantea plants, many in flower. But sadly he also reported that he thought it too dangerous for me to join him as he had already triggered a couple landslides. So I stuck to the path, or at least the series of markers on a different part of the landslide area that had been marked out at such. Eventually Juan found about a dozen plants that were near enough to the track for me to risk my life. And so an old score was settled.

Juan and I left Lonquen after lunch for a relaxed drive to Olmue where we had arranged a visit to Ingrid Schaub and Ricardo Keim and their plant collection / nursery Alvaralto. We had enjoyed their hospitality on a number of occasions in the past and this time was no exception, noting the latest changes in the cactus garden, seeing some new, yet to be described novelties and discussing the state of cactology in general.

Juan and I had already booked ourselves in to the cabanas where we had stayed in 2007 for our hike into the Parc Nacional La Campana where tomorrow we’d try again to follow in the footsteps of no less a person then Charles Darwin and reach the top of Cerro Campana (the Bell, due to its shape) to visit Eriosyce garavantae in habitat.

Today was exactly what the heading says: Staying indoors, out of the 30 C sun, finishing the data recording for trips to date and doing some planning for the up coming trip to Patagonia.

I ventured out into the sun for brief spells away from the computer to avoid square-eyed-itis, taking an ice-cold Crystal with me as a survival strategy!

All good things come to an end and for Mark and John that moment had come at around 10 a.m. when we left Lonquen to arrive in plenty of time at the airport and their flight home.

For me it was back to Lonquen to carry on being busy: sort pictures, update my database, bring the back log of Diaries up to date, stretches by the pool etc.

Today was exactly what the heading says: Staying indoors, out of the 30 C sun, sorting pictures, sorting clothes to be washed, finishing the data recording for trips to date and doing some planning for the up coming trip to Patagonia.

I ventured out into the sun for brief spells away from the computer to avoid square-eyed-itis, taking an ice-cold Crystal with me as a survival strategy!

For Mark & John the delights included packing for their flight home and preparing for the horrors to come by sun bathing by the pool – the end to a perfect trip.

I mentioned that last night we were invited to attend an end of year demonstration of Flamenco dancing by the school where Florencia and her sister have been active for some 30 years. It was the first time that this end of year party was held out of Santiago and the organisers did not really know what to expect in terms of numbers. They were very pleasantly surprised that over three hundred tickets had been sold.

We were treated to two hours of fine performances by the ladies only flamenco school. The whole evening was recorded for a DVD, but just in case, I made my own video recording. As my camcorder has a limited battery life, I could only record the bits that Flo took part in.

It was quite an eye opener for me, nothing like the tourist presentations I had seen on family holidays in Mallorca, or near Barcelona. These dances went back to the origins of Flamenco dancing and I thought I could recognise a lot of Indian and Middle East influences, which were later confirmed by Flo.

Although still only 11:00 a.m. the Cactus Explorers were dead on our feet and ready for bed. All except Juan and Flo, that is.

This morning we woke up for a 9 a.m. breakfast and he and Flo only just returned from the party which had gone on all night. Oh to be young!

As a result we had a relaxing day, excellent BBQ with Victor and other members of the family and then ready for a visit to the Concha y Toro wineries. (S2070) This was my third visit and I noticed that the cellars were not as full as they seemed previously. Our guide confirmed that although last January’s earthquake had only done some superficial damage to the cellars, it had been strong enough to cause the barrels that in places were stacked five high, to start moving. As one broke, others followed so that the morning after workers were ankle-deep in wine.

I had noticed that during the UK summer of 2010, supplies of Chilean wine in the UK seemed to have halted for a while. This was the reason why.

S2070a was a brief stop on a scenic drive into the Andean foothills. During a scenic stop along the Maipu river, Juan and Flo had spotted some cacti – Echinopsis (Trichocereus) chiloensis – and could not resist a quick look at closer quarters. The European cactus explorers were wearing the wrong shoes, had brought the wrong camera and were generally in the wrong mood for a stop into the hills. I followed to the Tricho stand where Flo had soon found some Eriosyce curvispina to make the exercise worthwhile.

Back home we managed Spag Bol and a beer before crashing out. Not a typical day, but still a great day.

Today was all about getting ‘home’, or at least to Florencia’s parents home at Lonquen, where again we were made very welcome.

So just one stop, and again it was the traditional stop at Pichidangui. This time it was much more relaxed than on 28 October when some of us were cactussed out.  This time John had specifically asked for this stop, as it had also been the last cactus stop on his last Chile visit in 2001. In a way, it brought the two trips together. The weather was brilliant and again we just enjoyed sitting in the sun, soaking up the experience and taking some more pictures, as though I don’t have enough already from this location!

And as always, there was something new to spot. This time it was a Dioscorea, spotted before, when I noticed some small insignificant flowers but this time in fruit. A spot of searching in Wikipedia suggests that it is Dioscorea bryoniifolia. In the C&S hobby in the UK, Dioscorea are often found in the collections of Cacti and other Succulent Plant growers, where in particular D. elephantipes is popular, because of its large and unusual caudex. In my early collection days I paid quite a bit of money for a nice specimen, only to kill it by using furniture polish to make the caudex even more attractive. Well, we all have to learn.

So a quick look on Google revealed that there are some 600 species found in most tropical and some temperate zones around the world. The picture of Dioscorea bryoniifolia on a Chilean website http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0900.htm)
is a perfect match for the plants I saw today at Pichidangui, but then I came across a paper that suggests that there are only three species of Dioscorea that are endemic to Chile:  D. biloba, D. humilis and D. polyanthes, so it looks as though I’ll have to do a bit more research. Anyway, the reason that I spotted the plant was for its strangely shaped fruits. Pictures to follow. Dioscorea are of course better known as Yams and are more usually found in vegetable markets and green grocers around the world and have quite a few medical applications.  So once again, a visit here had shown me something new and motivated me to look a bit deeper. All useful stuff for talks in 2011.

Regular friends seen and photographed again: Nolana sp. (several) Eriosyce curvispina (s.n. E. mutabilis) – in flower,  E. chilensis ssp albidiflora – in flower and E. subgibbosa – not in flower, Eulychnia castanea in flower, but no fruits found with viable seed – this was the same story during both the October and November trips: plenty of Eulychnia buds and flowers but no fruits with ripe seed. A shame, as I still need seed from a few taxa to complete the seed photo section of the Eulychnia book. Florencia and Juan have promised to go on another trip north in February or March and will collect seed then. Also Oxalis sp and Euphorbia sp. (looks like E. thinophila but with wider leaves) and Calandrinia (one of the perennial taxa).

And so to the peace and quiet of Lonquen – until tonight that is, when Florencia has laid on a Flamenco dancing presentation. I’ll have my film camera ready!

Our first pass along the Vicuña to Hurtado road in 2007 was a revelation. We had seen pictures of the large golden spined Eriosyce aurata in talks by Roger Ferryman in the UK but he had warned that the road to this location was rather poor. So rather than travel here with the large 2007 Copiapoathon crowd, we had waited until most of the Copiapoathoners had gone home and just Juan, Leo van der Hoeven and l made an exploratory trip, in a Renault Clio of all things. The car was so light, that in an emergency we could have picked it up and turned it round. As if to prove a point, that time we met a German (judging by his T-shirt in the colours of the German flag) cycling in the opposite direction, towing a small trailer. e was in a high gear, paddling like mad but making little progress, in robotics mode, not responding to our greetings, just focussed on getting to the top of this hill, with many more to follow. Always reassuring to know that there are folk that are more crazy than we are.

The total distance along the track is only 104 km, but it’s a very twisty track, fairly well maintained most of the way, that zigzags up and down hills reaching altitudes in excess of 1,800 m. One minute you are in a green valley surrounded by vineyards, next you are at a pass crossing from one valley into another looking at the Inter-American Astronomical Observatory on Cerro Tololol at the same altitude on a facing hill, before diving back down to the next valley. About half way along the road is the Mirador (view point) of Tres Cruces, which since our 2007 visit has been known to us as ‘The Golden Balls Stop’, inspired by Victoria Beckham’s nickname for David, for quite different reasons.

Today was my fourth visit to this place (S2068), still magical, but I think that by now I have taken pictures of just about every plant from every direction. I think that on a future trip we’ll have to explore a bit along alternative tracks to find some new locations for similar plants. Is this population the most ‘aurata’ (golden) spined of them all? Answers on a post card …..

Did Pfeiffer base his original description (for Echinocactus aurata) on plants from this population? Did Pfeifer ever see these plants in nature or was his description based on material sent to Europe? I think the latter, which makes me realise how fortunate I am to have seen them in their natural setting.  

The other traditional stop is at a forest of Echinopsis (Trichocereus) chiloensis, between the villages of Morrillos and Seron. (S2069). The plants here are not particularly more densely growing than on most of the other hillsides, but they really ‘hit’ you as the road comes round a corner and the hillside is immediately in front of you. Closer inspection than reveals that there are also a range of Eriosyce growing here. Interestingly (or ‘worryingly’?) it seems that at each visit I have identified these plants as different species. More reading required, me thinks. I have now added a ‘Location’ field to my database, so that Stops at the same Location can be more easily tracked down.

My impression of Ovalle continues to improve with each visit. In 2003 we arrived late, in the dark, tired after a day’s travelling and having earlier witnessed a spectacular sunset in the Fray Jorge National Park. We did not know the town and settled for the first hotel that we came across. Later it seemed that it was more usual for rooms to be booked by the hour than for a full night!

This time we made straight for the Hotel Plaza where the staff recognised us from the October visit and greeted us with smiles and handshakes. Nice! 

In December 2007, Leo van der Hoeven and I stayed on for some extra weeks of cactus exploration with Juan. One of these trips led us to Vicuña, a nice small town in the Elqui Valley. From here we made a trip east into the Andean foothills, as far we could go without papers to take the car into Argentina at Passo Agua Negra. We carried on another 15 km or so on a side track to Mina El Indio, until the locked gate forced us to turn back.

In 2008, Angie, Cliff and I wanted to repeat this experience but soon after leaving Vicuña we ran into some serious roadworks, made it to the border post, but found the track to El Indio closed.

This time the road works were finished and it was a very speedy, smooth ride. S2060 was for some golden spined Eriosyce aurata and Eriosyce eriosyzoides, growing high on the rocks. It was only a brief stop – we knew that we’d see better on the way back.

The customs post had only re-opened on 1 November having been closed for winter. Juan went to investigate and came back with the good news that the mine road was open, as long as we left our passports at the customs office, for collection on our way back.

Great news, as we were once again able to visit the locality for Maihueniopsis grandiflora! (S2061). Just as in 2007 we were greeted by the first of these plants spotted being in flower. Wonderful large salmon-pink flowers. Eventually we found another three or four flowers. This is a very small and fragile population; let’s hope that they also grow elsewhere. Unfortunately there was no seed to collect.

S2062 was just for scenic views from the gate of the mine, where we had to turn back. No cacti or other succulent plants spotted.

S2063 was at Puente Los Terneras where in 2008 we had photographed some large E. aurata. At this point, two small rivers merge, one with dark water (Agua Negra), the other a milky white. This time, possibly due to the road works, E. aurata had gone, but I suspect will be back once the land has been left undisturbed for a while.

In 2008, our next stop (S2064) was a building site. In between the rocks some very nice golden yellow spined E. eriosyzoides could be found. Today, this location demonstrated beyond doubt how well (some) cacti are adapted to recolonise disturbed land. 40 images taken here are all candidates for future photo competitions, with the rocks, blue skies and white fluffy Andean clouds making it difficult not to get a good picture.

We had finished our trip earlier than anticipated, so made a detour into the other ranch of the Elqui Valley to the picturesque town of Montegrande, birth place of Gabriella Mistral. (S2065) was a ‘no plants’ stop.

Still in good time, we drove west, past Vicuña, we drove to the Embalsa (large water reservoir) to where in 2001, Leo had made his famous turn onto a a track with a large ‘No Entry sign. As we passed by this turning on later trips, a gate had always kept us out. In October I noticed that the gate was open, it seemed on a semi-permanent basis. So now we had the time to explore a bit further.(S2066) The area where we had photographed Copiapoa coquimbana and Eriosyce sp. in 2001 had been cleared and was now a vineyard. But there were still plenty of plants in the surrounding hills and we could see more tracks that looked promising for future exploration.

We made our last stop of the day, S2067, just west of Vicuña to photograph more of the same cacti. Juan’s GPS suggests that the Copiapoa here are growing some 48 km from the Ocean, measured in a straight line – quite far inland, but not as far as C. coquimbana ssp andina, seen earlier this trip.

Yesterday’s gloomy cloudy sky had made way for brilliant sunshine. It promised to be another great day, particularly when reports from the UK indicated a dark wet autumn day.

Just a quick stop to the Copec on the R5 junction, but today it transpired that they had a problem with the pumps, so that no fuel was available. Bummer! So, off to the Esso station on the other side of the road where everything was well.

I kept a careful eye on the Eulychnia along R5 south of Vallenar. These were definitely E. acida judging from the lateral position of buds and flowers.

We turned west at Domeyko and a repeat of the route taken on 26 October. That day, it had started to drizzle almost as soon as we had left R5. This time we had brilliant sunshine.

We stopped at the regular stop for Ritter’s C. pseudocoquimbana var. domeykoensis  (S2054). The plants looked great, obviously having enjoyed the bit of rain the previous month. Cumulopuntia sphaerica and Miqueliopuntia miquelii were here and Eulychnia acida, tall plants, lateral flowering with a more bristly hypanthium than usual.

S2055 was S1965 in October and was for Eriosyce napina ssp tenebrica. We found a few plants, mainly because they were in fruit, but we had come to early to harvest them, as the seed was not yet ripe. We were now on the Llanos de Choros and surrounded by typical E. chorosensis.

After a bit of shopping for snacks in Carrizalillo we headed east, back to R5 and stopped (S2056) when short Eulychnia with an upright growth habit started to appear. These looked the same as those along R5 south of Vallenar and, later, as those growing at S2058 at El Trapiche. What to call these? E. chorocida?  Copiapoa coquimbana was here, with quite a few flowers, as was M. miquelii, and E. heinrichiana (s.n. E. juss????)

S2057 was at the bottom of the hill where JA01 was at the top of the hill, so close together that one Stop number will do. The reason for the stop was me spotting a monstrous Eulychnia along the side of the road. Only the top of the stems were affected. The plant had been infected by the parasite Tristerix (Phnygilanthus) aphyllus. Could this have triggered the deformation? There were other plants with the Tristerix infection that had not turned monstrous.

S2058 was at another favourite location, this time going back to 2006 when Juan showed us E(T) napina ssp riparia.  Just as in 2006, E. heinrichiana was in full flower.

S2059 was a brief stop at the Cactario Valencia, near Vicuña This cactus nursery had had a stand at the Plant Fair in Santiago that we visited on 30 October. There they had obviously brought their best plants along while this was their growing place, although their was also a fair selection of mainly larger plants offered for sale. It seemed that the lady was not really used to customers, appearing a little suspicious of the foreigners. I only took a few pictures here.

Then on to the Hosteria in Vicuna where we had enjoyed a very pleasant stay in October. This time we hoped to stay two nights, but unfortunately the Hosteria had been block booked for an astrological event. They recommended a Residencial (bed & breakfast) a few houses along where we managed to get a room with four beds.