The Elqui Valley, along with the
Huasco and Copiapó valleys, are important agricultural islands in an
otherwise barren landscape. We were treated to an ever changing flora as
we drove from the coast up into the foothills of the Andes where snow
topped hills form part of the scenery.
Irrigation has created oases where
vineyards make an important contribution to Chilean wine production.
From La Serena, we followed Route 41 along the
south side of the Rio Elqui, persuading a restaurant at Las Rojas to
open for breakfast before making our first cactus stop (S005)
at a viewpoint car park past the Embalse Puclaro, a dam to control the
flow of water in the river, creating an upstream lake. It was the
view of the dam that prompted the stop, but any stop presents a photo
opportunity for the resident cacti, and we're not disappointed. We
spotted our first Copiapoa! One of the many forms of C.
coquimbana. This is a very complicated taxon to classify. On the one
hand we saw many local forms that were quite different from each other
and yet seemed to us to share a great number of common features. As a
result, many species have been described only to be submerged into the
earliest named taxon: C. coquimbana. The current thinking seems
to support the classification of these green bodied Copiapoa from
south of the Huasco river as belonging to one large complex, for now
conveniently at species rank
A 'No Entry' sign on the entrance
to an unpaved track leading to a mine seemed to present an invitation to
take a closer look at the cactus flora (S006).
A fortunate opportunity, as in 2003 we found this entrance fenced off,
leaving us pessimistic about the well being of the plants that we were
able to see this time round.
As the road climbed higher and
higher, we drove through the village of Monte Grande, with a charming
church and a monument for the poet Gabriela Mistral - the perfect
location for a lunch time coffee stop before we drove on to Pisco Elqui,
a small village which lends its name to the famous Chilean alcoholic
cocktail. This was the highest place on today's trip - having
started at sea level in the morning we were now at 1,320 m. with
mountains of 3,000 m. plus around us.
On the way back, we made another stop once the
Trichocerei reappeared on the scene (S007)
at 970 m. and were surprised to find a 'cactus nursery' in Vicuña,
indicating that the cactus hobby is alive and well in Chile, with scope
for a National Cactus & Succulent Society to discuss and provide
guidance on the issue of conservation of the endemic cactus flora.
Metal food tins and plastic coffee cups were used as containers for the
local cacti offered for sale.
We made another stop near the Puclaro Dam (S008)
before returning to our accommodation for the night at Guanaqueros.
Travelling out of the main tourist season has the benefit that lodgings,
such as those at Cabañas Bahia Club, are very reasonably priced and are
open to some negotiation - full marks to Leo, our chief negotiator.
