We'd
recovered from the night under canvas the previous night and woke up refreshed
in the comfort of the cabañas at Taltal. As though we had not seen enough, we
travelled back north on the coast road, making our first stop of the day (S069)
not far from Taltal on the way to Paposo at what we were told was the type
locality of Copiapoa cinerea subsp. gigantea. Apart from the massive
stems, these plants were not dramatically different from the plants we had seen
in Quebrada San Ramon and for me sit comfortably as member's of the Cinerea
complex. Is their size just an environmental feature or is this a 'race' of
giant cinerea? Again, many plants had been damaged by mice, judging by
the plentiful supply of mouse droppings.
Our resident
mountain goat, Leo, climbed up the coastal hills, in search of C. oliviana
that was reported from this area, but returned disappointed.
Next we
turned south, past Taltal, towards Ruta 5, turning off for Cifuncho and stopping
(S070) some 5 km past an
earlier stop (S048), but this
time found no cacti. Marlon walked on over the crest of a low hill and reports
finding C. desertorum and Eriosyce taltalensis.
We carried on
towards Cifuncho and as the track reached the bay, (S071)
we turned right (north), away from the village, until the track ran out, near an
electricity substation on the shore. Here we found C. rupestris. On the
way back towards the main track, we made several more (unnumbered) stops and
found many more of the same plants.
It had been a
relatively quiet and relaxing day, with time for some souvenir hunting and
shopping for provisions at the market in Taltal, followed by an early night, so
that we would be well rested for an early start the next day, to see the sun
rise over Cerro Perales.
