Today's plan was to make
just a few stops along Ruta 5 and to find the turn off to Cifuncho and after
some stops there, in particularly to see 'Copiapoa sp. 'Cifuncho' as
mentioned and pictured in 'Copiapoa in their Environment' by Schulz & Kapitany
(pages 104-105).
Our first
stop (S126) was at km 910 on Ruta 5, where, once again with the Pacific
Ocean in the back ground, we saw and photographed Copiapoa calderana.
Our checklist of Copiapoa taxa seen was now looking quite respectable
with another one, Copiapoa calderana var. spinosior, added to it at our
next stop (S127) at, what we had christened 'the Monument stop' (S097)
in 2001. Here there was also a wispy white spined Eriosyce, E.
taltalensis var. pygmaea - a taxon with a list of synonyms as long as your
arm, from which the name Neoporteria pulchella is more comfortable to
me. Another one for some more reading when we return home.
Tracks to
out-of-the-way hamlets and villages are seldom sign-posted on Ruta 5, and if
they are, the sign is often make-shift and appears just about on the turning,
without advance warning. It came therefore as no surprise that we missed
our turn and had to approach Cifuncho on the more established (and much
improved since 2001) track off the Las Breas - Taltal road.
We could
not resist a stop (S128 = S052 from 2001) as the first Copiapoa
columna-alba appeared on the scene, although we were to see much more
impressive stands later on in the trip. I was able to delay our stop until we
had reached the spot where in 2001 we had found C. columna-alba growing
alongside C. desertorum, very similar in appearance to C. rupestris
but here forming huge mounds of up to 140 cm in diameter and up to 80 cm high.
Here, C. columna-alba favours the lighter coloured soil on the north
side of the track, while C. desertorum favours the darker coloured soil
on the opposite side of the track. I found this quite striking in 2001, but
this year found later on in the trip when we approached this location from
another direction, that this apparent preference is just coincidental at this
spot, as further up the track it is not the case.
Benjy's excitement grew as we approached
Cifuncho as he was keen to show us 'his' best plant of Copiapoa sp.
Cifuncho'. (S129). We clambered about on the rocks and found some
nice single stemmed plants, but it took Benjy a while to find his plant, a
nice 6 headed monster, poised on the top of a rock. The general opinion was
that this 'sp.' is perhaps the most northern form of C. longistaminea.
We also found a nice Eriosyce rodentiophila with its golden spines
glowing in the late afternoon sun.
And so it was time to head for Taltal,
but not before making one more stop (S130) to see if we could find any
'Thelocephala' as we had done in 2001. We split into two groups of 4 to
search two distinct low plateaux. The group I was in found only a single
Eriosyce rodentiophila, but the other group had more luck, finding some,
which I guess, without having seen them or the pictures taken by the others as
yet, should be Eriosyce krausii.
We finally got to the Cabañas
Caleta Hueso, which would be our base for the next 6 days. It provided the
ideal opportunity to catch up on some much needed washing - Benjy even gave up
time at the bar so he could wash his socks! - plus the chance to sample the
best sea food ever at Restaurant Las Brisas.
