It was becoming a familiar pattern - waking up with
the world outside the hotel shrouded in fog. But we were a little surprised at
how thick it was, so far inland. No matter, it would soon clear up. Wrong! We
'felt' our way south on Ruta 5 until the turn off to Carrizal Bajo in really
thick pea-soup fog, with visibility between 50 and 100 m. This time, as in
2001, the Copiapoa dealbata at Carrizal Bajo had been so impressive
that we had decided to honour them with a second visit on the way home.
I was keen to check out a location advised by a Dutch
friend, Evert Smienk. But the details were on Angie's laptop and she was not
keen to unpack this in the field. We stopped a few km after the turn off
(S195), still in thick fog. We did not dare to wander too far from the
car, in case we could not find it back again. The shrubby vegetation was
dripping wet. Some, a border line succulent, had a display of yellow flowers.
From the little wild flower field guide that I had bought, I guess that this
was Skytanthus acutus from the Apocybaceae Family. There were
some huge fresh seed horns that at least indicated the Family. No cacti could
be seen, but that does not mean that there were none.
By the time we reached km 43 (distance from Ruta 5),
the fog had cleared completely and cacti had appeared along side the track a
little while back. We stopped (S196) to find Copiapoa echinoides
(with quite a few plants infested by scale - it seems that a good insecticide
is also hard to get in Chile), Cumulopuntia sphaerica and Eulychnia
sp.
A bit further on, at km 50, (S197) the large
Copiapoa in general still seemed to fit the C. echinoides label,
but had grown much taller and heavier spined, resembling C. marginata.
There also was a much smaller Copiapoa here, similar to, what we called
C. echinata, (= C. echinata?) later on - closer to Huasco,
so I need to do some more reading to clear up this mystery.
Another 10 km along the track, at the turning to Mina
Oriente (S198) and C. dealbata joined in, replacing the mystery
plant from the previous stop. The spines of the dealbatas were magnificent,
measuring up to 8 cm (3") in length!
The track had been greatly improved since 2001 and
forked off before Carrizal Bajo, to head south towards Huasco. Close to
Carrizal Bajo we made another stop (S199) to feast our cameras on C.
dealbata. I had been asked before the trip how much film people should
take. Especially during a first visit, it is difficult not to use up all your
film on these plants in one go, so it had been a good idea to have scheduled a
second visit on the way home.
We drove on and met Rudolf and Leo coming the other
way - they too had been caught up in the fog and had decided to get
accommodation in Vallenar and to look at cacti once the mist had cleared. We
went our own ways in opposite directions - a shame, as about 2 km further I
recognised the spot where in 2001, John Ede, Marlon Machado, Leo and I had
stopped for our group photograph (S200). The spot was ideal for
an update group picture and we managed to squeeze all nine of us between the
clumps of C. dealbata. This time we explored a bit further along the
track south and found C. echinata (very heavy spined balls or small
clumps), C. echinoides and large numbers of 'Thelocephala' (Eriosyce
odieri).
The light was now getting poor for photography, with
long shadows making it difficult to distinguish plants from rocks, so we drove
to Vallenar and found the Hotel where Rudolf and Leo were already booked in
without trouble. It would be our last night together as they were flying back
before us. We looked forward to a memorable meal - and memorable it certainly
was:
Eating out in Vallenar
The Copiapoathon reports would be incomplete if I did
not mention 'a little off-topic adventure' - a simple attempt to feed
ourselves. Leo had obtained the name of a good restaurant from the manager of
our hotel. We set out on foot, but did not really know how far this restaurant
was. Leo decided to ask a young lady who appeared to be waiting for a taxi on
a street corner. Leo's conclusion was that it was too far to walk, so that the
11 of us would get taxis to get there. The first taxi was hailed, Leo gave
instructions and Paul Sherville, Ian, Cliff and Benjy piled into the cab. The
driver promised to return, or send colleagues over for the remainder of the
party. Taxi 2 arrived and took Bryan, Anne, Angie and Finn. Eventually a third
taxi arrived and drove Leo, Rudolf and myself into town - only a short
distance. It transpired that the driver did not have a clue where he was
supposed to take us - sure he knew some good restaurants, but not the one that
Leo had been told about by our hotel. Eventually we were dropped off by a
restaurant in the main shopping street near the Plaza.
The restaurant was not yet open, but we were invited
to come back in an hour or so. There was no sign of the others. Back in the
street, we met Finn, also looking a little lost. Their taxi driver too had
been mystified by Leo's instructions, so had dropped his party off at the
Plaza, where Anne and Angie were patiently waiting outside a Pizza restaurant.
As it happens, this was the same restaurant where we had eaten in 2001, so,
with stomach's rumbling and thirsty for a beer, we entered - Leo and Rudolf
decided to look elsewhere for something a bit more typically Chilean in style.
'What had happened to the first party?' we wondered. We had to believe that
they too had been dropped off somewhere in town and would find their own way
back to the hotel. As we finished our meal (they had made up a Lomo al la
Pobre for us, instead of a pizza), the door opened and in walked party 1, who
had seen us through the window. Their taxi had driven them miles out of town
to Ruta 5 where they were left outside a closed road-stop cafe. Realising that
this could not be the recommended restaurant, they had started to walk back to
town and had managed to flag down a passing bus that had taken them to the
Plaza. They were fuming, convinced that Leo had played a not-so-funny joke on
them.
We'll never get to the bottom of this, as Leo
convinced us that he acted in good faith. We'll assume that the passer-by whom
Leo asked for directions may have misunderstood his intentions (he does have
a reputation for having an eye for the senoritas!) and that the lady was
perhaps intimidated by the rest of our troop, waiting across the road, so that
she and her taxi driver had identified us as 'undesirable gringos' ready to be
run-out of town! No need for an inquest - just a simple misunderstanding.
