Alvaralto
is the name of Ricardo and Ingrid's home, high in the hills above
Olmué. It is not the easiest of places to find and so Ricardo had
arranged to meet us on the main road. We followed him up the windy
track, higher and higher, until we had broken through the cloud base
and once again enjoyed brilliant sunshine. This cheered us up
considerably. As we parked our cars there was another indicator of
what time of year plants thought it was - narcissi were in bloom, just
as they would be on a sunny Spring day in March in the UK, or earlier
further south in Europe.
Rudolf
and Brendan Burke had told us of Ricardo and Ingrid's wonderful
garden, but had not really prepared us for the marvellous sights that
unfolded, each time we turned another bend along paths that snaked
through the garden. Ricardo had built wooden structures, covered with
polycarbonate sheets and filled them with benches similar to those
found at commercial nurseries in the UK. The benches were full of
cacti, but not just Chilean ones - most genera were represented and
with most plants having been grown from seed, the number of
individuals of the same species and the same age paid tribute to
Ricardo's ability to obtain excellent germination. The same was true
for Chilean cacti grown from habitat seed. The order and tidiness of
the collection made me feel guilty about the state of my own
collection, particularly as I still had to complete building their
winter home on my return, after my house move earlier in the year. But
there was something else that set this collection apart from the many
I have seen in Europe: the great attention to detail and artistic
flair for which Ricardo credited Ingrid.
And
then another turn in the path and another wooden frame / polycarbonate
covered structure, but much larger. Inside we were delighted by a
cactus garden, landscaped to make use of the natural hillside location
with massive rocks that must surely have been left in place, with the
remainder of the garden built around it. Again, cactus and succulent
plants from around the globe were on display, but now large, mature
specimens and again Ingrid's artistic flair was in evidence. All
plants were clearly labelled, with location information included where
available. Film shortage problems experienced yesterday hit a high,
but everyone's needs were met, even if rationing was the order of the
day.
Throughout
the day refreshments were offered - and I have to
mention here that our visit had coincided with a meeting of a branch
of the Chilean Cactus Society that afternoon with an 'open-house' at
the Alvarato collection in the morning. It was great to meet and
exchange experiences with Chilean hobbyists - they all put our
language skills to shame as they were fluent in English - unlike our
very limited knowledge of Spanish - during the trip we struggled after
ordering the beers.
Soon
after midday, we returned down the mountain. In the village we were
lead through what seemed a small grocery shop, to what turned out to
be a large open air restaurant with large barbeques at full blast
roasting a variety of meats. In one area, tables had been set out to
accommodate the twenty or so cactophiles for a delicious meal, as
always accompanied by excellent Chilean wine.
After
the meal, we all went back to the cabanas where we had spent the night
and in the large function room the furniture was quickly rearranged in
the usual branch meeting set up - rows of chairs facing a
projection screen. Some of us had brought slides along so that we
could show our Chilean friends how we indulge in the hobby in the UK.
Cliff took us through his Thelocactus collection (a talk I had
tried but failed to book him for in England for at least two years), Ian showed
us slides of his visits to European collections and nurseries and I
finished off the conventional slides with pictures taken around my own
collection and at the Holly Gate Cactus Garden in Ashington, West
Sussex. I feel that I'd rather let the side down, as by this time it
was completely dark outside and, pushed for time and tired, I
struggled to get my slides the right way up in the cartridge - several
appeared sideways or upside down - sorry! I had planned to take one of
my regular talks, but during my recent house move, this had been put
'in a safe place', which I have yet to discover. As a result, some 50
slides had been selected in too great a rush on the morning of our
departure for Chile.
Ricardo
made me very envious with his closing presentation - a digital
projector display of images of Thelocephala in habitat - very
informative and somewhat embarrassing when I learned that we should
have found some of these minute plants, hidden mostly deep in the
gravel, at some of the places where we had been - too busy pointing
our cameras at the impressive Copiapoa.
