It was
becoming a familiar rather than surprising sight, waking up in
Copiapó's Hotel Miramonte, with the Ruta 5 bridge over the Rio Copiapó
shrouded in fog, just as in 2003. However, by the time that we had
finished breakfast, it had already started to lift and continued to
lift as we drove up the Rio Copiapó valley to Paipote. My aim
was to familiarise myself with another of the northern Chilean river
valleys, having made similar inland sojourns up the Rio Limari / Rio
Grande valley (2003), Rio Elqui (2001 and 2003) and Rio Huasco (2001).
Like the other valleys, the water flow is now controlled by a dam (at
Embalsa Lautaro) that stores water in a man-made lake.
We did not go that far, having planned to turn
west at Puente Potrero Seco. Like the other valleys, the stored water
is used to good effect in irrigating the valley and surrounding lower
hill sides with extensive vineyards all around. Ironic that the
activities that threatens the survival of cacti in the wild - change
of land use; here agriculture - had clearly lead to increased
prosperity of the local human population and had provided us with
numerous pleasant evenings back in Europe as we enjoyed our bottles of
Chilean wine at our Copiapoathon reunions. In addition, this valley
has extensive mining activity, with mines determining the quality of
the roads and where in the valley they lead. This tends to be in the
green centre of the valley, rather than close to the hill sides with
the opportunity to explore some of the tracks leading further up hill.
We followed a sign west to Ruta 5, believing
that the confusing intersection we had reached was at Potrero Seco. It
was not, and so we followed an excellent road that runs from Nantoco
over the hills to Ruta 5. New vineyards were in the process of being
established, in various stages of progress from freshly ploughed
fields to newly planted areas and others where the first crop seemed
to be harvested.
We stopped soon after we reached the top of the
hills (S301)
at 1,041 m. altitude according to my GPS. We found the omni-present
Cumulopuntia sphaerica, Miqueliopuntia miqueli and
statuesque, lichen covered, Eulychnia and looked to the west on
the cloud cover that seemed to lie on top of the Pan Americana as it
ran between Copiapó and Vallenar. It seems that the valley between
these hills and the coastal hills further west is an excellent fog
catcher, so that it is no coincidence that the area is most frequently
featured in articles and photographs about el Desierto Florido - The
Flowering Desert.
Soon we were on Ruta 5, but fortunately the fog
was just a low cloud base over our heads that soon burned off as the
sun 28 degrees South packs quite a punch in October. There was another
surprise, as instead of having to play 'spot-the-turn-off' for the
track to Carrizal Bajo, it was properly sign posted and the
track had turned into an excellent tarmac road. Having read many of
Ritter's travelogues, it is hard to imagine that he'd get his car
stuck in sand here on a regular basis. Again - road building does
destroy habitats, but it also opens up so much more country to be
explored. Let's hope that this in turn does not lead to ultimate total
habitat destruction. We stopped at km 48.5 from Ruta 5 (S302)
and found Copiapoa echinata and Eulychnia, some with the
buds bare, apart from small soft scales, characteristic of E. acida
and some with almost white woolly buds, associated with E.
breviflora / iquiquensis. Some of the Eulychnia were in
flower.
S303
was last year's S198 - irresistible as the first Copiapoa dealbata
appeared alongside the track. These are among the most impressive
Copiapoa, forming huge clumps of white-waxed heads. The
variability in spination, stem shape and colour is amazing. We also
found an interesting red lily, Leontochir ovallei (Garra de
léon - the Lion's claw) among the desert flowers that increased in
number as we came closer to the coast. Apparently this is among the
most sought after of Chilean lilies, referred to as 'the holy grail'
on a US bulb hobby list.
We showed Alain Carrizal Bajo - again with signs
of growth and development all around, with a sign indicating that an
Airport (Aerodromo Gran Cañon) is planned for the outskirts of town,
at this time, covered in wild flowers (S304).The
bright yellow flowers of Cruckshanksia pumila, a small shrub,
prompted another stop, too close to the last one to take a GPS reading
- it was difficult to progress as every ten metres some new plants
seemed to jump into the scenery.
S305,
near Caleta Sarco del Norte, was another 2003 stop, but this time,
with non-cactus flora dominating the scenery, it was difficult to spot
the large clumps of C. dealbata that stood out so prominently
last year.
S306
was prompted by a rocky outcrop with C. echinoides, on a sandy
plain. Alain and my built-in Euphorbia-spotting allergy
concurred - in the sand we found the cousin of Euphorbia copiapina
- the straight leaved E. thinophila, again in great numbers and
by no means a rarity - when it is visible.
How many times does an event need to be repeated
to become 'a tradition'? If three is enough, then we had reached the
traditional spot for the Copiapoathon Group Photo - this time
S307
(S200 in 2003 and S030 in 2001) - the sloping side of a water run-off
covered in large mounds of C. dealbata, with small C.
echinata also dotted around. Last year, we took a look on the
other side of the slope and found many small Eriosyce (Thelocephala)
sp., probably a form of E. napina. They were quite easy to
find this time, as most had very recent flower remains (no ripe seed)
and were plumped up from recent moisture. Some were still in flower.
All good things come to an end (for now) and so it was time to move on
to
Huasco.
What a day! We had to pinch ourselves during
that evening's slide show in
Hostal San Fernando, to check that we were not just
dreaming of the huge range of plants and scenery that we had seen all
in the space of 12 hours. How could we improve on this tomorrow?
