We
left Taltal as a two car convoy and drove some 200 km through the
rather monotonous landscape, until, suddenly, a hand appeared in the
desert. This was El Mano, The Hand in the Desert,
S551, a
sculpture created in the middle of nowhere. Even though I had seen
this before, it still invoked a similar reaction to Stonehenge, just a
few km from where I live in England: Why? Just as with Stonehenge, I
actually quite like not knowing the answer.
We were now able to read
(and photograph) the letters that Juan had written in the dust on the
back window of the van: 'Copiapoathon 2006', they had read about the
previous trips and now were part of it.
The remaining stops were again just references to
file digital images under:
S552 - pictures taken
between Antofagasta and Calama - mining operations and new colourful
company housing for the mine workers.
Ricardo Keim had sent me
some details of a Quebrada full of Trichocereus, north of Calama,
but I preferred to stick to my well known trip from San Pedro toward Volcan
El Tatio, as we would also see Echinopsis ferox (Soehrensia
uebelmannianus) and Oreocereus leuchotrichus along this route. Ricardo showed us images of his proposed site at the
end of our trip and I must put this in as a must-see stop in 2007. All
the other taxa mentioned also appear in this Quebrada and seemingly in
much larger numbers.
S553 - the Valle de la
Luna (Valley of the Moon), a large area with rock salt formations.
These days there is a small admission charge, as usual there was no
one in the park, other than the people on the gate.
S554 - the usual touristy
shots in San Pedro - cactus wood church roof interiors, the market and
so on.
'Not many cacti on this
trip' I hear you think. Please be patient, there's plenty still to
come.
