We enjoyed a lie in, with breakfast on the cabana's
terrace overlooking the bay where pelicans were fishing, dive-bombing
into the water. I went for a stroll to see how some of the rescue
plants that were re-planted all around the area had survived. Here,
they received regular watering and should be flourishing. What I found
seemed to confirm Rudolf's observations in 'Copiapoa 2006', that
Copiapoa are already on the brink of death when the densely felted
disc at the apex of the stem disappears and that very few, if any,
revive. A couple of crested plants photographed on previous visits
were struggling for survival but had probably already lost the fight.
Unfortunately there were plenty of new rescue plants from the road
building schemes to replace dead plants.
When I got back to the cabaña, Angie was snapping away happily with
her remaining camera, apparently taking pictures of a small shrub
growing a few metres away. I joined her for a cup of coffee and then
raced to get my camera for a 'best picture' competition of a
hummingbird that was a continuous visitor to the shrub and would
provide us with entertainment and a number of half decent images that
will again provide a welcome relief from endless cactus pictures for
talks in the UK.
Angie was feeling much better, but we decided to enjoy a relaxed day,
sightseeing around Taltal. S563 is the reference for the images taken
around the cabañas and our sightseeing in town. In 2004 we had met
Guido Guttierez, who was building the cactus garden near the Taltal
Flyer. If my grasp of Spanish had been up to scratch, he should be
working for the Museum in town, so we decided to pay a long overdue
visit. The museum provided an interesting insight to the history and
growth of the town
and we saw a copy of the study of the flora of Paposo that Guido had
told me about in 2004. Unfortunately, language and time barriers
prevented us from tracking him down this time.
On our way into town, we had spotted that the entrance to Quebrada
Hueso, usually blocked, was now open. We decided to take a look on the
way back (S564). The signs at the turning were slightly confusing: one
said 'Recinto Privado - cuido el entorno use solo camino habilitado'
while another announced a campsite around the corner.
As we travelled up the track, signs featuring a cartoon character fox
and cacti seemed to preach the virtues of conservation. The track
split in two, one way was blocked by a chain across the road, so we
followed the other which brought us to a campsite where the only human
being was a friendly elderly man accompanied by seven (or was it
eight?) dogs. We asked if we could drive through to reach the main
road that leads from Taltal to Ruta 5. It seemed that I had understood
his reply correctly, but needed to check it out anyway. There was a
track, but again it was blocked by a chain. We drove through an area
that reminded me of a large English allotment site, with parcels
fenced off and seemingly used for agricultural experiments. A number
of areas had recently been cleared and contrasted with the densely
populated Copiapoa cinerea patches that had not yet been cultivated.
On the cleared patches, the cinerea had been replanted along the edge
of the plot, forming a dense low fence. Most of the plants seemed to
do OK, perhaps an indication that plants that are healthy and in
growth can be rescued if replanted very soon after being dug up. There
must have been enough plants arranged in this way to supply every
member of the BCSS with their own Christmas present and still have a
few left over. And there were still a large number of un-cultivated
patches.
I believe that I recognise this area as the Taltal rubbish tip on our
2001 visit, when we approached it from the other side on our way to
the top of Cerro Perales. If so, the effort to clean things up had
been tremendous, but as the town had grown significantly since then,
where were they putting the increased rubbish output now? I do not
really want to know the answer.
As we tried to find our way back out we again found the track blocked
by a chain and recognised it as the fork in the road where previously
we had taken the unblocked track to the camp site. This time we were
on the wrong side of the chain, so decided to use the 4x4 advantage
and follow the example of previous visitors who had found alternative
ways around the chain. We managed to complete the operation without
killing any large cinerea or puncturing another tyre.
After lunch we drove a short distance towards Paposo, to a point where
engineers had blasted their way through the hills to bypass the place
where in previous years we had photographed C. albispina. It seems
that during this work an important person had been killed as the old
road had been left in tact and provided access to a memorial chapel
for Jorge Orella Choluto.
The old road provided a convenient parking place for a spot (S565) to
indulge our photographic appetite for Copiapoa. I'm always on the look
out for opportunities to picture Copiapoa with the Ocean in the back
ground; the perfect visual paradox of inhabitants of the Atacama, 'the
driest place on earth', with the largest body of water in the world,
the Pacific Ocean, in the back ground. It reminds me of a cartoon I
saw many years ago of a cowboy, dying of thirst, crawling along a
track in the desert with a bar at the end of the road with a huge
party in progress, particularly when the cacti in question are
Copiapoa columna-alba, leaning at their characteristic 60 degree angle
towards the Ocean.
I managed to take a hundred or so images that mostly required some
editing as in the majority, the ocean's horizon is of particular
interest to water skiers, sloping at various angles to the side of the
picture. It seems to be a common failing, as the image viewer I use
provides a tool that allows you to define a line in the image that
should be either perfectly horizontal or vertical. The software then
rotates the image accordingly. A second feature then crops the image
to remove the redundant corners. Why not get it right first time? I
was using the D200, an SLR camera, rather than my S10, one of the
latest in the Coolpix range that allows you to swivel the lens so that
you can take those awkward 'down at ground level' images easily.
Following
operations on my eyes to remove cataracts earlier this year, I can
only use the monitor on the back of the S10 wearing my reading specs,
having to switch to my long range specs for clambering around on the
rocks. The continuous swapping of glasses while juggling with cameras
is just not practical, so the looked for low angle shots were all
taken the hard way - Angie claims that she took more pictures of me
crawling along the ground rather than standing up. Before my friends
provide a explanation for this, I assure you that all these
laying-down pictures were in the pursuit of photographic excellence
and not the result of too much vino tinto. After the eye operations,
the eyes need some time to settle down and since my return to the UK
another visit to the opticians may solve this issue - I get my
varifocal glasses just before Christmas.
When we arrived back at the cabañas, Bart & Marijke had moved in next
door and we met up with Juan & Florencia in Club Taltal, for another
guided tour of the various rooms that reveal a 100 year plus history,
including the visitor's book in the Reading Room where I found my
entry from 2001, next to John Ede's and from 2004, with Anne Adams &
Alain Buffel's entries. It might be nice sometime to take several days
to go through the various volumes to see what other names I recognise
- did Friedrich Ritter sign the register? Mr & Mrs Buining? Karel
Knize? Graham Charles? This is perhaps a task for Brian Bates to add
to his personalia project.
The good news (for the Botija Campers) was that the coast road to
Taltal had been repaired and was once again passable. This is quite
astounding as it is difficult to see why this road, north of Paposo,
has any economic value that might warrant such repair works in the
middle of nowhere. I'm not complaining!
