After an excellent breakfast
at the Hosteria in Caldera, we set off for today's adventure - driving
to Huasco the hard way. The first stretch, Ruta 5 to Copiapó, was
easy. I asked Angie to take a few shots of the huge sand dunes outside
of Copiapó, using my camera. She complained that she could not get it
to work. I asked what information was on the digital display: --E--.
Then it dawned on me that the battery and charger were still plugged
in at the Hosteria in Caldera. So, should I turn back to collect it
and risk missing out on the plans for today, or drive on, being
careful with the use of the fully charged spare battery and
relying on my second camera when the battery for the first ran out? I
decided on the latter option; we could always
In
2004, we had wanted to find a track that I believed was taken by
Thomas Bridges some two centuries ago as he made his was from Copiapó
to Coquimbo. It involved leaving Ruta 5 in Copiapó and following the
road inland along the Rio Copiapó past Paipote before taking a road /
track that joined up with Ruta 5. In 2004, we had turned off too soon,
at Nantoco, and had enjoyed a very good paved road taking us wets over
the hills through which the Rio Copiapó made its way to the Pacific
Ocean. From the pass over these hills, we had a beautiful view of
another valley through which Ruta 5 made its way between Copiapó and
Vallenar. It was easy to see how this valley is a key spot for the
flowering desert; once fog gets in, as it did in 2003, there was no
way out, other than by evaporation.
This time, I was
determined to find the 'correct' track, that would take us past Mina
Bandurias and Chañarcillo. The Rio
Copiapó valley, inland from Paipote is really very pleasant, a green
valley with lots of Eucalyptus trees and huge established and recently
planted vineyards. We overshot the turn off - nothing unusual on
this trip, but found a convenient place to turn around and back track.
The turn off was well hidden in the lush vegetation. The dirt track
was in poor condition, with large boulders exposed as the sand and
gravel that would have been located between them seemed to have been
washed away. The Berlingo had finally met its match, or rather, common
sense triumphed as Juan & Florencia decided to go back and take the
Nantoco track over the hills. We agreed to meet up later near the
Ranger Station of the Parque Nacional Llanos de Challe, on the road to
Carrizal Bajo.
S586 is the reference for
pictures taken between Paipote and Chañarcillo.
The track rapidly deteriorated further as the vineyards either side of
the road disappeared. Bart was in the lead car and more confident in
getting his wheels to conquer first the large boulders, then fine deep
sand, then medium sized slate that is more difficult to drive through
than I had imagined, then up and down hills with switch backs that
took several goes to get around, with drops of around 400 m (1,200 ft)
to distract us. Progress was slow and we had travelled some 20 km
when, half way up a hill, part of the track had washed away. There was
still some road left, stuck to the hill on the driver side, but would
it hold the weight of our cars, one after the other? A large boulder
rolled down the hill as Bart drove his car along this stretch,
indicating where we would go if our gamble did not pay off. Should we
go back? We had just about reached the half way point and there was no
room for at least a kilometre to turn the car round, and I did not
fancy reversing all that distance. I suddenly noticed how hot it was.
I turned the wing mirror flush to the car and hugged the hillside as
Angie guided me over the crumbled remains of the track and needles to
say, we made it, or else these reports would not be written.
A family of guanaco crossing the road provided the
excuse to stop for pictures and lunch. I was surprised how tiring
driving along this difficult track had been. The next day my shoulder
muscles ached from the continuous heaving at the steering wheel.
Some stretches of the
track were completely overgrown by shrubs and we simply forced our way
through. However, they were a clear indication that the track had not
been used by cars for several years. It was a relief to see the
lorries on Ruta 5 in the distance as we descended into the valley and
we passed the ruins of what had been a prosperous mining village, the
Mineral de Chañarcillo.
We somehow lost sight of
Bart & Marijke's car. They were faster on the off-road bits, but
slower on Ruta 5. We slowed down to turn off to Carrizal Bajo and
watched Bart flash by. Never mind, they would find a pace to turn and
try again. Angie and I made a brief stop at km 50, took some pictures
of C. echinoides and Eulychnia breviflora but soon were
back in the car as Bart's car covered it in dust as he had caught up.
We found Juan & Florencia already at the ranger station, but Juan
suggested that we'd drive on a little while to a side valley where he
wanted to show us some unusual Copiapoa.(S587). This was a
hillside, crammed full with large clumps of C. dealbata most of
which were in flower. It really is amazing how variable this species
is when comparing clump with clump. Beetles and large grubs (larvae of
the same beetle?) were performing summersaults among the anthers. Juan
and Florencia had thought that they might have found a natural hybrid
between C. dealbata and C. echinoides, but to my eyes,
the suspect was a straight C. echinoides, more elongated than
the squat plants that dominate some locations, but I had seen more
elongated stemmed plants then this. Juan & Flo were clearly
disappointed, but I might well be wrong, these things can be very
subjective.
But there was more! Juan
was keen to show me some plants up the hill side on the other side of
the valley S588). They others did not have the energy or motivation to
follow us. Had we been further north, north of Totoral, I would have
called them C. megarhiza ssp. borealis, if they had been
growing further south, just north of Huasco, I would have called them
C. echinata. I thought of the plants seen near Caldera: C.
megarhiza ssp. parvula and the plot thickens. I'd better order
another case of Chilean Red over Christmas!
We finished the day with
S589, more guanacos - they had certainly become more plentiful over
the years and easier to photograph with improved camera power - and
some pictures of birds (including white storks, or were they egrets?)
that were fishing in the Rio Huasco as we crossed the bridge at Huasco
Bajo.
Could things get any
better? They did! Tomorrow!
