Soon after eight o'clock the convoy of now 8 cars left the Copec for our first stop at Quebrada El Leon (S638) where again we found Copiapoa leonensis, C. marginata, Eriosyce taltalensis, Eulychnia breviflora fa, Cumulopuntia sphaerica, Echinopsis (Trichocereus) deserticola and on the non-cactus front I photographed Euphorbia lactiflua, Tillandsia geissei and T. landbeckii. Not bad a bad start to the day!

At the next stop, S639, we concentrated on the green forms of Copiapoa calderana, while at S640 the form with white farina were dominant. These are among the most photogeic cacti, so once again, many pictures were taken and have already found their way onto many forums and image sharing sites and will no doubt entertain members of cactus clubs around the world as Copiapoathoners show off their pictures at various branch meetings and conventions.

Next, Rudolf took us to Quebrada Flamenco, soon nick named 'Hypogaea Valley',(S641), with Copiapoa marginata, intermediates of it and C. calderana, C. hypogaea and Eriosyce odieri ssp krausii. The marginatas formed a healthy population with plants ranging in size from 'young ones', 5 cm in diameter to ancient plants with meter long stems hanging down rocks, looking as decimated as any C. decorticans farther north at Botija. You never know with the larger habitat Copiapoa if a small specimen is a 'seedling', i.e. a small plant not yet old, large or healthy enough to flower, some 5 to 50 years after germination, or if it is an offset, sprouting from a damaged stem or taproot buried underground belonging to an ancient plant, possibly older than the sum of the ages of the Copiapoathoners!  The lack of images of C. hypogaea, E. odieri ssp krausii and marginata x calderana hybrids confirms my suspicion that I did not see any - it is difficult to remember what you see where if it was not for the digital images that recorded the event.

And so on to S642 at nearby Punta Salinas where again we looked for marginata and possible marginata x calderana. At the time I just saw plants that I'd call Copiapoa marginata displaying the degree of variability that you can reasonably expect in any population of Copiapoa. Now, back home, reviewing the images I took at both these locations, I have to say that I still can't see any plants that would justify the status of 'hybrid' or 'intermediate' and I'd welcome any image from other Copiapoathoners of candidates for these titles. Trevor and I spent a frustrating hour or more, waiting for Leo, who had gone off with Rudolf to a spot farther along the valley and had taken the keys of our car with him. Trev climbed a near by hill and his shouting caught Rudolf's attention, resulting in keys and car being re-united. Florencia and Juan had kept us company and were looking in the flat valley bottom that was our car park, for Thelocephala. Victorious shouts indicated success as first they found Eriosyce odieri ssp krausii and then Copiapoa hypogaea, making us wonder why we had spent the afternoon climbing the surrounding hills for these plants. It wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last time that something like this happened, just part of the experience of looking for plants in habitat. The most important thing was that this morning's objectives, in terms of cactus taxa to be found, had been met.

It was easy to see by the dehydrated condition of C. hypogaea why they had refused to be spotted in the hills - they seemed to suffer a lot more from dehydrated than the E. krausii growing in the same spot.

In two days time we would be looking for their cousins, C. barquitensis, growing further north.