After leaving the Copec, shortly after 8 a.m. (quite an achievement in itself after the previous day's exercise and evening's entertainment that included several Pisco Sours and bottles of red wine), the convoy headed first south and then east on Ruta five as we headed for Copiapó. We turned right at the same spot as in 2003 and followed the pover lines to near S194 where in 2003 we had found Copiapoa megarhiza. This time we stayed to the east of the power lines, at what became known as 'The Dead Dog Stop' (S643) due to the canine corpse in a cardboard box next to the electricity pylon where we turned left to get to the plants. Same story - plants suffering from severe drought. Many plants had been kicked over by passing animals, presumably in search of moisture, and were dead or doomed to die. And yet .... Ingrid and I first found one, then several more small plants, half the size of the tops of our water bottles. Could these seedlings be the signs of a recovering population? Some digging revealed a massive taproot attached to one of these small heads, suggesting regeneration from an old plant, but another showed a long straight pen root, more typically found on seedlings in cultivation. Perhaps there's hope for this population.

Next we followed R5 past Copiapó and south until we turned right on to a track heading west. We stopped (S644) north of where Angie and I had looked a year earlier (S533) for C. humilis ssp longispina. This time we found the plants (again, looking very dry) near the car and on the surrounding hillsides. The only other cacti found were Eulychnia, but without buds, fruits or flower remains to suggest an ID.

At S645 we again found Copiapoa and Eulychnia, again so dry that we joked about tossing a coin to decide on an ID. Using 'geographical botany' ('we're here, so it must be ....') suggested that we were looking at C. megarhiza, or was it echinoides? Where's that coin?

At S646 I noted that the holes in the ground were Eriosyce odieri and the Eulychnias were surrounded by large empty but very hairy fruits, indicating E. breviflora, but the Copiapoa, although in flower, were still a nightmare to ID with suggestions of 'transitional forms'. Forget the coin, we needed a dice here. I'm not sure if anyone in the group collected seed here that in years to come might suggest a name.

We made another un-recorded no-plant stop along the coast on the way back to Bahia Inglesa, as Ian was sure that there were fossils to be found. Sadly, the bits that were collected seemed to have been disposed off later by an over-active chamber maid.