Today was a day packed full of stops, nine to be precise, as I had tried to set up as large a number of Copiapoa sites for those who were new to Chile and particularly those who were only able to join the Copiapoathon for part of its duration. 'Berm tourisme' ( = verge or road side tourism), Leo complained, frustrated at the lack of long climbs, of which there had been plenty on previous days.

We had arranged again to meet at the Copec, but this time the one in Chañaral, for lunch, allowing each car party to decide if they wanted an early start and more cactus stops on the way, or a later, more casual drive. Chañaral would have been a better place to have spent the night, but simply did not have enough accommodation for the party that had grown again as Isabel and Juan Carlos Johow had joined bringing our total number in the convoy to 8 cars and 22 people.

My stop S650 was on the track from Chanaral and the southern entrance to the Pan de Azucar National Park.was my usual stop on previous Copiapoathons where C. cinerascens grows on dark rocks overlooking the Bay of Chañaral and the Pacific Ocean. There are a few plants with C. serpentisulcata traits here as well, but I inadvertently overshot the place where we normally stop for C. serpentisulcata. Never mind, we could always make up for the oversight on the way back south in weeks to come.

We called in at the ranger station to pay our entrance fees, check out the plants in the Cactarium (many almost dead or with just the name tag in the allocated plot) and to collect the key to the chain that blocks off the road to El Mirador. This (S651) remains one of my favourite spots on the planet, with densely spined Copiapoa cinerea ssp columna-alba (C. melanohystrix?) to one side, clumps of C. grandiflora, some badly trodden upon on the other. Echinopsis (Trichocereus) deserticola and Euphorbia lactiflua were in flower and Eulychnia iquiquensis (syn. E. saint-pieana) looked (at times) magnificent and in bud. I had brought a video recorder this time and had promised to use it here to capture the peace and quiet and the other attraction - the foxes. I'll have to do something about the soundtrack though, as the gentle, cooling breeze sounds like a force 10 huricane.

We saw more foxes at Las Lomitas (S652) and drove a little south to near the point where one of David Attenborough's nature programs had shown guanacos standing on their hind legs to eat the buds (and fruits?), before the famous camanchaca fog (or clouds drifting in from the Pacific Ocean) came in. This time, the guanacos were missing so we returned to the fog nets - man made as well as nature's lychen-covered Eulychnias and Echinopsis. 

On the other side of the nets another group of Copiapoathoners had arrived for lunch and Juan and Florencia entertained them by uncovering more 'invisible plants', either C. hypogaea or C. esmeraldana (or C. grandiflora ssp ritteri if you like). It seems that they can smell them from over 10 meters away! Meanwhile, I got out the video recorder and took more footage of Copiapoathoners sharing their lunch with the local foxes.

We moved on, along the steep hillside rising some 1,000 m from the beach below, at times with clouds coming in, threatening to obscure the track, until we found the turning east, towards Esmeralda. Just after the turning S653 is a group of very densely spined C. cinerea ssp columna-alba (Ritter's C. melanohystrix?), worthy of a stop and photo session and to compare to columna-alba growing further down the hill, as Angie's 2006 stop S540. The density of plants growing here (tis time S654) and the extend of the population that disappears into the distance, up and over the hills, is difficult to capture on a still camera, so this time I had a go with the video recorder, which certainly adds another dimension to the location.

As the track joined the Quebrada de la Cachina, Rudolf stopped the convoy again (S655). This was the location where Ritter had taken his famous picture of a man and a woman standing next to a Eulychnia amidst a field of C. columna-alba, as published in Band III of Kakteen in Südamerika. In Rudolf's 2006 Copiapoa book, there is a section entitled Now and Then where he compares scenery and plants of historical interest with pictures taken recently. Ritter's scene was re-enacted for the book by his girlfriend and his brother. This time it was the turn of Marijke and Bart to pose. I briefly swapped places with Marijke to turn the camera on the other Copiapoathoners taking the historic picture.  

Next, we drove quickly into Secret Valley. Rudolf had reported from an earlier scouting trip that this special place had now been discovered by the gangs that keep the ripia tracks clear and seem to use it as their toilet stop. It was no longer a nice place to camp. We drove in quickly to say goodbye, but I've not recorded it as a photo stop. It's best remembered as it was.

Leo, Jan and I drove on, through the Quebrada Las  Lozas O Guanillos, to use its full name according to the detailed topographical maps we use; Quebrada Guanillos is actually more in land, so apologies to anyone who has been using our incorrect use of this name to retrace our steps. The error was not intentional. Towards the end of the Quebrada, close to the Ocean, there is a track to the south that we first followed in 2001, to a flat area in the shadow of the coastal hills of the Pan de Azucar National Park, almost below Las Lomitas (S656). Now, late in the afternoon, the sun was actually setting on these hills and the plants. However, a thick cloud cover obscured the sun for most of the time, great if you want to reduce the high contrasts that can be a problem in getting correct exposure levels, but today making most pictures rather flat and lifeless. I took more pictures of plants that over the years had become old friends. It was good to see how they had faired by comparisons with pictures taken on previous visits.

We returned back to the Guanillos Valley where we had arranged to meet the rest of the group around the place where we normally find Copiapoa laui (this time S657). There were plenty of plants and also of C. angustiflora, that was still considered to be called C. esmeraldana when we first saw it in 2001. It is now widely accepted that Ritter had intended the name for plants growing near Las Lomitas, overlooking Esmeralda, rather than plants growing near Caleta Esmeralda, where the Quebrada Las  Lozas O Guanillos meets the Ocean. Geography can be no less confusing then taxonomy.

We suggested that a spot on the way to our stop S656 would make a suitable camping place for our large group (S658). Juan and Jorge went to visit the local fisherman and bought some fish and shell fish that later was turned into a wonderful meal. The skies had cleared and revealed a myriad of stars for which the Atacama skies are so well known. The wine flowed and everyone was having a great time. But where was John? 'Oh, he is over with that group, over there' or '... getting something out of the car...' or '.. gone to his tent for an early night...'