Billy and John were due to leave late morning, although still a little uncertain which way they would go and how they would get there.

Florencia was needed at home, to resolve a staffing issue and to report a fault with the pump in the well that supplied her father's estate with water. Juan, Leo and I decided that one rest day was more than enough and drove to San Gabriel, to the south east of Santiago and in the Andean foothills.

The scenery as we drove through the Maipo Valley was quite different to the Atacama Desert that we had travelled through during the previous three weeks. This was the northern end of the Central Valley, the main wine production area in Chile. We drove past the gates of the famous wineries that are household names on the bottles of wine that we empty during cactus discussions and slide shows back in England.

The hillside we were to climb looked quite daunting. I guess that I had made up my mind that I would not get to the top. Juan pointed out the route, we would start along a footpath to the bottom of a rockfall that we would then climb for a good few hundred metres. I found it hard going and had soon lost contact with Juan and Leo. In addition to the steepness of the hillside, I found it difficult to judge the distances between the large boulders, so that instead of stepping or jumping from boulder to boulder, it was a case of touching the next boulder before moving up. Having had cataracts removed has greatly improved my vision, but it's not good at judging distances, also due to varifocal glasses.  I'm glad to do what I can and have to accept the limitations.

Some ninety minutes up the hill I decided that enough was enough. After taking an extensive breather, I spotted some Eriosyce subgibbosa in fruit and a Puya, so made my way over for some pictures.

Two hours and 45 minutes after setting off, I was back in the car and enjoyed a cat nap, but it was a couple of hours later that Leo and Juan returned, tired, but pleased that they had reached Austrocactus spiniflorus and had taken some pictures, although it was difficult to find any impressive plants. Later, Ricardo told us of other populations that were easier to reach and I've pencilled these in for a future trip.