When we met up with the Fred Kattermann / Helmut Walter party in Taltal, earlier on the trip, Helmut had invited Leo to drop in anytime that we were passing and had given him a telephone number to check when such a visit might be convenient. Flo's mobile phone was working and so she had called yesterday to say that we would be passing Rancagua on Ruta 5 on our way back to Lonquen and so a visit this afternoon had been arranged. We were made very welcome and Helmut was delighted to show us around the cacti planted out in the garden, the greenhouse and the propagation house.

Helmut insisted that the plants are not his collection, they are just plants that are being studied here as part of conservation work that he is involved in, with the National Agricultural Research Institute of Chile (INIA), with many of the plants waiting to be moved to their centre in Vicuña. So what else can we call a group of cacti in cultivation, if not 'a collection'?

It was meant to be a quick visit, but it was late afternoon that we finally tore ourselves away.