What is a Copiapoathon?
You'll not find the word in any dictionary -
yet. The term was first coined by David Hunt, with reference to a
meeting of the International Cactaceae Systematics Group (ICSG) in June
2001, where the taxonomy of the Genus Copiapoa was to be discussed. Some
of the invited Copiapoa fanatics had to send their apologies, as they
were enjoying their own Copiapoathon, visiting many Copiapoa habitats in
the Atacama Desert.
So, a Copiapoathon is an event, dedicated
primarily to the study of plants belonging to the Genus Copiapoa, and
their environment.
Here you'll find the
Diaries of trips I made to Chile in 2001, 2003 and 2004. I posted brief reports for each of our day's
events to cacti_etc and now that the Copiapoathon Diaries are complete, the
illustrated text is available on this website. Our travels were limited to areas B to E shown on
the map (left). Clicking on the area links will take you to the
full size maps of each area on the Turistel website. Some
tips
about accommodation and transport that may be useful for others
contemplating a similar trip have also been included.
2001
A truly international party consisting (in
alphabetical order) of John Ede (UK), Paul Klaassen (NL / UK), Marlon
Machado (Brazil) and Leo van der Hoeven (NL / the Universe) set out to
do some cactus exploring before joining up with parties from Australia
(Attila and Michele Kapitany and Rudolf Schulz), Chile (Ricardo Keim,
Ingrid Schaub and Gustavo Valdez) and from Great Britain (Benjy Oliver,
his sister Natasha and her partner Mark)
2003
Share the experiences of a
group of eight people living in the UK who flew from England to Santiago
de Chile on 3 June 2003 and returned, safely but very tired, on 1 July.
The UK party consisted of Anne Adams, Paul
Klaassen, Angie Money, Benjy Oliver, Paul Sherville, Bryan Thomas, Cliff
Thompson and Ian Woolnough. But Copiapoathon 2003 was by no means
limited to these eight hobbyists, as we had arranged to meet up with a
number of other 'Copiapoaholics' for our days in the field, notably Finn
Larsen from Denmark, Rudolf Schulz from Australia and Dutchman Leo van
der Hoeven and our friends from Chile: Ingrid Schaub and Ricardo Keim,
Magdalena (Peque) Garcés and José Jaime Franck (Frankie).
When we originally booked our flights, we were
'forced' (actually, it did not take much persuasion) to delay our return
to England by two days. This left two bonus days which proved extremely
worthwhile, thanks to our Chilean hosts Isabel and Juan Carlos Johow and
Ingrid and Ricardo - but you'll have to wait to the end of these reports
for the full details.
2004
As a last minute change of
plans, Paul Klaassen returned to Chile for the 'unfinished business
tour', together with Anne Adams (UK) and Alain Buffel (Belgium),
intending to visit some locations that had escaped previously, and some new
places. Some of the intentions were fulfilled, some had to be put off
yet again, while some unexpected climatic conditions created the very
pleasant and unexpected phenomenon of the desert in flower. They
were joined by Bart & Marijke Hensel for a week.
2006
As a result of another change of plans, from 3 weeks
to Rio Grande do Sul, Paul returned to Chile with his partner Angie.
They had again arranged to meet up with Bart & Marijke Hensel and also
to meet Juan Acosta and Florencia Senoret, pen pals via the internet.
2007
The largest Copiapoathon
yet, with at one stage 22 participants from 5 countries in 8 cars. For
some it was a great excuse to meet up with old friends while for others
it was a brand new experience. We again had a great time and saw lots of
new things as well as being able to compare 'then & now' in other
locations. The size of the group highlighted some logistical challenges
that make it unlikely that I'll be trying to organise a Copiapoathon of
these proportions again.
Paul Klaassen
31
November 2005
updated 3 January 2008
