The misery of being lost
was forgotten for a moment, but then we had to carry on, one way
or another. We descended therefore into the lower valleys, heading
north. There was no longer any track and to top it all the car
became completely stuck in the deep dry sand. It was the middle of
the day and boiling hot. Full of courage all three of us started
to dig out the wheels before dragging boulders and stones, that
were fortunately close at hand, to fill up the holes. After some
hours of hard work Ritter succeeded to move the car out of the
hole and on more solid ground. Fortunately we gained renewed
energy when we found a rare cristate of Copiapoa columna-alba,
and where we also found Thelocephala malleolata. I
decided to walk ahead to show Ritter where the least sandy areas
were. And so, we arrived finally on a sort-of track that Ritter
recognised. Soon we arrived at a unique flat field where thousands
of Copiapoa columna-alba's stood, like small penguins. A
fantastic sight, those rows of solitairy 'menhir' statues.
Because we were close to
the sea and near a deserted gold mine, we could safely drive on
and collect
Copiapoa longistaminea and C. grandiflora.
The way that we then had to get to a fisherman's hut was not realy
suitable for a car. We had to drive through a ravine where the
walls were only a little further apart than the width of the car.
The 'road' went across all sorts of rocks and boulders so that we
were almost frightened to death to get stuck again. To find really
interesting plants you have to be prepared to take some,
occasionally quite dangerous, risks. Anyway, we succeeded to
get through and reached our goal, also accessible from the
opposite direction, where Hutchison had collected his Pyrrhocactus taltalensis.
After some steep climbs on foot, Ritter took us to his Eriosyce rodentiophilla
and Copiapoa
hornilloensis, extremely rare plants. Farther on we
reached the locality of Thelocephala esmeraldana.
Close to the sea, in a
valley with washed down boulders we reached our goal for the day
where, after my wife had prepared a meal, we crept, dog tired,
into our blankets. The next morning, the fishermen's hut appeared
to have disappeared. We had to climb a very steep hill to collect Copiapoa columna alba var. nuda
and C. rupestris. The problem was that it was
impossible to get a grip on these rocks so that I had to crawl on
my belly up the hill. When I finally received at the top we
enjoyed a spectacular view over the sea. Here stood magnificent
specimens of Copiapoa columna alba var.
nuda, but Ritter, who had of course arrived at the
top much earlier, had already noted during his climb that the Copiapoa
rupestris had disappeared.
What to do next? We
decided to go back down hill, where my wife would be waiting with
a meal. I was so put off by the thought of having to go back along
the same awful route that we had climbed, that, against Ritter's
advice, I decided to go down a small ravine created by and earlier
heavy down pour. Initially everything went fine. There were parts
of the track that went straight down, some for about 10 meter, but
where I could find a secure foot hold so that I could climb down.
But, as Ritter had predicted, there I was suddenly in front of a
perpendicular drop of more than a 100 m. It was impossible to
descend on my own. Discouraged I sat down and took a look around
and to my amazement discovered a group of plants that had to be C. rupestris.
Having taken a number of pictures, I dug out a plant and carefully
placed it in my rucksack alongside my cameras before climbing back
up hill to try to establish contact with Ritter After much
shouting, he appeared on a hill top. I shouted that I had managed
to find
Copiapoa rupestris after all and he shouted back that this was
virtually impossible. However, he too came down through the narrow
ravine and confirmed that I had indeed found his
Copiapoa rupestris was. Refreshed by my discovery of this
rarety I still had to climb some 100 m back up before descending
down that nasty steep gravel slope. There were no accidents and we
arrived safely at the bottom of the hill.
The cactus area south of Taltal is
very interesting. Various cacti grow here in various degrees of
abundance: Pyrrhocactus occultum (currently very
rare, due to damage caused by donkeys), Copiapoa
desertorum, C. cinerea and C. rubriflora.
Especially C. cinerea makes beautiful clumps. Often
much farther inland, after long hikes and difficult climbs we were
able to find Pyrrhocactus cachitaensis
(syn. hankeana var. taltalensis?) and its
variety flaviflorus, Eulychnia
breviflora var. taltalensis, Trichocereus fulvilanus
and Copiapoa montana.
