Chile 2015

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DaveW
Posts: 7369
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Chile 2015

Post by DaveW »

After a pause to process 400 images I have resumed my Chile travelogue on the BCSS site, so will link to it rather than duplicate it here.

http://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php? ... 1&start=10
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cactihunter
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:50 pm
Location: Kent. UK

Re: Chile 2015

Post by cactihunter »

Those are some fabulous photos Dave. Must have been a great trip!
There's no 12 step programme for Cactaholics...so I shall just have to get some more!!
DaveW
Posts: 7369
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Chile 2015

Post by DaveW »

Yes it was the wettest year for about 50 years in Northern Chile in 2015, due to an exceptional El Nino effect. Therefore many of the Thelocephala's appeared above ground and flowered that usually remain hidden. I was also lucky enough to go with my long time friend Roger Ferryman, who I had known and discussed what are now known as Eriosyce sensu Kattermann ever before he went to S. America in the first place and he has now been to Chile over 13 times plant hunting therefore knows most of the habitats and has found a few new ones himself. In fact he is back there again at the moment and tells me many of the Thelocephala's we saw either turgid or in flower are now back underground and hard to find.

He was organising a trip for the three Colin's and asked if I wanted to join so he could show me the habitats he knew.

Chile earlier in 2015 had major floods up north due to the exceptional rains in some of the normally driest areas in S. America. However we would usually get away with such rains in wetter areas such as the UK because the water immediately sinks in our damper soils therefore is released slowly to rivers etc. With bone dry ground it evidently just runs off like water off asphalt or concrete and being hilly it ran down to the lower ground and the rivers in torrents. See-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvi3m67en_c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q55d3MzuZ4s

It was surprising how well they had cleaned up by the time we got there later in the year, but we avoided some of the worst hit areas. One hotel we stayed at said they had had two feet of water in early in the year. We asked was it the river overflowing and they said no, just the water running off the hillsides. The area we visited up north also had quite a significant earthquake and tsunami a month before we went, being in an active earthquake zone, but we only had a few tiny "window rattlers" whilst we were there.

You may also be interested to Read Paul Klaassen's "Cactus Trip Diaries" since Paul's party followed us around Chile a week or so later, though we seemed to manage to miss each other we do get a mention. Paul's blogs lists his last entry at the top, so you have to scroll down to the bottom first and read them upwards to get them in chronological order. The following dates for the continuation are in the right hand column if you click on them:-

https://pkcactus.info/2015/10/
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