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Last updated 2001-12-16
High in Peru
by Hakan Sonnermo
As
long as I have been interested in growing cacti, and it is a
lot of years now, my goal has been to go to South America and
study them in their natural environment. Why South America? As
a kid countries like Ecuador, Peru and Chile had always been
on my mind and for me it was there you could find the real adventure.
Some
years ago I travelled in Ecuador studying the flora and fauna
on the volcanoes and in May 2000 I had the opportunity to visit
Peru. My goal was to search for the high mountain cacti. I have
had a long dream to find cacti as Austrocylindropuntia floccosa
and A. malayana in their growing places.
I
arrived in Lima in an election chaos. I wanted to go to the mountains
as soon as possible. The first challenge for a lonesome, none
Spanish speaking boy from Sweden was to find out from where all
buses in Lima leave. I spent an unbelievable day in central Lima
and managed to find the busline to Cajatambo, the last village
before the great alpine area called Huayhuash. I was really tired
but satisfied.
Next
day we left Lima early in the morning and went north along the
Pan-american road. When leaving this big road at Patavilca the
bus started to climb the long, narrow and steep road to Cajatambo
and then had to stop. While the busdriver and his companion tried
to get loose from a rockcrash I could see a lot of cacti. The
whole valley was full of Melocactus, Haageocereus, Espostoas
and other plants. After a couple of landslides and 5 cm marginal
from death over the edge of the road into the deeo drop we arrived,
late in the evening in the nice village of Cajatambo. I stayed
in the village for a couple of days to acclimatise. I had some
problems with my stomach but soon I was on my way climbing the
steep hill outside Cajatambo. The reward after 3 hours struggle
was a magnificent view over the snow-capped mountains of Cordillera
Huayhuash and the beautiful river Rio Pumarinri. In the thin
air I had to rest a lot and almost everywhere I found what I
had been longing for: big cushions of Austrocylindropuntia
floccosa. In the lower part of the valley I found species
with almost no hair but as I went higher the species became more
hairy.
At about 5000m I found some very beautiful species with both
yellow and white hair. I was very happy and collected a lot of
seed during my week in Cordillera Huayhuash. This area was a
memory for life with it´s friendly and helpful people,
beautiful landscape, and good weather- sunny days around + 20C
daytime and chilly nights down to - 15C. And of course a lot
of cacti.
After
a couple of days rest in Lima, washing clothes and some good
showers I went to Cuzco. I had some nice days stay in the city
but soon all people and cars made me feel a strong longing for
the really high areas again. I took a bus from Cuzco down to
lake Titicaca and the city of Puno. A chilly town beautiful situated
near the water. I made a short travel to Sillustani, the ancient
Inca place and collected some Tephrocactus and Lobivia.
One of my dreams at home in Sweden was to go to Macusani. This
incredibly chilly and remote town high in the mountains, north
and slightly west of lake Titicaca had long been in my mind.
Mostly because of Austrocylindropuntia malayana. Since
Walter Rausch visited the area 1971 there had been few collectors
there and most of the material circulated in collections today
is probably from Walters travel.
To
find the right bus to Macusani had some comic points. I spent
five hours with ten friendly policemen in Juliaca comparing Swedish
life and especially Swedish policemen´s life against the
peruvian comrades. Meanwhile one of them managed to locate the
little bus leaving for Macusani. We left Juliaca at 18.00 when
darkness arrived and the ride took about six hours on roads where
I felt the kidney change place with the liver several times.
Arriving in the town in the middle of the night, I walked to
a little hostel and awakend the lady and got a room for the night.
Good to have the sleepingbag with me!
In
Macusani I spent about a week and made long walks around the
town. On two days I got a lift with a car and the driver was
very helpful. He stopped at several places and let me walk around
and have a look at the flora. It was very beautiful surroundings
with snow-capped peaks and night-frozen lakes. Very friendly
people and a lot of cacti made this stay a memory for life. The
first day I left the town early in the cold but sunny morning.
I had only walked for fifteen minutes when I located the big
cushion of Austocylindropuntia malayana. What a happiness!
All around I saw big clumps of A. floccosa. What a magnificent
place!
Going
down the road towards Ollachea I found a lot of A. malayanus
and also A. floccosa. However, when I arrived at the little
village Tantamaco the A. malayana had disappeard and now
I found A. floccosa growing together with different globular
cacti not yet identified.
Another
day I travelled across the mountains eastwards down to a little
village called Escalera. Here the air was warmer and it was much
easier to breathe. On the way to Escalera I passed a lot of A.
malayanus and A. floccosa and also the Chungora lake
which, at near 5000m, was full of ice. Magnificent views. The
road down to Escalera was very bad and I saw no cacti there.
My memorie of Macusani are very strong and positiv. I
hope that I can return to this place in the future. I am sure
there is much more to discover!
Back in Juliaca again and in the evening I travelled to
Lima. I had only two days left in Peru. I called on Carlos Ostalaza,
one of the leading profiles studying cacti in Peru. I was welcomed
into his house and Carlos and his wife showed a great hospitality
and gave me a chance to see their magnificent cacti garden. It
was a very pleasant evening.
One
day left and I took a ride to central Lima again. For an hour
I searched for a bus to Chancay. Chancay is a dusty place along
the Pan-Aamerican road, and with a lot of funny meetings and
happenings I reached km.118 and jumped of the bus. Here in the
desert I began to search for the nearly extinct Haageocereus
tenuis. It was first found by Werner Rauh 1954 and was later
"found" and described by F. Ritter. In 1988 Carlos
Ostalaza and Werner Rauh completed the description when Ostalaza
managed to study the flower for the first time.
Today the threat to the plants is the expansion of the
chicken farms in the desert. I found this strange, creeping species
and I really hope it can be saved so people in the future can
look at it. Sorry to say but many Peruvians dislike cacti and
see them as a weed. I met many example of this during my stay
in Peru. Instead I think it is important that the Peruvian government
send signals and tries to build an organisation to support ecoturism
in such a country as Peru with it´s magnificent flora and
fauna.
Back
in Lima, late in the evening, I had to start packing for the
long journey back to Sweden. For me these weeks had been a memory
for life and a dream from childhood had come to reality. I have
already started dreaming again.
© SuccSeed/Mats
Winberg, 2001.