QueenPuya

Puya research is full of ups and downs,similar to any trip through the Andes. On the upside, Matt and I truly love Argentina and are having a great time. Driving stick is getting much better, and I even put in my time behind the wheel, through a particulartly beautiful and empty patch of desert. We left Tucuman and headed through the Yungas, a real rainforest with giant trees covered in giant bromeliads, ferns and long petaled Begonias. It was such a treat to stand in the mist, listening to birds and photographing plants. We pressed on and up, heading for more fruitful Puya hunting grounds. At the top of the mountain, it turned almost instantly to desert, reminding us strikingly of Wyoming or Utah. Beautiful, with huge columnar cacti and unbelievable hummingbirds. We photographed an emerald green one with a ridiculous long red tail. Who knew Argentina had all of this to offer? We found the only Puya of the day high on a ridiculous cliff, past flowering, but gave us all a sense of accomplishment. Matt seems to really enjoy pouring over maps and climbing around looking for plants, but I will leave it up to him ad his blog to chronical his feelings. I certainly love having him here...and Diego, too. Spent the rest of the day driving through dry valleys and hiking around, in a futile search for the other species. No luck, not a bit. Too bad many collection records are from about 1920, but I´m hopeful for tomorrow. It really was a great day by all accounts, but I do hope we can get some collecting done eventually.

I am quite a bit nervous....Diego heard from Chilean contacts that there is a woman here doing a doctoral thesis on Argentine Puya (I fully support her, as these are her plants, though I secretly hope she isn´t doing phylogenetics. We are trying to track her down to meet her). And even weirder, this big deal German professor and arch nemesis of some of my colleagues will just so happen to be in Chile collecting Puya (for what, I fear to ask) at the EXACT same day as us! So, catching my flies with honey, I have asked to meet him and perhaps go into the field together. I´m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, too, but how can I compete with German botany machine, especially that of a professor? I think he is the professor of my sketchy ¨colleagues¨ Nicole and Julie who also study bromeliads, but won´t talk to me and stole my guide in Bolivia. No good...I´m trying to hope for the best. I am Queen Puya, after all.

Ok, enough bad internet. Time to pass this off to Matt. And then to drink more Malbec and call it a night!!!