QueenPuya

Greetings from just south of the Bolivian border. We have had quitethe time driving all around the northwestern corner of Argentina andare hitting our northernmost location tomorrow. It is hard toremember that things get hotter as you go north down here, but theyalso get colder as you get higher, and higher is exactly what we need. Several very charismatic species are found at over 3500 m inelevation, which was just on the side of the road in Ecuador, but herein Argentina, where there are fewer people and even fewer who settledthe highland, roads simply don´t exist. I have no idea how the fewhardy explorers who made the original collections got there...I guesstime wasn´t of the essence. I´d love to have the time to just roamabout too.Case in point...so today we went in search of Puya volcanensis, ashort little fellow greatly covetted by the horticultural community.It was last collected in the 1930s. We drove to the namesake town ofVolcan and asked around, showing my well worn monograph to people inthe very nice tourist office (I was greatly tempted to pass theafternoon in the Feria buying indigenous goods, but Puya is a harshmistress and thus we had to press on). We headed towards this tinyroad that heads into the mountains...on our map of Argentina roads getto be solid red, doted, or an outline, based on how good they are.This was an outline... We made it a ways in, but found out that thewhole area was now private property, owned by an architect, who hadbeautifully remodeled a centuries old rock house and was building ahotel on the property. Diego was a bit sketched out initially by thesituation, as the architect and his wife had two indigenous¨servants¨, who were ordered to help us ou, and make us tea. Weclimbed a hill with them, and found a beautiful sheep eaten Puyadyckioides, but not the species we wanted. We were also 1000m toolow. Apparently, we would need mules or 15 hours to walk up to wheremaybe it grows, and we simply don´t have time now for such anexpedition, though it sounds terribly fun. But the wife said shewould go over the mountains in the autumn to visit her grandmother,and would try to collect it for me, passing it off to Diego on one ofhis collecting trips (sounds like Little Red Riding hood, but with abasketful of Puya). So, no Puya, but we got to see their beautifulhome, take some coca, see the indigenous woman´s loom made of cactusspines, from which we bought a very autentico woolen horse blanket.That is kind of how this trip is going. Our collecting plans aren´talways working out (though we are doing ok...5 out of 12 species), butwe are having a ton of fun and seeing some of the most beautifullandscapes on earth. Seriously, this place is amazing. We drovethrough winding canyons of brilliant, undulating rocks, set off bygiant cacti and passed through hundreds of miles of dry valleysflanked by impenetrable mountains. I love the giant landscape...itreminds me of the American West, but there are so few people here youreally feel like you can call it your own. Matt and I are weavingfantasies of moving here someday when we are old, or at leastroadtripping the whole country with our kids. This really is myfavorite place in South America (and you know how high the bar wasset...)We had to leave too soon the gorgeous vineyards of Cafayate, thesophisticated and fun city of Salta where we drank more Malbec and atefish and tomatoes until past midnight, and the weird moonscape ofMolinos. But really, Puya set up a great travel itinerary for us. Ifwe hadn´t had to go here, I bet we would have missed it and spent allour time in BA and Patagonia (which I´m sure we would love too).Tomorrow we go in search of the giant fuzzball Puya yakespala andseveral other poorly known plants, then we begin the descent toCordoba. I can´t really fathom going to Chile after all this. We aredead tired and pretty stinky....it is a ton of work and long days, butwe will persevere. OK, now to maybe get eight hours of sleep and ashower before we do it all over again. Really, though, there areworse ways to make a living (or spend some money!)
Rachel