Today we left early to try to reach the Andes. The mission was to travel to El Juncal, a valley deep in the Andes. The road there heads towards the mountain pass of Libertadores, a dip in the ridge made of the giant Andes and which connects to neighbouring Argentina. The weather was wet and cold, and as we climbed up the mountain the rain turned to snow. High in the peaks the snow was falling heavily and the mountain pass was closed to road traffic. We got close but could not reach Juncal and thus the population of Mimulus luteus that we were looking. Along the way we saw many cool things though, and driving on the mountain road was exciting on its own. From the lower lands where the avocado (here called palta) farms have broke havoc on the hills, to higher and higher mountains covered in columnar cacti and fantastic plants. We twice tried to cross the mountain pass but were turned back by police. We explored a bit of the area there, walking along some streams and checking out the local flora. Eventually we decided to venture on another side road. After some driving on a gravel road we reached the gate erected by a mining company and continued by foot. A farmer passed us in his horse, and goats munched on columnar cacti oblivious of the sharp spines. We found a beautiful river that snaked towards the Andes. The gorge was rich in cacti and xerophytes and at the end of the valley, mountains with snowy peaks looked down to us. We have given up most hope of finding M. luteus, but then we found a single plant growing along the gravel . One yellow flower with a beautiful red spot seemed to look at us hoping to pass invisible. Gaston and I were excited to finally have found it, and I was delighted of seeing for the first time this plant in the wild. We searched hard and eventually found a few scattered rosettes, with no flowers, along the river bed over a couple of kilometres. This is a red plant, but having seen it against the backdrop of the Andes has made the expedition well worth it!
In the evening we returned to Valparaiso, that quirky old town is squeezed between the Coastal Cordillera and the Andes. Along the same valley that holds together the urban sprawl of Santiago, Valparaiso is a port that hangs from the high cliffs of the surrounding hills and spills to the edge of the Pacific. The houses are clustered on the hills and painted full of colour. Legend says that the houses are so colourful as they were pained with the leftover pain of passing commercial ships. Beggars not choosers, and now the bright colours contrast with the melancholic grey of the clouded sky. Ah, and this is a town of graffiti, which cover almost any surface with their designs and stories like tattoos.
