The Desert

On Friday Dave took the day off and we decided to go for a drive up the Valley.  In Chile the entire country has both coastline and the very tall Andes mountains very close to each other.  In the morning we left our coastal home (coastal climate) and drove up the Valley (hot dry climate).  Within about 15 minutes we found ourselves in the desert.  When we came to a city called Vicuna.  BJ wanted to get out and check out the cacti.

This is the Haviland Family posing with the Cactus Family.  We would like to introduce Grandma and Grandpa Cactus with their 5 children, their spouses and their 7 grandchildren.

We found this really cool cactus.  Locals here call it "Silla de Suegra" which literally means "Chair for my Mother-in-law."  In most countries "Silla de Suegra" refers to a type of barrel cactus with lots of spines that looks like a footstool, but I am sure this one would work also.  BJ decided to try out that seat, but then thought better of it.

We also saw these cute little cacti that just grew into these cute prickly clusters.  But, beware, those cute little prickly clusters can be dangerous.  Evan found this out when, according to him, he was just minding his own business when the cactus attacked him.

At first he was just scared to see so many prickly cacti stuck to his pants, then one poked him and he really got upset.  The barbs were very well made and each little cactus part was so delicate that barely touching the cactis caused it to bust into pieces and hang on for dear life.  Evan obviously wasn't too happy being a dispersal mechanism for new little cacti plants.

Poor Evan!

Daddy to the rescue!

Despite the attack on Evan we still had pity on the poor little cactus parts.  They would have had no chance for survival in the wild if we just left them there detached during the summer.  We decided to bring them home as mascotas (pets) and planted them in a planter box in our yard.