A JOURNEY IN BOLIVIA 1988
A little further there was a narrow road (dirt road) to the right, which turned out
to lead to Tarata upon inquiry. The road was bad, maybe too bad, but we arrived in
Tarata. Flags hung out here and it was quite busy. There was not a hill to be seen
near Tarata. All the land was cultivated.
We asked for directions to Anzaldo, because
Sulcorebutia taratensis var minima is said to grow there and the type plant of Lobivia
acanthoplegma also came from these regions. We passed through a village where many
people were waiting on the side of the road, probably for a procession or something
like that. They didn't seem too pleased with the dust-
A few kilometers further we arrived in Estancia Blanca, which we first mistook for Anzaldo. Here too we searched, but found nothing to our liking. We decided to go back. After a kilometer we took a side road. A farmer was at work here. Kik decided to ask this man about Lobivia's and sure enough, the man understood. In fact, the plants he wanted grew next to the field: Lobivia acanthoplegma. This area was the site of the type plant. Within seconds, women and children showed up with many of these plants. It was hard to stop them. We showed a picture of Sulcorebutia var minima. They recognized the plant: they would be in Estancia Blanca, so we retraced our steps. However, here we were redirected to Anzaldo, that wouldn't be far. No problem, we thought. But the road quickly deteriorated and after a few kilometers it did not seem safe to drive further. In the meantime we had passed some "Vados" (fords in rivers), which were treacherously deep at times. And after all, you had to go back this way. In this case it meant that I had to reverse for a few hundred meters between stones and potholes, which was quite nerve wracking.
The site was not suitable for pitching a tent. We drove to Cliza to spend the night. First there was a hotel, later apparently there wasn't one. Via San Benito we arrived in Punata. Here we found out that a stay for the night is called "alogamiento". In Cliza one will undoubtedly also have had an alogamiento if we had known the correct name.
To reach the alogamiento I had to cross a narrow bridge, which gave the impression that it had not been maintained very well. Although I already had some experience in dire situations, this bridge was a nice challenge, which I was
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