The Smiling Cactus

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

Recently we enjoyed a rare treat. We watched the sunrise from Fish Island, in the great Bolivian Salt Flats of Uyuni. There is no water around for miles, but it is surrounded by a ‘sea’ of salt. The ‘Salar de Uyuni’ is the world’s largest salt flat covering over 10,000 sq. km. (4,000 square miles). And what is the predominant thing to be seen on Fish Island? I’m not actually sure why it is even called Fish Island because the answer is not fish. The answer is about this month’s mystery macro.

Below is the entire photo from which the mystery macro was cropped (by the way, as with any photo in this blog, if you click on it it grows to full size):

Still not clear? This next pictures gives some perspective on the actual size:

Need some more help? How about this one?

You got it! The answer is a Cactus! Fish Island is covered with cactuses. So, how were the guesses this month? Well it is flora (plant life), not fauna (animal life). And although someone’s scalp viewed really close up may look like this, that wasn’t it. However, (drum roll, please...) We have a WINNER!

As correctly guessed by Jeremy Reed, this is the Echinopsis tarijensis. He even correctly guessed some of the older, no longer used scientific names of Trichocereus tarijensis and Trichocereus narvaecensis.

Congratulations Jeremy! Please come to Tarija, Bolivia to receive your reward: A free dinner at El Marqués restaurant at the Central Plaza in Tarija. Once you have made arrangements for traveling to Tarija, please contact us at boliviaflorafauna@gmail.com for details on where to meet us. We look forward to your visit!
 
The Echinopsis is a large genus of cacti in the family Cactaceae containing over 100 species. The Echinopsis tarijensis is native to Argentina and Bolivia. I have looked all over, but cannot find any common names in English or Spanish. If you know of one, would you mind commenting below, please?

As shown in the photo above, and in the two below, they thrive on hillsides and where the soil is sandy or gravelly. This is so rainfall drains away quickly and does not accumulate at the roots. Like most cactuses, they need water from time to time, but too much water will rot the roots.
 

They can take the form of an upright pole:

Or they can be ‘branchy’ like a tree:

And at times they can make you think of a crowd of people making their way toward the door:

The older ones grow to be quite tall. The tallest one on Fish Island had a sign by it stating it was over 6 meters high (over 19 feet). That’s me in front of the cactus below. With shoes on I’m 2 meters tall.

Also, like most cacti, the Echinopsis tarijensis flowers. We were there too early in the day to see the flowers open up to their full glory, but here’s a shot anyhow:

Now, you may be wondering to yourself “What’s with the blog title: The Smiling Cactus?” Well, take a look at the last picture below and tell me what you see:

Am I right or am I right? Even the cactus are friendly in Bolivia! I took the picture thinking someone had played a joke by putting a smiley face on the cactus. But later, on closer examination, I saw that it was the way that four flowers were positioned, and their resulting shadows from the rising sun, that made the smile. The cactus really was smiling!

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)