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Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 6:49 pm
by Paul in Essex
Read it if you get bored over christmas. Bit of a surprise in there....

Link here

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:41 am
by Herts Mike
I'm already bored over Christmas......

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 9:30 am
by juster
An interesting read Paul, thanks for posting the link. Your 'encounter' sounds very frightening, you have expressed it well, it certainly highlights some of the dangers of going off the beaten track.

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:57 pm
by Paul in Essex
Thank you! I was beginning to think no-one had read it!

Yes, the 'encounter' was a game changer. No more plant hunting in Mexico for me!

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 7:44 pm
by Ali Baba
Read and enjoyed Paul as always, I drool over the ferns and wish you had brought a few spores home with you [emoji3] it did sound more than a bit scary...


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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 11:46 am
by Liz M
I enjoyed reading this and feel quite sorry you don't want to go back to plant-hunting in the unknown. I do appreciate the dangers you faced and would face again, I wonder if it is something that is frequently encountered on trips to Mexico. Regrettably drugs are more profitable than plants, in the short term and until the Mexican authorities realise this and seriously do something about it, it will not improve.
I was intrigued by the plants you showed us, you seemed to concentrate on Yuccas, Agaves and Nolinas, it was quite unusual to have a Mexican trip report without a view of many cacti and only a couple of succulents. A refreshing change for me. Do you go to look for these with a view to exotic garden design or your preference? I realise you only showed a small percentage of what you photographed, so maybe I got a wrong impression. I would still like to see more, perhaps I ought to go to see something of it myself. Thanks for putting this on here.

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:30 pm
by Paul in Essex
Growing ferns from spore is a dark art I haven't mastered, sadly. I just end up with non-descript slime. But there are some glorious ferns there - some of the xeric ferns in particular are just amazing.

Liz - the groups of plants that interest me the most are what would have been once described loosely as 'woody lilies' - so agave, yucca, nolina, dasylirion, beaucarnea, furcraea, beschorneria. Initially the appeal was trying to find species that I could perhaps try to grow - to see them growing naturally and therefore try and get a better handle on how to do my best for them. But that soon blossomed into a more wide reaching love of seeing the plants in nature, especially now that collecting seed from the wild is a no-no. I am interested in most other groups of plants and will usually take pictures of them when I encounter them, but my head is turned first and most often by woody lilies.

I do feel sorry I won't be going back as there are so many issues I have that are unresolved - undescribed species I like to see documented, just a love for the countryside and scenery. But until it becomes safer I am not going. There are two seasoned travellers in Mexico who I have discussed this with and they both said I was lucky to have come out of that encounter alive. That is good enough for me! I'd go back as a tourist, but never to go poking about in remote places.

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 5:31 pm
by Ali Baba
Paul in Essex wrote:Growing ferns from spore is a dark art I haven't mastered, sadly. I just end up with non-descript slime. But there are some glorious ferns there - some of the xeric ferns in particular are just amazing.
Probably the only dark art I can claim to have got the hang of! Not as difficult as might be presumed...if you collect any in the future I'll be happy to try and raise them for you :grin:

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:07 pm
by Lithos
I will say , what a shame, Paul. My exploration of Mexico, was largely by bus, and often in rooms and occasionally a shower, that Ali baba may have found new growth, not yet recorded. Some really tricky gunpoint times, particularly down the pacific coast. And in St. Miguel de allende, as you say it can happen anywhere

Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 2:00 pm
by Tina
Hi Paul
Love the pictures & nice that you can do sightseeing & plant hunting together, it's quite tempting, helps that you have soo much experience of places to visit.
Very scary re the men with guns, glad you made it back safe