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Paul Spracklin
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:55 pm Posts: 2564 Location: North Thames delta UK
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Mexico 2016 blog now live
Just finished sorting this out. Have a read if you get bored over christmas!
_________________ visit my website - www.oasisdesigns.co.uk
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Tue Dec 20, 2016 6:45 pm |
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Martinnicklin
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:06 pm Posts: 2675 Location: Telford UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Really enjoyed this. A visual feast. This is what a few years ago I thought I would be doing - until a wife and two kids came along! Some amazing plants, magnificent vistas and enjoyable reading. It was certainly a place on my list but sad to read about the unfortunate encounters you had with the locals. So many places in the world which are blessed with wonderful fauna and flora suffer the same fate. A friend of mine once went to South Africa for similar reasons and stayed in places where the owners had to live with panic buttons and alarms linked directly to the police. Very sad indeed - and even sadder to hear that Basildon suffers the same plight!!! Thanks for this post. Great stuff.
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Tue Dec 20, 2016 7:39 pm |
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garytheflounder
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:32 pm Posts: 241 Location: Brighton Sussex uk
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Mexico is a marvelous place but, because of it's links with Basildon, one I couldn't see me going off the beaten track
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Tue Dec 20, 2016 9:19 pm |
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david feix
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:54 am Posts: 3206 Location: Berkeley, California
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Your travelogue was like reliving my own memories of Oaxaca and surroundings, on a trip I'd made with 2 friends back in 2002 I think. We were traveling with Gary Hammer in his own car, and he knew all the roads and places of interest intimately. At the time I was not very fluent in spanish, so it was sure convenient to be with two bilingual friends.
Too bad you had so many frustrations on this trip, but it wasn't as ominous as I'd been imagining from your previous comments. It does seem to confirm that conditions on the ground can change rapidly, so sussing out where areas might be dangerous with informed locals sounds prudent. Definitely a situation where some fluency in Spanish helps. I have several friends who still do quite a bit of off main road botanizing in Mexico, and they still feel safe enough doing it, but also advise that some areas where opium or marijuana are grown should be avoided.
Thanks for sharing your photos and experiences, but sounds like your next trip will more likely be the Canaries or Madeira? I hope to get back down to Mexico or Brazil in the next couple of years, it's been too long away.
_________________ David Feix Landscape Design http://www.flickr.com/photos/20217462@N02/
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Wed Dec 21, 2016 12:06 am |
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Stan
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:52 pm Posts: 10687 Location: Hayward- S.F. Bay area Ca.
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
I was up to another 200 photos or so. You'll be back. Too much smiles on standing next to wild plants and venerable at that. SO were the old plants bada-boom!
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Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:08 am |
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David Matzdorf
Site Admin
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:06 pm Posts: 5321 Location: Islington, London UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
An enjoyable read, as ever. And it certainly made me want to go back. Mai and I were mooning over Mexico only a couple of days ago, as it's been 5 years since we were in Oaxaca. We kept thinking of other areas of the country we'd like to visit, but concluded that going back to Oaxaca would have to be a major part of the trip.
I'm pleased you concluded that you can still visit Mexico, as long as you stay on the beaten track. When you first returned, it sounded as if you might never go back.
That Yucca with the pendulous inflorescence and the leaves that are like a narrower version of Y. elephantipes/gigantea: I think that's the same one that is in the Jardín Etnobotánico. There are photos of it somewhere. Hang on and I'll re-post it...
Here it is, from :
It surprises me that they would have an un-described species in the Jardín Etnobotánico without ... well ... describing it.
_________________ 51º33'07"N x 0º07'21"W
43m (142 feet) ASL
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Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:57 pm |
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Paul Spracklin
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:55 pm Posts: 2564 Location: North Thames delta UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
David F - I think my problem is now that I would never feel safe, even if told that in a particular place it was ok to poke about the remote dirt tracks and walking trails. I would always have that image of the rifles in the back of my mind. Perhaps it is different for English people, as we do not routinely see guns. But, yes, Gran Canaria and Madeira already booked for 2017 David M - Yes, that's the one. They have other plants in the ethnobotanical gardens that were planted before they were described - they have a few large specimen Nolina excelsa which only acquired its name a couple of years ago. Centre right in this pic, which was taken before it was described: Do go back - people need to go to Mexico. I can certainly recommend going at that time of year.
_________________ visit my website - www.oasisdesigns.co.uk
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Wed Dec 21, 2016 3:26 pm |
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David Matzdorf
Site Admin
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:06 pm Posts: 5321 Location: Islington, London UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
_________________ 51º33'07"N x 0º07'21"W
43m (142 feet) ASL
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Wed Dec 21, 2016 3:38 pm |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Fantastic as always Paul. Yes, I would have been freaked by the run-in you had as well. I love botanizing, but that's a bit too much. Mexico is really such a wonderful country - I'll be back at some point, but not without a guide if in the back country.
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Thu Dec 22, 2016 8:13 am |
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Kev Spence
Site Admin
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:59 pm Posts: 10902 Location: Loughborough, Leics, central UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Excellent Paul sorry to hear of your woes along the way but it sounds as if you still got to see some wonderful sights. The encounter in the back country does sound quite scary and I can quite understand you not wanting to visit again there are still to many countries out there waiting to be explored. Many thanks for posting your link here on GOTE I have viewed it a few times now and it makes for an enjoyable read. The pictures of that field of Beaucarnea gracilis with yourself for scale were the highlight of your blog stupendous!
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Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:02 pm |
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charliepridham
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:42 pm Posts: 1925 Location: Cornwall
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Paul, is it possible that the long leaved plant on the 6th is Eryngium ? looks a lot like the Eryngium pandanifolium I have here. Nice pictures by the way
_________________ Charlie, Growing climbers in Cornwall http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
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Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:59 am |
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Paul Spracklin
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:55 pm Posts: 2564 Location: North Thames delta UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
Thanks for the positive comments, folks. Charlie - Eryngium is one of the genera I considered as it is very well represented in Mexico. In fact it is rare to walk in woods anywhere in the country and not see them. But this plant is much harder and spines are hooked. Bromelia is a good fit.
_________________ visit my website - www.oasisdesigns.co.uk
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Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:42 pm |
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stevenbrown
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2011 12:15 am Posts: 310 Location: Edenfield lancashire UK
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Re: Mexico 2016 blog now live
great photos Paul, Mexico looks stunning, it is such a shame that the outback now looks like a no go area.
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Fri Dec 23, 2016 3:52 pm |
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