24 May, 2012

Botanical Gardens at El Charco del Ingenio


We visited El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Gardens on Earth Day.  It was free admission and there was  no excuse not to go.  We grabbed our cameras and away we went.  Boy am I glad that we checked it out! It was a gorgeous day, not too hot and there was a delightful breeze coming off of the reservoir.  Every single one of the Cacti were in bloom.  We walked around like drunken paparazzi weaving from one Cactus to the next taking pictures of every Cactus, and each flower.  We had such a nice walk looking at all the flowers, the islands in the reservoir, the birds and the dam.  







Boris on the hunt for the next good shot



Across the dam (yes you can walk across it) was another path and lots of Cacti but this particular area had been recently burned.  Do you still call it a forest fire if the forest is made of Cacti?  This was the highlight to our trip to El Charco!  The burned up Cactus were not dead, they were sprouting fresh paddles from the tops of their charred bodies.  What had been burnt all of the way through revealed a gorgeous mesh and lace that only mother nature could produce.  It was gorgeous! And in some way inspirational...

Burned cactus paddles

Fresh paddles growing from the ashes

The trunk of a cactus after it had been burned
We had a wonderful time at El Charco and we both agreed that we want to go back every April when the flowers are in bloom.  But you do not have to wait all year to enjoy the botanical gardens.  Every week they have bird walks and nature hikes for very affordable prices!  I want to check out one of the bird walks! I would not call myself a "bird watcher" per say as I am very ignorant to the names of the different species of birds, but we have some bright colorful birds in San Miguel and I sure would like to know more about them!


Paparazzi Jessi on the prowl



No comments :

Post a Comment

Follow my blog with Bloglovin