Botanic Garden part 2

On Tuesday I took the botanic garden's free shuttle bus up to the garden and went on an official tour.  Before and during the tour I chatted with other people on the tour.  In a small world coincidence, one couple was from Chestertown and her father had been one  of the founding board members of Adkins Arboretum.  She was staying with an Adkins volunteer that I have met.  There was another couple from New York, NY and one from Oxford, MS.  Two young people from Australia and New Zealand were also on the tour.  She is a graphic designer and he is originally from Mexico but went to school in Australia and now works in New Zealand.

The tour was led by a very knowledgeable guide who had worked at the University of British Columbia for many years.  He had come down to visit San Miguel for a week and had decided to move here by mid-week.  He leads a tour for the garden once a month.   I learned that the tan grass that fills in between the cacti is Natal grass, a grass imported from South Africa for cattle feed that the cattle didn't like.  The garden manages the land on the far side of the lake and in theory there shouldn't be grazing animals over there, but there were some horses by the edge of the lake accompanied by cattle egrets.

Our tour guide showing us the fluff around cactus seeds used by the cactus wren to line its nest

Natal grass  between the cactus and horses grazing along the water's edge

Our tour followed the canyon and the guide talked about the history of the garden and about many traditional uses of the plants.  He carried a bag made from the fibers of agave leaves and showed us the cochineal bug on a cactus.  The Spanish were apparently as excited about fibers for ropes and the deep red of the cochineal bug for dyes as they were about the silver they found in the area.  We looped back through the children's play area and plaza of the 4 winds.  Part of this area was funded by a grant from botanic gardens conservation international.

The snake slide

We ended the tour with a visit to the greenhouse designed by Charles Glass, a cactus expert who helped get the garden's collection going.  The garden is a center for rescued and confiscated cacti, agaves and yuccas in Mexico and is raising many rare species.  The land for the garden was purchased by 10 local families who saw how quickly development was happening around San Miguel.  We got back to the visitor's center in time for a refreshing licuado (fresh blended juice) and some shopping before the bus left for town at 1pm.

I met Jake on the plaza and we went out for lunch.  We decided we should try a local steak, and what better place than an Argentine steakhouse!  The place turned out to be a chain called La Garufuna, but it was very good.  We split a steak and a large salad and took home enough steak for last night's dinner.