Nature

I took a liberal approach to this category, including everything from vistas from the bus window to herds of sheep moving through city streets on flatbed trucks. Unlike last year’s trip to Ecuador, we did not take any long nature hikes. But nature was much closer to the pulse here.


It’s brought in on a daily basis—in the form of markets or livestock—and is close to people’s heart, apparent from the abundance of gardens in people’s homes. The house where I stayed in Oaxaca had erected a garden in a small open cavity and everywhere else were potted plants.
And outside the cites, the land is still an integral part of people’s livelihoods. Though a difficult pursuit, as in much of the world, farming is still viable as others migrate north.

 

 

 

 

My first glimpse of Mexico’s lights.

 

The hot, arid bus trip from Mexico City to Oaxaca was good for spotting cactus.

 

It also offered spectacular vistas of the bordering mountain ranges.

 

Life in this small Oaxacan town consisted of some hard-working craftsman and a less motivated dog.

 

Mexicans have really green thumbs. There were potted plants, commonly long rows of them, in most households: on roofs, in garages, anywhere with some sun and space. Many contained cacti, others held flowers bright and beautiful.

 

No garden could match that cultivation aptitude like the Jardin Etnobotanico outside of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo.
While fairly new, the landscaped lawn already houses hundreds of native plants from all around the state, including lots of succulents.

 

Verdant flora and fauna was abundant in Mazunte. The arachnids got a little too close to home:
this guy was in our sink, and we also stumbled into a huge tarantula outside our door one night.

 

More of Mazunte’s wildlife, which were actually hairier than the hippies.

 

The pastoral life reared its head even in urbane San Cristobal de las Casas.

 

Sunrise and palm trees within Mexico’s skinniest state on the isthmus, where in the town of
Juchitan we could neither find excitement nor sleep in the bus station.

 

But catching the sunrise made it worth it.

 

These scenes dominated so much of the landscapes of southern Mexico and Guatemala—
cornfields, a little house, and a lot of agricultural ingenuity.

 

Creative, albeit destructive, graffiti.

 

So much corn to admire and, occasionally, touch.

 

The spot-the-livestock-game always offered a thrill.

 

Birds of paradise in Antigua.