Isla Espiritu Santo, Baja California Sur, Mexico
An island with 99 square kilometers normally has a very good diversity of plants. This is the case of Isla Espiritu Santo, where we had lovely hikes this morning. The beach is called Bahia Bonanza and offered different types of hikes into the desert (which is green due to the two hurricanes since September.)
Among the different plants seen were prickly pears, a quite important plant for Mexicans, as it is the National Plant. When the Nahoas, also called Aztecs, arrived in the Valley of Mexico, they found the symbol they had been looking for for dozens of years: a small islet with a prickly pear plant, a golden eagle standing on it, and in its bill a rattlesnake. There they founded their great city: Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City. This prickly pear is one of the 120 different cacti to be found on the Peninsula of Baja California, and is part of a very difficult group of cacti to identify, especially if they are not flowering. Beautiful special adaptations are the spines, very useful in protecting itself against the attack of animals that might consider it as food. Other cacti seen were the terrible chollas, and the giant cardon, largest member of the family in Mexico, as specimens have been known to measure 70 feet high!
An island with 99 square kilometers normally has a very good diversity of plants. This is the case of Isla Espiritu Santo, where we had lovely hikes this morning. The beach is called Bahia Bonanza and offered different types of hikes into the desert (which is green due to the two hurricanes since September.)
Among the different plants seen were prickly pears, a quite important plant for Mexicans, as it is the National Plant. When the Nahoas, also called Aztecs, arrived in the Valley of Mexico, they found the symbol they had been looking for for dozens of years: a small islet with a prickly pear plant, a golden eagle standing on it, and in its bill a rattlesnake. There they founded their great city: Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City. This prickly pear is one of the 120 different cacti to be found on the Peninsula of Baja California, and is part of a very difficult group of cacti to identify, especially if they are not flowering. Beautiful special adaptations are the spines, very useful in protecting itself against the attack of animals that might consider it as food. Other cacti seen were the terrible chollas, and the giant cardon, largest member of the family in Mexico, as specimens have been known to measure 70 feet high!
