Wednesday 16th
November
Our biggest driving day,
intending to travel to north of Ciudad Victoria to stay at my favoured hotel
from last year – Hotel Hacienda Santa Engracia – where we would be meeting
my Texan friend and plant patrician Richard Travis next day.
Interesting drive in light drizzle through lowland tropics – bananas,
papayas etc. Passed through huge
colonies of Sabal mexicana in fields and ditches on the way – spanning
many scores of kilometres.
Just into Tamaulipas we
stopped and walked up about 10,000 steps to a huge cave, passing a venerable old
Beaucarnea recurvata on the way up.
The
cave was just awe inspiring – about 30m high and maybe 100m deep, illuminated by
a sinkhole at the back end. Had it been in
the UK there would have been coach parks and queues, but we had it to
ourselves. Saw
some interesting agaves clinging to the cliff face at the front, too –
possibly Agave xylonacantha?
Arrived at Santa Engracia
by mid afternoon and carried out some admin tasks.
Intro 8th/9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th a 15th b 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th/21st 22nd/23rd