Adventures in Mexico part VII

12th November 2014

Another 7am start, heading off on the road to Jacala to have a look around the western and northern parts of the Parque Nacional Los Marmoles. Patchy fog and mist were our companions for the first few hours but there were still lots of nice things to see along the way. Some nice ‘regular’ looking Agave mitis and a plethora of gorgeous ferns, including the largest Llaeva cordifolia I have seen.

Dasylirion glaucophyllum making an appearance, along with our mystery Nolina from the other side of the mountain.

Green and glaucous forms of Agave mitis on the same rock face! The Dasylirion glaucophyllum were quite nice but not a patch on those we’d seen earlier in the trip.

Hechtias are always a treat to see, especially when as brightly coloured as this one.

We drove up a small side road to investigate what was up there and found this amazing Cobaea there – subsequently identified by Chad as Cobaea paneroi. Pictures courtesy of Phil Young.

Closer to Jacala and a new agave appears along the roadside – one I hadn’t seen before. Agave funkiana. Well, I thought I had encountered it in Tamaulipas but evidently not as these are pretty much spot on for its type location and are different plants entirely.

I should try to get a name for this Pellaea sp.

And another colony of my mystery Nolina, this time the surrounding woodland has been cleared and they are more visible. And in greater numbers, too. It is a majestic plant and someone should get it in literature.

We set ourselves a 2pm cut-off before turning back as we faced an afternoon’s drive to south of Mexico City.

So at 2pm off we set. Just south of Zimapan we were held up for 40 mins due to an argument between a coach and a truck. Then back on the road, driving through another massive rainstorm most of the way. We hit the outskirts of Mexico City, and lots of traffic, diverting off to the west then the southwest then finally off the motorway to try to find somewhere suitable to stay. The first town was absolutely horrible, tiny, with no hotel. The second town was also absolutely horrible, quite large but with a hotel so we decided to stay. The best place we could find in town to eat was a pizza restaurant which, as pizza restaurants go, wasn’t that bad. But not exactly what we were looking for. Anyway, back to the hotel straight afterwards.

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