Wednesday 3rd March

Up and away by 6:40am for the long drive south to the coast along hwy175.  Stopped for breakfast on the way at a small comedor then got the boring stretch between Oaxaca and Miahuatlán out of the way.  Just beyond there the road starts to gain altitude as it climbs from the huge arid plain  into the Sierra Madre Del Sur and it is here that I wanted to stop again and investigate some more nolinas.  Saw these last trip but didn't have time to check them out properly - this time we spent an hour or so wandering around.  There are no nolinas recorded from around here, and certainly none with glaucous blue foliage, so this is an exciting find - either a variant of N. longifolia or a completely undescribed species.

Below - the by now almost customary appearance of Mammillaria in the understorey.

And here a large and handsome form of Agave potatorum

maybe more unexpected was this orchid.

Further up the twisty mountain road, gaining altitude and new surroundings - here Agave atrovirens in flower

And here the 'real' Furcraea longaeva

Way in the distance was this large population but we just didn't have time to trek over to them.  Another trip, maybe.

Further along still we stopped for a rummage around in some temperate woods.  There was this gorgeous leathery leaved climber everywhere.

This nice senecio - seemingly a constant feature of woodlands around the south of Mexico

I didn't realise that Lobelia laxiflora came from here, so this was a nice surprise.

And another schefflera-y thing.  Despite a decent hunt around we didn't see any others, just this one small plant - this would have been around 2700m altitude, too.

A nice big thistle, too.

Abandoning the cool woodland, we carried on down the mountain to the coast and our destination, the sleepy little fishing village/resort of Puerto Angél.  That was our hotel, Hotel Cordella, one of about 6 in the bay.  I think that, together with one elderly American lady, we were the only gringos there. 

I can only imagine what pelican poo smells like.  Glad it isn't my boat.

As the sun set we watched pelicans diving for their supper, then we had ours - grilled, freshly cooked prawns on the beach and a couple of micheladas.  It is the kind of place that you have to make an effort to reach but the effort is justified.  Certainly I'm no fan of beach holidays but if ever there comes a time in my life when I need to get away from it all and do nothing, I can't imagine a nicer place.

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