Where the Blooms Are

I think you know when you have an obsession, teetering on the brink of a possible addiction, I’m pretty sure I have one.  It seems whenever I travel I spend more time bent over observing the waxy coated leaves of a Croton plant or the kaleidoscope of colors shimmering in the tropical sun off the blooms of a bougainvillea; my eyes quite possibly are diverted up gazing languidly at the fluttering palm fronds rather than watching where I tread.  I think I have a problem.  I know I have a predicament when my memory card is overflowing with photographs from every possible angle of a Ficus tree rooted in the sand and not some pot behind a couch and oddly there is not one digital image to commemorate my son and husbands presence, oops.  I digress with my head hung low that I am indeed addicted to tropical flora, and don’t even get me started on the coral reefs and anemones to bear witness to on a good long scuba dive.  Today we shall stay above ground, mostly. 

Traveling along the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is a nature lover’s dream come true, especially while enduring a blistery winter like the one the States has been competing with, being away and among the living flora was a shot in the arm that no dosage of St.John’s Wort can possible contend with.  The Yucatan Peninsula boasts a vast diversity of plant and animal species, actually 50% of the birdlife in Mexico can be found hovering over the Yucatan.  In fact, the flora multiplicity has some authors ranking Mexico third after Brazil and Columbia and before Indonesia, Australia, Zaire and Madagascar.  The Yucatan Peninsula consists of 180,000 square miles of low-lying flat limestone formed into a rock shelf.  Most people associate the area with pristine fine sanded beaches juxtaposed and intertwined with brilliant turquoise, indigo, emerald and navy seas, the warm beaches are lined with palapas (thatched roofed structures) to linger under, shielded from the sun’s rays and normally those panoramic beaches are the most memorable feature particularly for a land-locked Kansan like myself.  But no, not me…I’m much more interested in the coconut palm and how the wind and unstable sands have created such a bow in its trunk.  The blooms, leaves and textures of tropical flora are that of Mother Nature’s divine genius, she clearly knew that if she mixed fronds with the perpetual breeze off the salty tides a symphony of life would resonate and echo off the dense sands. 

Aside from the spectacular scene of the earth marrying the seas, the Yucatan has a slew of ecological interests such as the jungle, mangroves, coastal dunes, coralline reefs and lagoon reefs.  This area also brags of a labyrinth of cenotes under the jungle floor.  I took a dive in one of these fresh water mazes of caves with stalactites and stalagmites, where you need a flashlight, no Closter phobia issues and a very good guide in order not to get lost for eternity in the thousands of miles of watery cenotes situated under the jungle.  Often when your gaze goes upward the roots of hundred year old Banyan trees are above you…think of it diving below terra firma, little alcoves exist where the cave is not fully submerged these are spots in which to wade above water and witness the bats in their natural environment and exotic orchids grasping on to the sides of moist rock walls splashing the slightest bit of color in this muted subterranean world. 

The people of the Yucatan Peninsula and Maya Riviera are working hard to protect the natural gifts their habitat provides, they have established a protected area called Sian Ka’an, meaning Where the Sky is born in Mayan.  Sian Ka’an covers 1.6 million acres of lowland tropical forests, marshes, flooded savannahs, mangrove forests, lagoons, bays and coral reefs, extending as far as the Mesoamerican Reef, the world’s second largest barrier reef. 

When you are not out in the jungle or cruising about in the protected mangroves, the Mexican casa is a relaxing and colorful retreat.  The casa’s in Mexico oftentimes have courtyards earmarked as an outdoor oasis, brimming over with Ficus trees, Banana trees, Palms, Mango trees, Papaya plants, Heliconia, Birds of Paradise, Crotons, Plumeria, Ginger plants, Pomegranates, Guava plants, Calla Lily, Prickly Pear, Bougainvillea, Agave and cactus, amaryllis, poinsettias, orchids and who knows maybe even a coffee plant.  I adore the refreshing change of the larger-than-life leaves, their natural waxy texture and the brilliant hot colors that saturate the tropical environment.  So on this last leg of winter I thought we could all use a modest sultry holiday even if only in our minds eye and once again it gives me reason to perpetuate me deep sickness of being utterly and hopelessly addicted to all things pertaining to flora.