Another excellent day with seven stops that provided cacti in two genera that I had not seen in nature before: Epithelantha (I assume it was E. micromeris) and Astrophytum, with A. capricorne as it’s representative. There were also a number of candidates for first time of photographing a species that I had not seen before in nature. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I have become a mere ‘list ticker’, but at the same time, there is little point in going back time after time to photograph things that I have thousands of pictures of already – unless we are in Chile of course.
The theme for today can be summed up by that song from the sixties by the Chicago Transit Authority: ‘Does anyone really know what time it is?’ with all the jumping from one time zone to another and different countries / states changing from winter to summer time on different weekends. California had already made the change on the night of 17 / 18 March. In the UK (and Europe in general I believe) it happens on the last weekend of March so in fact around 2 a.m. on 28 March, while in Mexico, it seems to be next weekend – Easter Weekend – that the clocks change. Anyway, John & I got it wrong and knocked on Eunice’s door 55 minutes after we thought that we had agreed to meet for breakfast, only to be told that we were 5 minutes early. We had already had breakfast, so Eunice was on her own, while I used the extra time to have a chat with Angie. Sorry Eunice.
I guess it only matters what time it is when I need to catch my flight back to England in a couple of weeks+ time.
Today’s stops were S1790 to S1796 inclusive.
S1790 and S1791 were ‘leg stretchers’ but did not yield anything exciting, so I won’t bore you with the plant list. S1792 are pictures taken around the charming Mexican town of Bustamante. Our database suggests that there is also a town by that name in the State of Coahuila, but as the plants reported are the same that we found here, in Nuevo Leon, I wonder if that might be a typo. So S1793 to S1796 are from the Bustamante canyon area known as Ojo de Agua. Not a very original name, as I have come across several of these in Latin American countries. We found Epithelantha micromeris, Escobaria sp, a small growing Echinocereus pectinatus form – is this E. pailianus that I have grown and killed several times in the UK? E. fendleri (?), E. stramineus, Astrophytum capricorne, Ferocactus / Thelocactus hamataspinus (?), a Sclerocactus (Ancistrocactus sp) and a Mammillaria sp to be identified and various Opuntia sp. that the Tephrocactus Study Group meeting can have a chance to ID.
Back in Bustamante, work was in progress for a big fiesta, probably to celebrate Palm Sunday. I bought yet another hat to ‘blend in with the natives’, as you’ll see on tomorrow’s pictures.
The Cactus Trip Diaries 
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