The Cactus Trip Diaries

The rain was still pouring down as we woke up. It was a quick swim to the restaurant and a full breakfast. So instead of the planned activity of driving to El Cielo National Park, a cloud forest, we decided to make it a driving day and head for Tamaulipas in the hope that things might be drier at lower altitudes. Soon after we crossed the border with TAM, the wipers could indeed be switched off.

Before that, we had driven down the long and winding road, passing by trees covered in Tillandsias, rocks covered in ferns and trees covered hillsides that included Beaucarnea recurvata with its large panicles waving above the tree canopy. Very difficult to get a descent picture. There are nine species, but B. recurvata is the only one listed for San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas, so that will do. True giants.

It was dry when I eventually spotted Cliff’s car from MEX 85, parked along the track.  It took no time to find Thelocactus bicolor subsp schwarzii but they seemed at least twice as large as in March. Lots of Ariocarpus trigonus, and a few of Sclerocactus (Ancistrocactus) scheeri, all looking as if they were on steroids.

Whereas in March the village near where they live had seemed to have been deserted for some years, allowing plants to recover from the damage done by the goats and cattle that the villagers owned, this time the village was populated again and the cattle were back, but ‘parked’ in a field outside the area where the cacti grow. So where was Astrophytum asterias? By now, Ian, Sarda and Cliff had returned from their explorations and soon showed us the first few, so that we could get our eyes in. Wow, they had also grown, happy to grow in mud! But at 27C in October, the conditions are different enough to suggest that we should not try this in the UK. Tomorrow the temperature is forecast to be 30C with 100% humidity. Boil in a bag cultivation should work!

Astrophytum asterias

Today we repeated the trip from Rio Verde to Palomas and repeated the stops from previous occasions, starting with the Ariocarpus retusus ‘scapharostoides’ stop. Again, I searched in the ‘forest’ around Pylon #1, to no avail. The vegetation was too lush, hiding the thorns on the Acacia trees, while trying not to slip over as the cows had ensured that often I was almost ankle deep in manure. The others had walked straight on to Pylon #4 where the same plants seen in March were photographed again, this time surrounded by grass and Tagetes with their yellow flowers, but no flowers, or buds or evidence of spent flowers on the Arios – we’re still not sure if we have missed the flowering season or are too early (S3153).

S3154 was a quick stop for a mass (or mess?) of epiphytic cacti hanging from the tree branches – Disocactus? Hylocereus? Also lots of Tillandsia.

S3155 was for a location for which Ian had data for Lophophora viridiscens. He came back to the car disappointed, as the coordinates were now at the bottom of a reservoir, under meters of water. While he had been tracking the location down, we had wondered about the place and had found Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus, Lophophora viridescens, Mammillaria sp, Coryphantha maiz-tablensis and Echinocereus enneacanthus and E. pentalopus.

S3156 was a random toilet stop, but while we were waiting for Cliff to catch up (their car had low ground clearance so could not keep up unless risking losing the exhaust), Alain had managed to find some Lophophora williamsii ‘koehressii’ – I remain unconvinced about these form names. Aian there were epiphytic cacti, E. enneacanthus, C. maiz-tablensis and large Sclerocactus uncinatus.

For S3157 we were back at ‘michelinman’, a massive Echinocactus platyacanthus, growing close to the largest Ferocactus histerix that I have ever seen.

One more stop, S3158 for Leuchtenbergia principis was nearly at the crossroads for the main road to Ciudad del Maiz. By now it had started to drizzle. Ian not only found the Leuchtenbergia but managed to find it in full flower – another candidate for my wall back home! (It’s picture that is).

Leuchtenbergia principis among the Agave lechuguilla and Mammillaria perbella

The drizzle became harder once we were back in the car and was quite persistent when we found a hotel with running water (through the yard) and a good restaurant almost next door. Let’s hope the weather clears a bit, I don’t really fancy ‘cactus in the rain’ as a theme for a future talk.

Just 12 km from the hotel, heading north on Mex 120, we reached our favourite Strombo disciformis stop. Cliff had parked on an earlier pull over and so we slotted in too, always nice to see a ‘different’ location, even if it’s only some 200 m away: S3150a and S3150b. Again the density of Strombocactus here was fantastic and lots more pictures were taken, including of a bright coloured snake, still asleep, that relied on its camouflage until everyone had taken its picture and we prodded it with a stick. It’s waved its little rattle as it slid into the bushes, but I could hear no noise – too young to have fully developed a rattle? or me too deaf to hear it?

S3151 was again a stop from March, but again the scenery was so different with lush vegetation and the occotillos in full leaf, but yellowing.

Next it was a long drive along Mex 120 through the Sierra Gordano, high through the clouds, with fog and drizzle to keep us in the car.

By 4 p.m. we were again at the Stop for Turbinicarpus lophophoroides (this time S3152) near Rio Verde where this time the plants were very turgid and mostly growing above ground, some with the remains of recent flowering, looking quite different from previous occasions.

We completed the day with one of the best meals to be had in Mexico, rib-eye steak and a remarkably nice Mexican Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum yum.

Sunday we should see E. platyacanthus ‘My Old Friend’ again, and ‘Michelinman’!

Once again the LHR – MEX flight took exactly one hour less to land than scheduled. So we had to wait for Alain’s flight that was now due one hour after us and for Bart, who had set his alarm clock ion the hotel airport for our published arrival time.

Neither mattered, as Ian had switched car provider to Dollar, who were slightly cheaper, had to wait for their stand to open at 7:00. So Alain, Bart  & I were off after arranging to meet at a set of GPS coordinates along the MEX 120.

Bart drove for the first day, taking the more than tricky Mexico City stage. Some how we managed to avoid all the cars that seemed sure to be aiming for us. I heaved a sigh of relief as we found ourselves on MEX57 and at least all the cars were going the same way.  Around 9:00 we stopped for fuel and breakfast and it was still early as we turned off on to the 120 at San Juan del Rio.

We had were overtaken by Ian’s car party with Cliff and Sarda, but passed them again when they stopped to buy a month’s supply of oranges at a roadside stop. It appeared that there were two tracks to the site, we overshot the first one and took the second and so missed meeting the others at the first stop (S3147). Stenocactus sp , Myrtillocactus geometrizans, Corypantha sp and Ferocactus latispinus (just one plant, in bud) were found, with Mammilaria painteri also reported by the others.

With still plenty of tome to spare, we decided to drive on to the Zimapan lake and repeated last March’s experience stopping at the same spot (S3148) as in March to find Mammillaria perbella, M. elongata subsp echinaria, Neolloydia conoidea, Coryphantha octacantha (I have not yet counted the spines to confirm the name). I surprised myself by retracing a small Ferocactus glaucesence, growing in the shade of an overhanging rock, with a wonderful glaucus epidermis. In nature they tend to look more beaten up when exposed in full to the Mexican sun.

We drove down to the lake, passed through the tunnel and turned back again, along the road we had come, to the last stop made in March, full of Thelocactus leucacanthus (not in flower this time) and Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus ‘elephantidens’. These are the target for this trip, or rather, catching them in flower. They had had the required rain and the whole scenery was much more lush than in March, making it much more difficult to find the Arios. Once we got our eyes in, they were quite easy to find again – there were so many – but only few plants were in bud. One plant had flowered – pale pink – but wildlife had nibbled away most of the petals. Good tip – don’t expect the plants too look as they do in pots in our collection, unless slugs and snails visit your collection.

And on to the Hotel Boca Sierra in Vizzaron where Ian, Sarda and Cliff had already secured the rooms to our liking, so a quick shower and off to dinner, where Cliff and Bart had two very interesting looking fish.

It seemed as though we were here only yesterday!

Just a week since I arrived back home, I’m off again. Another late night flight, so time to spare to set the scene for ‘Mexico 2014 Part II’.

Soon after the March trip to Mexico I mentioned to my fellow travelers that it would not take much arm twisting  for me to put the plans for Peru in October on ice and repeat the whole trip again to get the benefit of all those Ariocarpus that we saw, but this time in flower!

This time the Tres Amigos are joined by another three: Ian’s wife Sarda, keen to see what all the fuss is about, Alain Buffel from Oostende, Belgium and Bart Hensel, from Vinkeveen in the Netherlands, this time spread over two cars.

Alain has been in Texas and northern Mexico for the last month or so and confirms that the Arios are in bud, ready for our arrival. Some in Texas could just not wait and were already in flower. I’m told that the exact flowering time is determined by when the autumn rains took place. We’ll see. In any event, a stroll through the desert in the Mexican sun is more enjoyable than the cold wet weather that we have been enduring in the UK during the last week. Ironically the sun is out today and it looks like it could be a nice day, so I better get on with a last look at my plants piled in the conservatory and tell them to look after themselves for the coming month.

We arrive back on 10 November and last night I have already booked the ferry tickets for our next trip to Cologne, Germany and a long week at Angie’s Mum’s.

Jetlag? Doesn’t seem to happen if you keep on the move!

As usual, I’ll try to send out daily reports of what we see during the trip, wifi reception and health permitting.