Its hot in Central America…
Posted on | February 28, 2010 | 8 Comments
Shampoo Heliconia – the inflorescences really do smell of shampoo when squeezed...
Greetings from the not so Exotic Garden. Just checked out Victoria’s favourite blogs http://victoriasbackyard.blogspot.com, and seen I hadn’t written anything for a month. Oops!
A few days before my dear father’s funeral at the end of a rather frigid January, I was asked if I would like to co-host a tour around Central America for Gardeners World Magazine with Matt Biggs of Gardeners Question Time R4. After the doom and gloom of the month past, I snapped at the offer and one week later found myself hurtling towards the small port of Puerto Caldera on the coast of Costa Rica with seventy six avid plantoholics. I was in a state of extreme tiredness arriving at the cruise ship MS Bramare after 24 hours of travel via Dublin and Orlando. Of course we were all lily white (apart from the serial cruisers) and unready for temperatures in the 30s C. I do love the tropics…
Over the next two weeks, we covered several thousand miles, visiting a wealth of fabulously exotic countries through jungles and tropical gardens dripping with ridiculously proportioned plants, often with 100% humidity and the sweet scent of the tropics pervading our jaded nostrils. During the voyage we had five days at sea, interspersed with visits to several Central American countries. On the – at sea days – Matt and I would entertain our gardening group with lectures and a gardener’s question time. Of course this had to be interspersed with eating vast amounts of sumptuous food and wading through a sea of sun bathers on the deck, though Matt and I were not averse ourselves to the British occupation of getting a tan that you can’t show anybody when you get back as it’s so cold!
Our travels took us from Costa Rica to El Salvador, then onwards to Guatemala. These were all ludicrously beautiful countries with far too many plants to write about here. The height of the tour for most was going to be our transit thorough the Panama Canal – one of the wonders of the world completed in 1914. We were supposed to go through in daylight but due to a backlog of heavy cargo (I counted about 50 ships) we unfortunately didn’t enter the first of the great locks until after dark. Day or night didn’t bother me though as just being there at all was the main thing. Luckily, I had read a book about the history of the canal and the huge task of cutting through 51 miles of jungle, swamp and mountain beset by malaria and yellow fever with the death of 25,000 workers during its construction.
After another day at sea we arrived at the port of Cartagena in Colombia – South America. Our group was transported for about 45 minutes inland to a Botanic Garden at Turbaco cut out of deepest jungle with towering tress with an understory of Alocasias, Alpinias and countless tropical plants dripping with insects and moisture. Colombian police were everywhere to make sure we were not kidnapped! Cartagena old town is an architectural paradise of stunning Spanish colonial buildings, I just wish we had had more than a short handful of hours there…
Now in the Caribbean the ship sailed onwards across the coast of Northern South America to the Dutch Antilles islands where we called in at the port of Willemstad – Curacao. Having been there several times before on previous trips, Matt and I did what good gardeners like to do – we looked for local plant emporiums to see what local people buy for their gardens. Poor Matt was staving of a bug, so in the afternoon, after hearing a rumour that there might be a carnival somewhere close by, I hired a taxi with a couple of new found friends on the ship Lez and Babs. We were whisked out of town to a village about four miles away bustling with activity, right at the beginning of the procession. We were bedazzled by ridiculous bright colours and ludicrously loud Salsa and Reggae with the largest bass speakers I have ever seen!
The next day it was onwards to the blisteringly hot desert Island of Aruba, which I found a tad Americanised for my liking and very expensive. The penultimate day was spent at sea where Matt gave his final talk where we both bid farewell to our illustrious group of gardeners. Our arrival in Barbados meant the inevitable return that evening on an overnight flight back to Blighty where during my four hour drive back home I was greeted by a beautiful sparklingly sunny morning and everything covered in fresh snow…
Plant nursery in El Salvador with Matt Biggs on the right in full flow...
Nursery owners dwelling...
A well kept El Salavador Nursery...
Golfito - Costa Rica. On our way to an interesting garden in an oil palm grove near the cost. Unfortunately our bus couldn’t get up a hill with us all on board, so Matt led the way walking to the pinnacle in searing heat and maximum humidity...
Local plant centre in a small Guatemalan town...
Matt was determined to have his hair cut in Central America – and what a cut he had!
Cashew - Anacardium occidentale. Widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" and cashew apples.
Shampoo Heliconia – the inflorescences really do smell of shampoo when squeezed...
Entering the first lock (Mira Flores) on the Panama Canal at night at the front of the ship...
A local taxi in Panama takes us to some jungle in the Canal Zone for a stroll. Only minutes after arriving a policeman comes to check whether we have been abducted by locals – five minutes later another pair of policemen with huge guns arrive and ask the same question...
A street in Cartagena old town in Colombia on the Northern coast of South America...
Our cruise ship MS Braemar in Cartagena port...
Carnival parade near Willemstad on the Island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles...
The parade lasted several hours and was accompanied by Reggae and Salsa bands with the biggest bass speakers I have ever seen....
My arrival back in Humberside with a four hour drive back home through a sparkling winter wonderland – a far cry from the tropics...
My next blog will be soon – I promise.
I am now invigorated and ready for spring, whatever our wonderful British climate throws at us. Spring is just around the corner and I’m raring to go, just bring it on!
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8 Responses to “Its hot in Central America…”
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February 28th, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Oh Will, I’m so glad you made it home before the snow melted!
Looks like a great trip, and I think it was well-deserved after a sad start to the year.
What a silvery Phoenix, on the immaculate El Salvador nursery!
Here’s hoping for a nice, warm spring.
Rob
February 28th, 2010 @ 8:22 pm
Welcome back and my deepest sympathies for the loss of your father.
I really enjoyed reading about the tour and wish I could have been there myself! Your writing and photos make me so jealous you wouldn’t believe!
Looking forward to the next post.
Ryan (Ryan’s Garden)
February 28th, 2010 @ 8:26 pm
Will, welcome back!! We all missed your blog!
Looks like you had an awesome time. So what’s on your ‘must get’ plant list this year? Is it year of the heliconia at the Exotic Garden?
Nat x
February 28th, 2010 @ 9:35 pm
Good to have you back blogging – hope there will be more to follow very soon – amazing trip!
March 1st, 2010 @ 8:46 pm
Thanks for all your lovely comments.
Unfortunately I had another blow today – My oldest cat, a lovable fifteen year old Siamese had become very thin and incontinent, so he had to be put down this afternoon.
The adorable boy had a really good life here in the garden and I will miss his rasping Siamese meow – very different to all my other cats. He was buried under a large Trachycarpus with snowdrops planted on top, not far from my studio window along with nine other cats buried over the last twenty nine years. I am not without cats though – I still have four naughty rascals!
March 12th, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
will,I am looking at your beautiful pictures
March 12th, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
Are you getting this
March 12th, 2010 @ 7:00 pm
Thank you my sister – I’m glad you enjoyed your visit…