Personal Total Eclipse

So many people said they really didn't care to watch the eclipse.  It's so confusing since these same people are the kind of person that would spend thousands of dollars on other events that might be considered once in a lifetime events.

Considering where we are and how much effort it really took most people you'd think that at least they would bother to look up.

I don't know how many pictures I've seen of the eclipse.  Most of them are similar to this one I took where it's exactly as you'd expect and have been told by thousands of media outlets that you'd see.

Whereas the image itself is really nothing special, and frankly I've seen so many better pictures, the event was something I'm glad I took off work to experience.  I was able to spend hours with friends chatting about the eclipse as well as anything but the eclipse.  For the most part it was an excuse to have an off day.

What I didn't expect was the speed at which the sky darkened and got lighter afterwards.  Also the chill in the air as the sun was slowly dimming.  I guess I should have thought of that but to experience it was akin to being a small child and having an airplane fly overhead and cast its shadow on you.  But this was the moon.  It put into perspective the massive size of everything and how I'm just one person on this huge planet.

I also found it interesting that everyone experienced the eclipse differently.  Different clouds, different duration, different mood.  Although we were looking at the same thing, we didn't experience the same thing.

In conclusion, yeah, I'd do it again.

Medicinal Mexico

One of the highlights of our trip was the medicinal section of the botanical gardens.
Among the plants were mint and rue but the guide didn't let us stay very long since we were already behind schedule before we even got to the gardens.

Botanical Gardens, Mexico

After the trip to the bird sanctuary we headed to a botanic garden near the local university. Actually I believe it was a school that was a combination of different grades but at the time we were there we saw mostly older teens or twenties with backpacks and such.

This picture was one of my favorites. The way the light hit it just right was too good to pass up. It is one of the varieties of heliconia they have there.



Here is another where the yellow is also present. They don't look a lot alike but they're in the same family. If you look closely you can see some ants at the bottom looking for a bit of something to eat.



This one lacks the yellow in favor of the green, but like the first one is upright instead of hanging.

Mexican Cruise 2

While on the lagoon tour we had a chance to get up close and personal with some lovely lotus plants. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to use them for lunch.



Another thing we will probably never get a chance to taste is these cute little sea turtles. One of them had died although the workers there swore, if they could in English, that it was fine. That glassy look in it's eye and the fact that it wasn't moving made me think otherwise.
I don't know if I mentioned it but we never did find a tortilla in Mexico...

Mexican Cruise 1

I have finally gotten to the cruise portion of my vacation.

We started out going to a bird sanctuary. Although I have lots of pictures of birds and bird nests and bird habitats, that is not what this blog is about.
Fortunately I took lots of pictures of plants as well.

Here is a mexican almond tree. They had them all over the place and they were entirely happy to show me how to open them



Here I am opening one of them. Not only can you eat the almond in the middle but you can also eat the red fleshy part. The flesh can also be yellow or orange.



On the way back we saw this really old tree. I'm sure it had some name but all I remember is that it was, old...

Gone for a Bit

The trip out to sea was great but I haven't had the time yet to go through the pictures that will soon grace the walls of this blog.