Currently browsing category

Flowers & Plants, Page 16

Flor de Izote or Yucca tree flower

I don’t know why I have a fascination with the Izote tree, a member of the yucca tree family, also known as the Yoshua tree. Maybe its many arms and hands. Anyhow, I like it and its used often in the hedgerows around Antigua Guatemala. Its white flowers are edible and they are considered a delicacy. The izote tree flower is also the national flower for the neighboring country of El Salvador. You can see the white flowers right above the center of the photograph; you may need to see the larger version to actually see it. So far I have posted several photos of the palo de izote tree, but this one is my favorite.

Coffee and Gravileas Trees Along with Bougainvillea Bushes

This photo is needed to clarify a confusion about the coffee trees and their height. Nathalie from Sydney DP asked if coffee trees grow very tall in La Antigua Guatemala, while referring to this photograph which showed coffee trees and their shadow makers the gravilea trees around Antigua, San Pedro Las Huertas to be precise. I posted a Close-up photo of coffee plantation before to show the coffee bushes (tree could be considered an exaggeration) and the shadow trees known here a gravileas. So, to answer Nathalie’s questions, coffee trees (ed. bushes) do not grow very high; they can be harvest by Guatemalan farm workers on foot.

Wooden Cayuco Flower pot

Cayucos are small indigenous hand-made vessels, sort like kayaks, that can be found around Lake Atitlán, about two hours from La Antigua …

Huge Bougainvillea Tree at El Pensativo River

Believe it or not, the dry green river bed is El Pensativo River. The other day while driving on Calle Chipilapa, which takes you to La Ermita de la Santa Cruz Ruins, I saw this huge bougainvillea tree on the other side of El Pensativo River, dry now but soon it will have running water. I never seen a bougainvillea tree so big; my girlfriend and I saw a midget bougainvillea tree—about 1 meter in height— in Tapachula, Mexico.

Flowers for the Innocent

Flowers for the innocent who died yesterday in the Virginia Tech college and everywhere in the world.

Inside Doña Luisa Xicotencatl

The restaurant and bakery housed under the name of Doña Luisa Xicotencatl, on 4a calle oriente #12 in La Antigua Guatemala, has …

A Million Shades of Green

Fact #1: Right now is winter in Guatemala as it is located in the Northern Hemisphere. You might not be believe this …

Moonlighting the Garden

I don’t know what exactly haunts me about this image. Maybe the moon in the background, the green branches barely lit or …

Tree Branches on Fire

Back on December 16th and 17th, 2006, I showed you what Parque Central (Central Park) looked like with the Christmas lights all …