Conifer-Hunting in Mexico

Introduction

This is the account of a trip through central Mexico that I took in February, 2005 with my wife Bonnie and my buddy Big Tree Bob. We went in search of pines and baldcypresses; in our immersion in the people and culture of Mexico, we found much more.

Links to

• Latin names take you straight to another page on this site. All of these pages (about trees) will be re-written, but since I'm writing this page first, some of them will look pretty dull for awhile.
• Other links open a new page off-site.
• Red links open a pop-up window with a picture from this trip.
• The thumbnail photos on the left also open pop-up windows. The pictures are mostly limited to 640x480 pixels or smaller, but were shot with a 5 megapixel camera. Contact me if you're interested in a high-resolution image.

Index

Day 1	Flight, and journey to Amecameca.
Day 2	Across Popo-Izta National Park to Puebla.
Day 3	Puebla to Oaxaca, and Santa Maria del Tule.
Day 4	Monte Alban, former capital of the Zapotec empire.
Day 5	Highway 175 across the Divide and into the Rainforest.
Day 6	Back to Oaxaca on Highway 175.
Day 7	Driving from Oaxaca to Cuautla, Morelos.
Day 8	The Olmec site of Chalcatzingo, and the Christian site of Chalma.
Day 9	To the summit of the Nevado de Toluca.
Day 10	West across Michoacan, past Uruapan, to Ciudad Guzman.
Day 11	Exploring the Nevado de Colima.
Day 12	We finally get to hang out on a beach.
Day 13	We continue to play at the beach.
Day 14	Driving, driving, driving, to reach San Miguel Allende.
Day 15	Back to Mexico City, with some very large trees along the way.
Day 16	The Great Temple and other sights around Mexico City.
Day 17	National Anthropological Museum, Mexico City.
Day 18	Teotihuacan and the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Day 19	Return to Seattle.
Extras	Supplementary info - pine taxonomy, citations, tree measurements.