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Health & Fitness

WALKING WITH NATURE: Walking Among the Succulents

Walking with nature in winter in the Mexican highlands is different than doing so in Bolingbrook. Enjoy the succulents and the story of El Charco del Ingenio in San Miguel de Allende.

Winter comes to the central Mexican highlands at the same time it comes to Illinois, but winter is very different there. On January 8, I took a guided tour at El Charco del Ingenio, the 170-acre nature preserve and botanical garden on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende (SMA), in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. What a contrast to January in Bolingbrook!

 

The volunteer who usually serves as tour guide was not available on the day I came with other poets to enjoy the beauty of El Chaco, so we had the good fortune of being guided by the Director, Mario Hernández. He explained that this nature preserve was a local initiative, not a government project. In 1990, some residents of SMA got together to preserve (and reclaim) the biodiversity of the area.

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El Charco del Ingenio takes its name from the spring that bubbles up at the bottom of the canyon which runs through the preserve. It is the last natural spring still surviving in the SMA area. The “Charco” [or pool] of Chan is named for a mythic creature from the underworld believed to dwell in and protect its waters. One of the “mystical” qualities of the pool is that the water changes color throughout the year.

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Hernández  told us that when El Charco del Ingenio first became a nature preserve, water was a major problem. During the previous centuries, the area had been over grazed by sheep and cattle, so the soil was depleted and compacted. During the summer, the area was virtually desert, much dryer than it had been before the Spanish settled the area. Winter rains caused mudslides. Water cascaded down the hills without providing much moisture to the soil that didn’t go with it. El Charco’s water management has been quite successful, resulting in the return of native flora and fauna.

 

Wetlands (very different from the Gateway Wetland here in Bolingbrook) were constructed by building terraced gardens on the hillside. Water is pumped from below an old dam into cisterns. Some of that water is released into the terraced gardens, where it is purified as it flows gently through the rocks and wetland plants.

 

In addition to building cisterns and wetlands, and preserving native plants that sprouted up all over the reserve, El Charco has established two areas of “rescued” plants. “Native plants at risk of extinction are salvaged from construction sites and development projects,” according to Hernández. The “rescued plant garden” near the Conservatory focuses on cacti from nearby locations. Another hosts plants retrieved from other parts of Mexico. Thus, added Hernández, “We are helping preserve the botanical biodiversity of Mexico.”

 

Some parts of Mexico do not have the same semi-arid conditions experienced in the San Miguel area. A Conservatory was built to house plants needing a different environment. Signs in the conservative (as well as many other areas of the reserve) provide the proper names of plants. The Conservatory houses a hueso de fraile (sometimes called a Thevetia peruviana (or yellow oleander). Its bold blossoms stand out against its narrow leaves which are green year-round.

 

There is a special garden dedicated to the Nopal (also known as Nahuatl), which is important as a source of food for fauna. Nopal fruit and nopal pads are both imported from Mexico and sold for human consumption at Mexican grocery stores here in Bolingbrook. The pads are used in salads and other vegetable dishes. The prickley pear cactus may be the best known member of this family.

 

The Agave Garden is a favorite of many people. The agave family (also called maguey), has many members. Some are small; others are taller than most people. Many are quite beautiful. Agave are used for fibers, medicine, food, and drink (most notably mescal and tequila). The agave is not a cactus, hence its separate garden. Leaves, sap, flowers and stalks are all edible.

 

El Charco is home to the second largest collection of cacti in Mexico. The plants in the Conservatory, and many elsewhere in the preserve, are well-labeled for the benefit of those who want to know their scientific names and families. I cannot claim to have seen all of the 500 species of cactus at El Charco, but I enjoyed many of them.

 

Although the main blooming season for in central Mexico does not arrive in January, yellow flowers brightened many of the cholla cacti. Hernández warned us that the thorns of the cholla could tear our skin. Many older Mexicans, Hernádez said, believe medicine made from the cholla can heal broken bones.

 

Acasia trees were also in bloom in January. Another source of color, even in January, are the lichens which grow on many of the rocks and stone outcroppings. Lichens, which are a combination of fungus and green alga, come in a variety of hues. I read on the El Charco website (http://www.elcharco.org.mx/) that Drs. “Tom Nash of Arizona State University and Robert S. Egan of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México have identified 51 species of lichens in El Charco, from mesquite trees, soil and rocks on the rim and in the canyon.”

 

There is much more I could tell you about El Charco del Ingenio, its work in preserving both native culture and historic ruin as well as plant native to Mexico. El Charco maintains a highly active calendar of events including an annual contest for art made from nature, concerts in the canyon celebrating the spring equinox, observance of the Fiesta de la Santa Cruz, Temazcal (a native sweat lodge healing ceremony held at the new moon each month), climbing lessons on the canyon walls, and many educational events.

 

I highly recommend that you visit this wonderful botanical preserve for yourself. If you cannot do that, you can see some of the same cacti, agave, and succulents at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago (http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/).

 

 

© Wilda Morris

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