MEMORIES FOR THE FUTURE

YESTERDAY, Ms. Laborde's landscape butchers, returned to the neighborhood. This time to 'clean' the front yard of the abandoned house that yours truly managed for the
last two years without thanks from the jerks who live next door. The butchers are not
her own, she just hired them first.

This hicks left the soil bare. Tecoma stans, Cestrum diurnum, Turnera, Asparagus, Alocasia, Tradescantia, and the wonderful vine, Vitis vinifera that you can appreciate in the pictures to the right. I do not understand the rush, these feeble minded characters could have waited until the many bunches of grapes were ripe. After all
eating a Puercorican grape could only happen once in a lifetime. I had the chance from this exterminated vine.

This ignorant fools were not only paid, they were congratulated for the barbaric act accomplished..with the dreadful primitive machete. They finished with golden link, a blower! In a space less than 15 square feet. And every one...happy as a clam...

Now getting into the tittle.

When I was in third grade me mom used to take me to visit her friends in town or far away. In those days houses were mostly wooden. I remember
when the first ugly, match box concrete/cinder block house was built in our street. A huge event. At least 15 guys were involved, passing the buckets in Indian file through a ramp, to the roof, with the laughter and the noise of the cement mixer of those days.

But this is about plants. There were not many nurseries then. I can not
remember one. Gardening was a women thing. Housewives, spinsters or widows. Those with the skills required to propagate, diagnose and care for the plants were the envy of the uninitiated. Only the skills and imagination counted, since you could not go to buy plants as it is done now.

From the list that will appear below, Diffenbachia and Pothos were present in 7 out of ten houses, indoors. Pots then were anything available. But mostly cement, and metal oil/cracker cans. Puercorico,
was at the time a tobacco, coffee, sugar cane agricultural society. The connection with nature, soil was still around.

Allamanda cathartica
Aloe vera
Anthurioum
Spathiphylum
Alocasias
Hibiscus
Gardenia

I am sure that herbs, edibles were also planted in many houses, but that
required more knowledge, skills and will not get into that since the memories are not there.

This period of my life was marked terribly when witnessing the abrupt fast as hell destruction of that agricultural culture in the name of progress. The connection with Nature was lost for ever.

It was the beginning of the concrete/asphalt ERA. It started with highways,
hundreds of factories moved down from USA in search of cheap labor and not paying taxes of any kind.

The shot of grace was the concept of housing projects cookie mold like that Levitt and sons had developed in Long Island, New York and other places. Pendejismo paisajista, a concept I coined, was born. The house
came with postage stamp yards with turf/grass. Palms and hedges came later, following the image of those properties in USA.

After sixty years, in Puercorico, imagination, creativity in ornamental gardening/horticulture in general are dead. Twenty species or less in every possible context, wet or dry, cool or hot, mountain, seashore.

Perhaps that is why I remember with certain nostalgia, those childhood days. Memories then should be useful for the future. And that is that.

THE AVERAGE JOE SIX PACK NATURE AND VINES

JUST returned from one of those unavoidable visits. The subject at
one point spin around a palm and tree. These are hiding the facade of a two story house across the street. The Joes, opinion, was for eliminating both. Your humble one, the palm, in a blink of an eye.

I stated that the ugly, overgrown palm was a liability, since the fronds weight between 8/15 pounds. You need a saw, a fifteen feet ladder and good luck to avoid a fall. Besides that, the mess by leaves falling from the
Thevetia peruviana is easily solved with a broom and dust pan.

However the intelligent argument that never cross the Joes minds, is that facing east, this house receives a lot of radiation heat. Eliminating both, will demand to have the cost of air conditioning on for long periods...For what?
So the fools walking or driving by, could have a better look of the shady house? The reaction to my arguments? You have too much spare time!

I thank the lord, for that. Spare time allows to view things beyond what is convenient to ME. Thinking just of a structure, without other variables, is silly. Most people seem to be in that trip, screw them...now lets move to another front...

VINES ET ALL

I do not remember if it was mentioned, but another way of learning about plants

regarding botanical names, collecting, propagation and grafting among others, is through catalogs. Some are really wonderful, to keep through the years as reference.

Today's catalog if from The Plumeria People, the 1995. A jewel. I will share a list of the fragrant
department among the offers they carried then.

Cestrum nocturnum (Shrubs) *
Crinum americanum v robustum (Bulbs)
Crinum asiaticum *
Eucharis grandiflora (Bulbs) *
Gardenia jasminoides (Shrubs) *
Gelsemiun sempervirens (Vines)
Hedychiums, especially H. coronarium (Gingers)
Jasmines (Vines)
Murraya paniculata (Shrubs) *
Osmanthus fragrans (Shrubs)
Pancratium zeylanicum (Bulbs)
Pandorea jasminoides (Vines)
Passifloras (Vines) *
Plumerias *
Polianthes tuberosa (Bulbs)
Stephanotis floribunda (Vines)
Tabernamontana coronaria (Shrubs)
Trachelospermum jasminoides (Vines)
Zephyranthes chlorosolen (Bulbs)

* In my collection
I will add Cavennala maritima (Vines)

Mirabilis siciliana (Shrub)

and that is that..until then

GARDENING NATURE REPORT

A FEW DAYS ago, I was invited to the residents association meeting. I would have been my third in two years. Your humble one stayed home. If you look at the pictures in the right side, you will notice a mutilated Bouganvillea, in the next to the sidewalk 'garden' of the president. A somewhat strange character NEVER seen in the yard or walking around anywhere.

Most of the people living around the vicinity do not WALK or tend the plants, trees, bushes with the needed care. The vegetation looks like crap most of the time, as a necessary evil.

Lets start again...The first picture is a Zamia. (Editors note: RIP. Friday 4PM.) It made her debut here sometime ago. That picture is further down if you want to compare the growth for the last twelve months.. I changed the soil recently and the trunk snapped at the base either by my clumsiness or the wind...Only one third of it is still attached. To my surprise the new
leaves are still looking healthy as if nothing has happened. I speculate that it should
pass away, I will keep you posted.

The next picture presents my Bouganvillea, contrary to anyone else, mine is not pruned foolishly. When a branch gets on the way, not following the designed intention, it is eliminated at the base in angle, to avoid the opened scars shown in Ms. Laborde's, mutilated bush, by illiterate gardeners for hire. The difference is evident.

The ugly aspect of mutilated branches is only the superficial one. The stupidity is ever lasting. Every single branch will probably produce five more branches, add and multiply..I forgot the amount of times I have mentioned the issue of improper pruning
and this will suffice at the moment.

The fourth and fifth pictures present a Vitis vinifera. Believe it or not. It grows very happily from the right side of this abandoned house. I assume it was planted more than ten years ago, when this vines became fashionable in some segments of the population. If you look carefully, you may notice a bunch of grapes growing in the middle of the picture.
I doubt very much there is any such vine growing in the concrete/asphalt isle with telephone/electricity wires as a trellis.

All this may seem irrelevant, except for one thing...If an abandoned grape vine
can grow at this length, Puercorico could have had a wine industry if anyone had thought about it. Even if the grapes are good enough just to make sweet Boones Farm or El Canario (for bums or cooking), grape juice, or raisins. After all, no one is writing about Cabernet or Pinot Noir grapes....nor competing with Australia or Argentinian wines.

Everyone knows those beautiful self seeding plants by now. They will make any
garden more complete with the bright intense yellow/orange, making bees very
happy and content...And that is that...

ETHICS LA CEIBA Y EL TITO

FORGIVE ME, for addressing issues that even if related to endemismo, are mostly on the news, and as I suspected not of the interest of bloggers that once in a while jump in the painted green environmental bandwagon.

If you are one of those fearful of God in the Christian mode, you may remember that
impressive scene (one of my favorites), when his son drops by the TEMPLE and observes it has been converted into a street market...His anger is pretty cool if I may...

Puercorico is pretty much like that temple, the whole society from top to bottom as you will soon see.

Ceiba pentandras are magnificent trees of the family Malvaceae and subfamily Bombacoideae. A Bao Bab is like a Ceiba a hundred times heftier as if in steroids,
for comparison sake. Ceibas are our endemic champion...

In some neck of the woods in the Puercorican wild west, some mayor, requested
permission from our BOTANIST/BOTANICAL EXECUTIONER, 007 Recursos Naturales, the government agency that cares and protect our TREES, SOILS, and else,
to execute the 23 year old. This one had left four hundred years left to live, judging from other ancient Ceibas around the isle. As ALWAYS it was granted.

In the concrete/asphalt isle the populace kill or mutilate trees for fun, when bored,
to avoid picking up the leaves, to stop birds from shitting on their windshields,
to annoy the neighbors, because the roots lift the side walk or wrap around the pipes, and they are living creatures. One recent anecdote puts Ivan Sanchez, a soberanist, anti colonialism zealot, destroying without remedy a 2o year old Bucera busaris, to get a signal for a satellite dish. Believe it or not! People like to kill, or at least that is the way I perceive it.

Your humble servant wants to offer the whole show..bear up.. These are individual trees in specific urban/country conditions. But the greater amount of trees, flora and fauna are executed with permits from 007 are HOUSING/HIGHWAY DEVELOPERS,
millions of them, for the last 7 decades in the four cardinal points of the isle of concrete/asphalt enchantment and beyond our shores island municipalities.

Back to the Ceiba from my story...This one was in the city...The reason to kill it in the dark of the night when no one was watching? The roots were growing incorrectly, as
the expert interviewed declared to the news! The truth is that some building is being
constructed, and the tree was in the way.. What is the problem with this? People are
angry because they were attached to it...And they feel it should have been killed during
daylight...And I agree with them...Impunity as the one saturating this forsaken, dirty
isle would have made no difference.

NOW it is TITO TIME. He can wear a suit elegantly, a former boxing champ with the elegance/style of KID PAMBELE, just a little bit better, but not like Macho Camacho or Muhamed. Made some millions, invested unwisely and lost some with regueton, the shitty genre for mentally retarded music aficionados.

Bought some land, deciding what else? To develop. Unfortunately, this squeaky voiced
fellow, with a great people person personality, unlike myself, was denounced by the vicinity for DESTROYING the land, flora and fauna without a permit! Since he is black, or darkie, if you prefer, I would not doubt that is part of the reason why his project was stopped. The permit, historically is/has been academic.

Among other things he is accused of creating erosion, diverting water streams with pipes and destroying flora and fauna. EXACTLY what everyone else has been doing for the last seventy years in the name of PROGRESS.

He will have to pay $140,000 for the damage and forget about his development
and profit dreams, something very rare, considering the damage done by others in the
past and I promise, in the future.

The moral of the story? If you have the money to bribe ARPE, 007 Recursos Naturales, you could build a housing project on land prone to floods, close by the ocean or take public land as in Paseo Caribe. That is what the Housing Developers have been doing, making billions in profits, making the island a concrete platform devoid of flora/fauna endemic or not...Or if you are politically connected as the Mayor of Aguadilla....

Tito, the scapegoat of the environmental debacle in Puercorico, USA. What should be
done since our former champion has about .005 IQ, is to put in jail the engineers and architects involved in the project. This guy is not bright at all, I can not believe he consciously allowed such stupidity. On the other hand, MOST people do not see, perceive, appreciate nature.

Why should the village idiot become the pet symbol against environmental destruction when the WHOLE SOCIETY, has swept other instances under the carpet and never, ever had the guts to judge mostly pasty pale people with power, in the destruction for profits condoned by everyone?

These are the ethics of the game in Puercorico, USA. Time to go.

A POST ON VINES

I HAVE written on this subject, but this time I will be more specific.

FROM
Botany for Gardeners
Brian Capon
page 103

Most species are unable to elevate leaves high above the ground on thin, herbaceous stems. But not so with climbing vines that make deft use of their specially adapted organs, and the strength of suitable supports, to accomplish such a feat.

The stems of some vines grow in a spiral manner around upright objects such as a small trunks of shrubs or saplings, or fence posts and telephone poles. Stems displaying, such characteristic growth are called twiners. The higher a twining stem
grows, the more tightly it hugs its support.


Other species form special grasping organs, called tendrils, that are either modified leaf parts or short stems derived from the growth of axillary buds. Tendrils
coil around small objects with which they come into contact-the stems of other plants,
or garden stakes, fence wires and strings supports. Once anchored, the principal stem
grows upward a short distance before sending out more tendrils. Leaf tendrils are
adapted from leaflets of compound leaves (Sweet Pea, for example), stipules (Green
Briar), or petioles (Clematis).

In other species, climbing structures include short branches with adhesive disks at their tips. With such devices , Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus spp.) clings tenaciously to the walls of buildings. Or the climbing stems of ivy, for example, form
adventitious roots that penetrate and expand in cracks in tree bark, wooden fences,
masonry, etc. With age, some climbing stems become woody and bear heavy leaf
loads; but by then, they are so securely anchored it is extremely difficult to separate
them from their supports.

It is a good time to remind our far away readers that vines are under used in most installations. A good resource that could substitute wisely over used hedges. With vines one does not need to be on top of them as in a hedge.

With that in mind lets mention some issues that are pertinent based on
my experience/collection.

Do not plant Bejuco de puerco. This one will violate the boundaries day after day. Vines like this behave as ground covers if they reach the ground from above. It will grow roots even over concrete/asphalt.

In terms of aesthetics Cavalinna maritima, Passiflora edulis and Petrea volubilis, have a STIFF appearance. Very stiff. That is why I have an intense dislike for palms, hedges and turf among others.

Disease/insects are not a problem with these. They will require some pruning once in a while, particularly when they embrace other vegetation, trees.

Ipomoeas are nice looking, but prone to white flies, a pain in the rear.
However, Merremia quinquefolia, Clitoria ternatea, Antigonon leptopus,
are less wild than those above. All these have a soft look, falling gently,
like a cascade. Birds are fond of them while hiding/playing.

As they grow on the windows iron works, they become a screen reducing
the glare significantly. These vines have a bonus when the light goes trough them. The leaves form beautiful arabesques with the aid of the wind, on windows and walls. So there, go and get some. Time to go...

ECOTOURIST REPORT PLUS BONUS

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT, had to travel to that ghost town, El Pais de Caguas, to visit the dentist. Bad news. I will have to visit the periodontist

again. I never mentioned it. But they have something in common with auto mechanics, those of New York and Puercorico. They will charge you an arm/leg for their services. Another thing is that if you could survive with a cleaning they will go for the surgery...And never, ever will stress the cleaning, just the surgery. I have a few horror periodontist stories to tell, maybe next time.

When I reached Padial St., there he was sitting in front of a ugly red/blue painted house, Eliezer Cruz. A former basketball pall from Savarona.
Always with a great smile, easy conversation. Minutes later, in front of City Hall, Rubencito was coming in the opposite direction. Not my friend. He is just the grandson of my fourth grade teacher. She used to bring him
to the elementary school where I studied to babysit. I am 58, I had not
seen this fellow in forty eight. Brief pleasantries exchanged, he works in the Tobacco Museum of the ghost town, not far....

Gardening news? The pink Frangipani is starting to bloom, a while after the yellow. The white one refuses to do much, except for a few leaves.
Every one of these trees do their thing at their pace, at home. The first,
has leaves and buds, the second just flowers, the white just leaves.

The Orchard Department is looking good. The third lemon crop is around the corner and the orange's second too. The flowers of these trees, compare in fragrance, subtlety, elegance, with that of Gardenias, Frangipani, or Mirabilis siciliana in my humble intercontinental opinion.

The Carica papaya has fourteen of these great tasting fruits. They will probably make their debut on the fruit salad by April. This tree is the only
survivor from three seeds that Crispin, the bar owner/friend from Tapia St., gave me 16 months ago.

BONUS

In Puercorico, many talentless, useless, not too bright people,
have anointed themselves as motivators, life coaches and such, to make
a buck. They are like Paris Hilton, famous for being famous. I
will give it a try mock to be a lifecoachmotivator attempt if I may. They all preach the goodness
of yoga, vegetarianism, being humble, nice, pleasant, respectfull and such.

Contrary to the scum bags mentioned, I practice gardening.
They do not do it, because they can not stand the heat or getting
their hands dirty.

• An intense June like heat in March, leaves no doubts as to what to expect in the next one hundred days. Fortunately, I was careful when choosing the collection. Salt breeze, drought and heat were always kept in mind.
  

• When plants such as Diffenbachia, Proiphys, Aglaonema, Gardenia, Alocasia cucculata, were planted under shade with intense heat they were stunted. That changed when they moved north from south, they look lush and happy lately.

• Observing the collection with a critical perspective/focus, I declare that is not really a big deal. Any juan can travel around his surroundings looking, picking here and there, reaching 120 species. Reaching a more or lesser amount.

• The magic is not in question, is not even the plants or vegetation. Nor contrasts in shape, height, texture, color, leaves form/size, fragrance, flowers, foliage and everything else.

• The feeling of accomplishment pops out when birds, lizards, bees,beetles, Diva, snails, and everybody else pays a visit. Most are welcome, some not as much.

• It increases slowly, permanently, as the growth flows in all directions, with some plants staying put, others changing neighborhoods. Then you/I look at the garden with that sensation similar to those finishing a marathon. The job is done. Time to enjoy. And that is that.
  

NOT PRONE TO PRUNE

I JUST visited one of those wonderful gardening blogs from India. Unlike this one, well written, better photos.... The subject was orchids. In my collection there are a couple of Phalaenopsis, even though I have never been a fan.

The ones I got were a present from Don Miguel, an up the street neighbor and me wife. I used to think of them plants as something fragile, but the heat they tolerate in my mostly concrete backyard, changed my view.

At any rate, if people in the tropics are so fond of orchids, how come they
never mention, think, plant BAUHINIAS? After all this wonderful tree
does not grow too big. The white, pink, orange orchid looking flowers are pretty and attract hummingbirds. One would expect orchid fans to explore the possibility, give it a try. Research.

My jihad on white flies continues... Yesterday while pruning some small
bushes growing too wild for my liking, I found some Ixora remnants hidden below. Not surprisingly, a few of these were in residence. My dislike for this damn bush gets more intense as time goes by. I pulled out every one left. Success is measured
by the amount of jumping flies when I spray. Lately it has been less than
five.

I should mention tolerance. This problem is not a big deal if you watch your plant collection daily. Some flies just spend the night or morning. It is the colony that will screw up your plants. Keep this in mind. Otherwise, pulling out every plant of their liking will leave your garden looking like Iraq.

In the San Carlos Guerrilla front, everyone is doing fine. Pithelobiums,
Tabebuias, Agavacea, Merremia, pumpkin and Sanseveria. Two vines, not mentioned before, not planted by your humble servant, Antigonon leptopus and Pothos, are already coming down from a nearby second floor. These looking odd vines in that space, is one of the reasons I chose the spot to plant.

I would like to suggest a marvelous book for those of you with knowledge

of Spanish.

El Huerto
Enciclopedia de Jardineria
SUSAETA EDICIONES, S.A.
Campezo s/n 28022

If you are into history, geography, etymology, edible gardens, you will have a feast.
It presents the development of gardening, horticulture, agriculture from the beginnings of time, with a focus on Mediterranean climate/vegetation.

Olive, wine, wheat those were the pillars of ancient agriculture. The book covers so much ground, that the first chapter on the subject, the glossary at the end are worth the cost. That I do not know, since it was a present, sent from Spain.

The book does more, it puts in context the influence of the Discovery. Potatoes, tomatoes and corn among others, are discussed. Arabs, Romans, Greeks and those before them. It is really a pleasure to find such a well written book, with impressive photos on these wide subjects..and that is that....

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

You probably know my stance on pruning or weeding.
Or gardening in general.
Hedges, turf, palms are no No's.
They look STIFF, I am into the
informal/prairie looks.
I prune as a duty, when there is no
choice, not for silly hedges.
Weeds are not fond of my gardening
habits. Except in concrete, sidewalk,
gutters...For them glyphosate.

DOWN BY THE ISLE OF THE FEEBLE MINDED PUERCORICO USA

SOME time ago, some incredibly stupid, alienated Puercorican, organized the greatest traffic jam in the history of this good for nothing island, where legislation can be bought, and the native Supreme Court, decides not on precedents but on party line$.

The retarded individual, mentioned above described the plan to all who were listening, as the greatest amount of 4X4 vehicles gathered at one time, the biggest caravan of such in the world, ever. The socially redeeming intention, wonders the astute intercontinental reader. Simple. To get in that book of records the Guinness.

A brouhaha in the printed media and other, about this heroic adventure
was all around including Faisbuk, where our hero one among the feeble announced it.

Unfortunately, yours truly saw it and could not help but to do what I do best, calling the spade a spade. He was informed that polluting the air,
in addition to the noise these inefficient gas guzzlers create was nothing
to be proud of. Imagine the havoc these fools by the thousands created for the Innocent drivers passing by. Not to get in the wasted time, fuel and the effects on the environment.

Was these the greatest stupid moment in vehicular history, in the Guinness? You be the judge...

PARQUE MUNHOZ RIVERA

EVALUATION
BONUS

THIS once upon a time a beautiful park, probably the best in the whole
island, still looks like shit with 50% of the trees sick, almost dead, with termite damage through out the years and living termites, mutilated or

too old. There is a huge one totally dead, the bark falling on the ground waiting for the shot of grace...But as usual no one notices...

Yours truly went to chat with the Super, Milagros Morales, who was not there (787-721-8416). The secretary with the appearance of one of those
battered alcoholic housewives does not know details about her education or credentials, something really natural in the isle of the feeble minded.

The supervisor was not around either.. However when I arrived to the park, two of the four employees, were on a break at 10:30 AM, in the dirty, noisy, ugly cafeteria. Later by 11:30 they call it quits, even though most of the park has not seen a rake in weeks. I confess that the employees appearance and attitude matches that of the park. The gravel is a mess, the lawn is in the same condition. The vines/trellises look like manure..The ancient concrete cute little benches pretendingto be out of wood, surprisingly comfortable are missing or cracked.

But your favorite critic has an eye for the out of the common...A couple of pitirres were hunting for yellow butterflies, one of them being successful.
A humming bird was observed looking for non existing flowers. Which
reminded me of Antigonum's Gospel, 3rd commandment: Plant trees with birds in mind. Those hanging out in the URBAN CONTEXT. The amount, variety of birds is significant considering the PATHETIC aesthetics and maintenance of this former masterpiece of garden/park.

One final good note. I was able to collect three seeds of Guiacum, one of my favorites, and four of Ceiba pentandra, our closer creature to Bao Babs, my number one tropical favorite. And that is that. From Puercorico
USA, where the feeble minds never rest...always rule....

GUERRILLA BACKYARD GARDENING UPDATED REPORTS

IT HAS BEEN a wild at heart week. It started my jihad with the White Flies in capital letters, what a pain this cute insects are. They behave just like Al-Qaeda the
barbarian Sunni islamists. I got them in both houses near by, hanging out in the
Ixoras and Tecomas. I investigated. I got rid of a DK vine, an Ipomea in front of the house. They still visit the Calliandra, Murraya, and found out they love lemons. I am
doomed for the rest of my gardening life...But is not a big deal after all I water spray
my collection daily, know where they hang out...White flies, the gardener al-qaeda, you eliminate them in the north and appear in the south. What the heck....

IN the plant living in pots department the following: lemon, orange, Coccoloba uvifera, Chayamansa and Pithelobium dulce, were pulled out and put back after the soil was amended with one third of my homemade compost and earth worms. They all look fine and happy. Only the lemon shows a little stress with falling leaves, not the first time....

GUERRILLA ACTIVITY

IN THE original installation by the train station, everyjuan is happy as clam, except the Thevetia peruviana, looking like shit, with most leaves burned. However the DK tree, the Tamarindus indica, and dwarf Cosmos are looking marvelous even without water for most of the last thirty days.

It is really impressive, not because I write it, (try it yourself) but think of a canvas with just
green/beige/brown and now add orange and yellow spots here and there... I am glad at the
scenery, even if they will fall victims of the municipal trimmer executioners squad, soon. There
will be seeds spread by the wind and birds....On my visit, a minuscule yellow butterfly came to pay respects...

On the San Carlos site, the Pithelobium seeds, Murrayas, and one pumpkin are comming along.
I went to irrigate yesterday, since they are still fragile, but considering this week end will be a rainy one, success is guaranteed.

This site is the one with graffiti. I did not mention that many wild plants grow in the strip
24 inches wide and about 75' long. Albizia, one Dracaena, Pothos, Antigonon leptopus and,
wild Margaritas are among the inhabitants. They are slowly coming back after the back hoe squashed them, thirty days ago...

As with any gardening done in this god forsaken concrete/asphalt isle, it may go away..I enjoy it while I can. However, in the back of my mind the possibility that one or many VANDALS,
will destroy the whole or parts of it... never goes away. The satisfaction will remain in photos or memory.

Doing something is still much healthier physically/mentally, than all the bullshit read about saving the environment, the 'global warming' without any mention of the concrete/asphalt heating...and that is that...time to go...

ANTIGONUM THE ISLE TREKKER HITS THE ROAD

AFTER many moons our hero left the vicinity in search of flora and fauna, some distance from home. The first attempt Parque Luis Munhoz Rivera,was closed. Botanical Garden in Rio Piedras was next.

There are no remarkable vines except the cliches, Syngonium, Pothos and
Philodendron. Organic debris was thrown in too many places, as if the illiterates machete yielding employees, (not seeing anywhere), were too busy to collect it. Evidence of trimmer maneuvers was everywhere, grass,
dust, dry leaves on sidewalks, gutters and roads. To make more interesting, right after the entrance.

The 'Japanese' pond, (what the ignorant fools think it is) just because there are some water plants and DIRTY muddy water with a painted red wooden bridge, shows that some weeding took place, with the product thrown by the edges. A couple of ducks, turtles and a few endemic birds
were observed around the dirty water in the bigger pond by the 'Manet Garden', what in their wild, maybe on ACID, may remind one of that late painter work or any of his portrayed landscapes.

All the space, the paths look abandoned. Even when something is constructed to improve, as a couple of wooden handrails seeing by the
restrooms area, the flimsy, unsteady result is pathetic. It gives the impression of total improvisation, lack of interest, absence of intelligence, as if those in charge are mentally retarded. I know
in USA retarded and nigger are illegal, politically incorrect.

Moving on our next target. Parque Central. Closed. With an unemployment of over 30% (perhaps more) these impossible to reach
on foot parks should be open daily, even if dirty, as the Botanical. Nobody
cares or notices the garbage. A depressing feeling started to invade your humble servant. What a shitty place to inhabit.

Last move. Parque Marti Coll. Right by the failed Aguaguagua, an
attempt to transport islanders and tourists by waterways. Believe it or not. What could have been a marvelous, intelligent option to get places,
mothballed. At any rate, this park is probably the only one in the WORLD, with an elevated concrete path over sewage waters. Surprising it is not yet the EIGHT WONDER of the world, I think the concept is original.

The entrance is a strip, probably forty feet wide, half a mile long, trapped between the Aguaguagua parking lot, huge and empty (visitors can not use it) and the the train station. The tree collection? Thespesia populnea, Coccoloba uvifera,
Bauhinia, Royal Poinciana and that is that. As a bonus, you will observe that fifty percent of the trees have or have got termites. They look like shit. I will not get into the other vegetation since it is not worth it. Palms and other cliche ornamentals, looking even worse and totally out of place.

The bonus? 17 nests of imported green/grey Iguanas 9 (abandoned former pets). Seven of them, between 1' and 3' gave me a standing ovation for being the only visitor, in addtion to four employees doing nothing. Even though the barren SOIL could use some aerefication, since it looks like concrete.

Across this wonder of park, there is the Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, built in a classical brutalist architectural school. Huge without parking,
believe it or not...The landscape in front of this coliseum is notable for its
failure in aesthetics and health.

The ornamental bushes Silver mangrove, are mostly dead for lack of appropriate drainage and oxygen. The feeble minded gardeners/supervisor in charge, pruned these poor
creatures 8 inches short to see if they make a come back...You can observe the dead ones from the distance...These characters did not notice the green moss on the ground....a sign of water accumulation...On top of all this picture? An irrigation system....

And another day goes by in the dirty, ugly, noisy, concrete/asphalt isle...I keep trying to find one reason to feel proud, to flaunt the flag, but is useless. If there was some Greek in me, I would pull my eyes out...if there was less noise all over the place...Time to go...