Introduction to My Friend Jim Conrad

It seems like yesterday, but several years ago, Jim Conrad showed up unannounced at Mayan Beach Garden.  I had seen his website as I searched for local plants,  was surprised that he traveled all the way from Chichen Itza to look for me because of a tree I had written about on my webiste.  Jim stayed with us for several months during which time he wrote his Backyardnature.net newsletter from Mayan Beach Garden. It was fun to watch his process of discovery as he photographed and cataloged the plants of the area on his web page, Backyardnature.net.

It felt like I was back in school with him as my teacher - be it teaching me how to SEE nature, teaching Spanish for gringos or English to my staff. I've included excerpts from newsletters that were written here at Mayan Beach Garden so you can get a taste of what he had in mind during his time with us.  I've edited some of his texts, only so that what you read applies to the coastal area where Mayan Beach Garden is located. Jim kindly has given me permission to use his images and text. For the wanna-be botanists out there,  I've supplied links to individual pages on Backyardnature.net so that you can read more from Jim who stayed with us twice,  between December 1, 2008 and January 5, 2009 and again for six months during 2011. As soon as you start seeing latin names, you can rest assure that it isn't coming from me, but from Jim!

First, if you have Google Earth, do a search for "Mayan Beach Garden Yucatan" and you'll see that we're exactly on a beach facing the Caribbean. The shallow, blue waters immediately offshore are home to endless "prairies" of Turtle Grass, Thalassia testudinum.

The shallow, blue waters immediately offshore are home to endless "prairies" of Turtle Grass, Thalassia testudinum, shown on the left. 

Here and there the Turtle Grass gives way to Shoal Grass, Halodule wrightii.

Mayan Beach Garden and some private residences occupy a rather low, narrow ridge of white sand wedged between the Caribbean to the east and extensive mangrove swamps to the west. During the next six months (of Jim's stay) we'll see and do many things in the mangroves, and the mangroves are enormously important to regional ecology, so you may want to review our mangrove page on Backyardnature.com  (click on image of mangroves) 

This should give you a taste of what future blog entries will cover.  There will be more posts from Jim Conrad's site, since there is so little about the flora and fauna from this area, that it bears repeating.