Sunday, February 11, 2024
We went to the Botanic Gardens today. We read that they give a free tour at 11am on Sundays and that sounded like the right time to be there. Our guide, Patti, was STUPENDOUS. We had seven people in our group – two from Olympia, a lady from Madison visiting her local son and wife, and us. Although we don’t actually live in St. Paul, we are pretty close – so we had state capitols pretty covered.
I cannot even begin to tell you why or how Patti was stupendous. She got mixed up fairly often – you frequently had to decipher if she meant Africa or South America because she used them interchangeably. She forgot the names of things (although sometimes she checked the tags to find out). She repeated herself occasionally. BUT HER ENTHUSIASM! Her love for the plants! Her utter joy at just spending time with seven strangers wearing the right shoes and not complaining! It all just made me so happy. It was supposed to be an hour tour, but it was just over two hours before she suggested we finish before we got too hungry for lunch. She explained how to go to other parts of the gardens, or said we could walk back down to the conservatory with her. The Olympia people went off to explore, but we went with the other three and Patti. The young daughter-in-law and I went together as we walked down the road and I said, “C’mon, but honest – you’re just going this way so you can spend a few more minutes with Patti.” Her response, “Hell yes! I want to be her, so I need all the moments I can get.” I totally agreed.
She told us so much that my brain was full in 5 minutes. She kept giving us quizzes and we did okay – but I don’t remember much now. We learned about these agave monocots that shoot up a giant stalk with flowers. It gets so heavy after a while it bends over and then falls and then the plant is done and dead. It will leave behind “pups” – the next generation – growing near it. The examples we saw were 15-foot stalks and they were not from some of the bigger plants. We learned to see agave (local) and aloe (African) and not confuse them. There were frequent quizzes about it, as these plants were frequent throughout the area.
We had a fantastic guide at the Mayan ruins in Tulum. We asked if he was a guide full time. He said he used to be, but now has other jobs. We asked about his other jobs. (Are you ready for this?) He is the official historian of Tulum!
We both got very lucky!! How great is that?!
I wonder what the little tag on the bottom of the trumpet player’s leg says? And the thought of all the tequila in that giant agave plant is staggering….