Travel Journal: Parque Agua Azul

Sitting here, now, basic Spanish phrases roll off my tongue with ease. I know almost no Spanish, but words and phrases like hola (hello), buenos dias (good morning), por favor (please), gracias (thank you), hasta luego (see you later), or como estas? (how are you) come easily to me and I remember them all. 

I really believed that once I was in Guadalajara I would be able to use these phrases, perhaps along with a smile, to navigate my way through the day with a sense of confidence and good manners at the least.  But in reality- that isn't what happened.

I was really surprised to find myself almost unable to speak even a basic hola! or gracias! almost until the very end of my very short visit. Someone would say hola and I would find myself opening my mouth to speak, and a sort of twisted mutated version of the word would (or maybe wouldn't) come out. 

This was interesting to learn about myself, being someone who usually finds it easy to speak to strangers.  (Ironically though- even though I have been back for 4 days- it is still my first inclination to say gracias to someone here instead of thank you. hmmm.)  

I really hope to make it back to Guadalajara or another Spanish speaking country again someday for many reasons, one of which is that I would love to be more comfortable with this very beautiful language.

All of this talk about language is a long winded introduction to my visit to the Parque Agua Azul.  As uncomfortable as I may have been speaking the language or even taking photographs in certain areas, walking into the local botanical garden immediately put me at ease. 

Here, I was in my element and I am grateful for my friend knowing I would want to see the beautiful flowers and treasures waiting to be enjoyed at the lush Parque Agua Azul. I must admit I especially enjoyed my time in la casa de orquideas (house of orchids) photographing the lantana in the (nearly empty of butterflies) butterfly house, and gazing up at the very tall trees ~ though all of it was beautiful. This was indeed a very relaxing part of the trip.

The Trees:

The Lantana:

The Orchids:

And finally, the butterfly maps:

Phew! Thank God for multi tasking because that was a lot of pictures to upload. And looking again at all these nature shots was just the inspiration I needed to finally get a strong grasp on my Intergenerational Earth Day Service for Sunday! Happy Earth Day!

More pictures and stories of Guadalajara to come soon!

(p.s. thanks to my friend Luke for the peace sign picture. He had a much better vision for that image than I did.)