Huatusco, Veracruz

In Oaxaca there is a garden and nature club. My friend Geri emailed me the information about their bamboo excursion and asked if I was interested.

I'm always interested in anything that means getting out into the open air and exploring the terrain. Geri and I hooked up with Barbara, her daughter, Barbara's friend Donna and off we went in Barbara's family Chevy suburban, driven by a hired driver.

It was a five hour drive from Oaxaca, Oaxaca to Huatusco, Veracruz, and the plantation was exactly how I imagined.

I left the plantation convinced the only wood we humans ought to harvest is bamboo. Different types of bamboo wood are used for different types of things. There is a bamboo that can be used to manufacture paper, another for the manufacture of woodwind instruments, and of course the sturdy bamboo for construction purposes. The mother bamboo makes lots of babies, who are ready to harvest after four years. After twelve years the mother is burned off because she no longer produces offspring.

Veracruz has a much wetter climate than Oaxaca and they grow coffee and sugar cane, as well as bamboo.