Florida's Arbor Day

Hard-working native trees are also beautiful and add value to your property. While most of the country celebrates Arbor Day in April, both Florida and Louisiana celebrate on the third Friday in January. It’s a much better time to plant a tree because deciduous trees are dormant and others are less...

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Cartagena market

Cartagena market sceneThe produce/meat/fish market in Cartagena was far from the "old town."  It was a chaotic place (and definitely NOT on the normal tourist map either).But, we're always interested in visiting traditional market places so we headed there in an ancient taxi, and were dropped off...

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The amazing power of colonizing plants

  Plants colonizing a tile roof in La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia It was remarkable to see plants colonizing a couple of (very old) tile roofs in the old colonial district of La Candelaria in Columbia's capital city. It meant that 1) enough organic matter had accumulated that seed...

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Fun hiking... in the Valle de Cocora

Valle de Cocora hiking (Los Montanas)We had a great day hiking over the "Los Montanas" pass and down, in the Cocora Valley -- a great place to hi...

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Yard-long beans in Cartagena

Colombia was not a trip for admiring vegetable gardens.  I didn't actually see anything resembling a vegetable garden (outside of a "modern" demonstration edible garden at the botanical garden in Bogota).So not surprisingly, there aren't many vegetables to be seen in markets, either, aside from...

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Views from Salento

Salento view down the main streetWe totally enjoyed Salento, a "tourist" town locked in a time warp;  the colonial buildings are filled with shops, but still evoke the feeling of a Zona Cafeterra town from years ago. Salento fruit stand It may have been an accidental time to visit --...

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Valle de Cocora

LW and decorated "Willy" jeep (a traditional form of tourist transport)A primary "tourist" destination for Columbians and foreigners alike was the historic town of Salento and the nearby Valle de Cocora.It made for some great hiking.View from Los Montanas passValley viewLooking down the val...

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