Very few of these senderos are signposted and there is nothing to warn you that the shady tree under which you’re taking a breather is poisonous and not to be touched. Below, you will find descriptions of a few plants and trees you need to recognize before you get too close to them.
The swollen-balls tree
The worst on my list is the manchaneel tree, Hippomane mancinella, popularly known here as the hincha huevos which means swollen-balls tree …
We were hiking up a hill in Paso Real, located 50 kilometers from the Pacific Coast in Jalisco. My thoughts were on keeping up with our guide, Don Ginio, who was taking us to the entrance of a 50-meter-deep pit no one had gone into before.
Although Don Ginio was wearing flip-flops and swinging a machete to clear the way, all the members of our caving group were having a hard time keeping up with him.
The hill got steeper and steeper and I helped myself along by grabbing onto every tree I came to.
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