Museo del Desierto

On a whim, we decided to go back to Texas early, and that Tonio's parents would come with us. Maya's bronchitis/double ear infection/perforated ear drum and the ensuing crabiness and sleep deprivation was taking its toll! We also were scared of the long lines at the border if we left on New Years Day, along with the millions of other Mexican expats making their way back to the US. It was a fun road trip- we woke up early in Mexico City, and drove to Saltillo, which is just south of Monterrey. They have an excellent Museo del Desierto (Desert Museum) that I had wanted to visit last time, and Tonio's mom was also excited to take the kids there. We got to Saltillo in the evening, had a delicious dinner and fell asleep early. Then in the morning we went to the Museum, ate lunch, and headed home. I love all types of botanic gardens, and this museum had an amazing diversity of cacti and succulents indigenous to the Chichuahuan Desert. If only I could have bought some from the greenhouse! Too bad they don't let organiz materials across the border...

The museum also had an archeological dig as an exhibit, where they had found dinosaur bones.

There was a presentation about how certain animals have adapted to the desert biome, and how other animals live in their habitats.

Although it was hard to manage the 3 kids running around AND read the information at the museum, I did see that there was a lot of cultural artifacts about the indigenous people who had lived in the desert. The kids really enjoyed all of the live snakes and insects camouflaged in their terrariums (once I promised them that they couldn't escape).

Outside there were paths weaving between cactus beds that teemed with turtles and lizards.

Inside the greenhouse, there were even more desert plants,

to admire or purchase.

They were propogating what seemed like millions of cacti and succulents, whose sales benefit the conservation of the Chihuahuan Desert and the Museum.

We said good-bye to the museum, and then drove 3 hours through the desert, north to the border. The lines at the border were tremendous!!! I lost track of the hours, but we made it through at least 2 movies sitting in the different lines (to prove that we didn't import our car to Mexico permanently, through immigration and customs, and to validate my in-laws visas). Finally we made it home around midnight, into our own beds, and we were asleep before our heads hit the pillows.