Prickly pears

When Esme and I entered the town of El Lim? Totalco on November the 26th, I spotted a group of cactuses. A building on the other side of the road was painted in two different colors of blue. Together with the color of the sky, I considered this a nice oppertunity to take a photo of some prickly pears (Opuntia species).

In the above photo you can see the purple fruit of the prickly pear, which is called tuna in Mexico. The young stem segments of this cactus are sold as nopales and used as a vegetable in Mexican cuisine.

Also today

• Nature Photos 2006 (overview)
• Mexican ribbon snake (Thamnophis proximus rutiloris)
• Grasshoppers all lined up
• The Mango fruit stand
• Hieroglyphic moths sheltering under a leaf
• Vinnie the vinegaroon
• The sand cave
• Giant cactuses along the road
• Scorpion mother with babies on her back
• Rawr!
• The tame carpenter bee
• Skinky winky
• Anna's Eighty-eight
• The spiny lizard relaxing
• The Guard Parrot
• A butterfly resting
• The Shroom Castle
• My favorite pet snake
• The big grasshopper
• The little rain frog
• A spider fond of spinning
• Purple flowers in the rain
• A scorpion on my hand
• Big Green Butterfly
• A spiny lizard in the grass