The Conservatorio 1873 is a short walk up the hill from where we got off the green bus. The sun was already low, and we took in the scenery on our way: the water on the the left, waves hitting the rocks, El Faro not far, a sailboat out in the ocean, high cliffs on the right with cacti, palms and houses on top. At the entrance of the conservatory greeted us a giant seahorse, along with a couple of Mexican gentlemen.
Inside, a young lady told us a little about what we could expect inside and where to get our tickets. We walked up the stairs to the gift shop and marveled at the beautiful things, arts and crafts and linen dresses. After seeing the price tags, however, we quickly moved on. We opted for a visit without a guided tour because we didn’t want to miss the sunset. In hindsight, I wish we had decided to do the tour; I think we would have gotten more out of the visit if we did.
After the gift shop, we walked up more stairs to a small plaza with pirate figures. Everything was surrounded by beautiful gardens, terraced on the steep slope. From here, we were picked up by the funicular tram. The ride was filled with stunning views of the gardens on one side and the ocean with the descending sun on the other.
At the top, we found ourselves in a small park with peacocks, two males along with several females and adolescents. One of the males showed himself off nicely as he was pursuing the ladies with his colourful feathery “trail”. A little further into the park, we saw a circle and talk under a decorated tree around a fire pit. It looked sacred, and indeed, my friend told me that this must be the sacred cacao ceremony she had heard about. She was interested, but we went on to see other things first.
The iguana house was closed for the lack of iguanas at the time. We went to the aviary next. Many parrots were rescued from unsavory conditions and nursed back up in a large cube, enclosed with a mesh, filled with trees and vegetation. We had already heard the parrots from afar, but it became clear that there must be many to create the noise levels we encountered.
Constantly looking up to try and avoid any bird poop on me, I saw big colorful macaws and many mid-sized and smaller parrots, most of them green. The path was a raised boardwalk with a little deck. A staff member gave each of us one piece of modeling-clay-like food for the birds. She tried to get one of them to sit on my friend’s hand, but it flew away before perching. I squatted down with my hand open to offer the food to one of two birds walking on the deck. A third bird flew toward me unexpectedly, and landed right in front of my hand. He picked the morsel carefully out of my hand and flew to perch on the nearby railing where I could observe him holding the food in one claw and biting pieces off to eat in a rather human-like manner.
Looking down, there were also four flamingos and a few does on the ground-level of the aviary. We moved along through the jungle creation and watched more parrots in the trees and more does on the ground eating hay. Outside of the aviary is a cactus and succulent garden with four large planting beds. They were very impressive, especially with the sinking sun casting a colour show into the sky in the background.
Going further up, we entered the top level of the conservatory building, which was a bar with several beautiful patios. A great spot to watch the sunset. The lower level also had beautiful patios – we agreed that this is a fantastic space for a big event (my friend suggested a “pretend wedding” since neither of us would be interested in a real one).
The conservatory on the lower level was filled with old furniture and trinkets, a stuffed duck, bellows, muskets, a skeleton of what looked like a large reptile or dinosaur, a monocycle, a lovely dining room, a nursery with a baby’s crib…. If we had done the guided tour, we would have learned more about this part of the house and its history. Instead, we rested on large well-worn leather couches for a moment.
On our way back to the little park at the entrance, I discovered a mezcal cave with an exhibition of the production process. Again, the surrounding gardens were superb, and we saw a tree that grew out of the building right above a door, the roots finding their way around the door opening to the ground. Nature is marvelous.
The cacao ceremony was still in progress, and my friend asked a member of staff about it. She told us that it’s open for anyone to join and brought us into the circle. The circle was attended by Mexicans, and the guide sat cross-legged on the ground and spoke without a pause in Spanish. He had a pot of hot chocolate on a fire fueled by coals, smoke of a smudge in the fire wafting to ever which side.
We didn’t understand everything, of course, but we understood enough to figure out that he was talking about chakras and the stars. He gave an entire family their colours and numbers and animals and explaining a lot about what it all meant in a spiritual sense and how it all related within their family unit. While I only understood a small amount of his story, his telling it was strangely compelling, and so we stayed for a long time in this intimate circle. Eventually, he offered us a cup with hot cacao, which my friend and I shared. And he broke a bread, which we all shared, sourdough with little flecks of chocolate baked in. I broke my gluten-free rule for the communal experience, and it was quite enjoyable.
It was getting late by the time he got to us with his readings, so he had to cut it short. I learned that my colour is amarillo (yellow) and my element is a star, like the sun. He could not find my animal, and at that point, the staff started rounding up the visitors to go back down on the funicular tram. We each got a hug and a kiss on the cheek for our good-bye’s and felt like we were a part of something special.
On our way back down the hill to the bus, we saw cars parked on the side of the road, music blasting, a few people clustered on the seawall and just hanging out together… having their own small parties, relaxed, fun. What a great way of life.
Es liest sich wie ein paralleles Buch zu Alice im Wunderland
Looks nice and warm! Gonna be -3 tonight! No igaunas in the igauana house!! Ha ha! Reminds me of no rhododendrons at the rhododendron festival. 🙂
C