365 - 15th - Lilies??

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Dec'08

I am not sure if they were lilies but at the nursery where I saw them I could see at least four different shades of them planted in small pots and arranged in straight rows. The owner of the nursery knew the name in Spanish which I forgot even before I left the place. Whatever the name is, the flowers were amazing for sure. Specially given the huge number in which they were present, the view was simply beautiful.

The man gave me one of the small pots, with white flowers for 40 pesos and advised me to keep them away from direct sunlight for most of the day. They are now adding to the beauty of my living room :)

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364 - 14th - Noche Buenas

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Dec'08

Noche buena or the Poinsettia is a plant which is native to Mexico and often blooms around Christmas time. It has green leaves and the most common version of it has flaming red group of leaves at the top which gives an illusion of a flower. Come Christmas and you can see them all over the place. Poeple buy them and keep them inside their houses, offices are decorated with them and you can find them planted on the road side too.

A couple of days back I bought two small plants, but they are still waiting to be planted in my front garden.

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363 - 13th - The colorful bird

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Dec'08

It was not the first time that I was seeing a cock, but surely I have never seen such a colorful one before, except the ones which are printed on the "cock brand" cracker packets in India. With amazing shades of blue, orange and red, the bird was a living example of an exquisite color display. I think that it would be second only to the peacock if ranked in terms of the number of different color shades present.

If you click on the image and see the full view, there are two things worth observing. The first is the color of it's eye - an orange eyeball with a black retina while the second being the white rope attached to one of it's legs. No comment on the color of the eye, but the rope seemed to be a mark of ownership for the bird.

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362 - 12th - Beauty in Death

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Dec'08

As you approach the main hangout of the Monarch butterflies in El Rosario, where you can see almost the entire jungle completely covered in a sheet of orange butterflies, the number of dead ones on the ground and in the bushes keeps on increasing. You can see butterfly wings scattered all over the ground and also hundreds of them lying around; dead.

But even death fails to steal their beauty. Had it not been their unusual way of being scattered around the place, you could actually mistake them to be alive. I found these three dead butterflies on a dry log of wood. As I went near, I could see them from much closer as they would no longer get frightened and fly away.

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361 - 11th - Sanctuary of El Rosario

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th Dec'08

Sanctuary of El Rosario is one of the entry points to see the annual migration of Monarch Butterflies. You have to drive for around an hour from the nearest city of Zitacuaro to reach the place. The sanctuary is a small town in itself with a population of some five hundred odd people. As you reach the place and start hiking towards the jungle, the place offers you exquisite gifts with the monarch butterflies present in each one of them in one form or the other. It also has a series of makeshift restaurants offering you some nice fresh Mexican food. People usually stop at these restaurants on their way down after a long trek up the mountain.

A small place but a really good one for business between the months of Oct and March when the butterflies arrive.

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360 - 10th - Among the branches

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Dec'08

I was staring at the big group of butterflies on the ground and making some videos when something inside the tree in front of me caught my attention. I could see a couple of butterflies playing around and hopping from branch to branch. I stood there and observed them for some time. It was only two of them, flying around behind each other and occasionally fluttering their wings in communion. Their play lasted for a couple of minutes before they flew away to another tree out of the range of my camera.

I took this one while watching them enjoying the sunny afternoon.

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359 - 9th - The black sheep

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Dec'08

While climbing down the mountain in the jungles of Zitacuaro, I saw a herd of sheep grazing on a small patch of grass at some distance. I told my friends to go ahead and that I would meet them at the base. I walked for around ten minutes to reach the place and maintained a safe distance from the animals so that they don't get scared and run away.

Once there, I got behind a bush and clicked some photos. Due to the sun shining at the back, the photos got a a nice effect of a bright background and a dark foreground. Among all that I clicked, I liked this one the most.

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358 - 8th - A swarm of beauty

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Dec'08

This picture can easily be titled as one of the most rare scenes I would ever shoot; hundreds of orange butterflies planted in a small patch of land, sipping on water flowing in a small stream. It was a scene I had never imagined could exist and was really a treat to the eyes. The butterflies, completely oblivious of the people moving around were lost in their own beautiful world. You could go within a "touching distance" and they wont even care.

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357 - 7th - A new beginning

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Dec'08

To every end there is a new beginning. A beginning which overshadows all the memories of the end and sparks a new flame of life. A beginning which induces a new streak of life in total lifelessness.

This tree was probably chooped some years ago and the dry stump was all that was left of it. But somehow a small trace of life has managed to sprout from the dry wood. A tiny branch with lush green leaves give a sign of new life and a new beginning. Maybe it will rise to the same magnificent heights some day :)

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356 - 6th - Monarch Butterflies

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Dec'08

Imagine a place where all you can see is butterflies. Millions of them at practically every nook and corner. You can see them on trees, in the air and even on the ground. Splashing their bright orange color all around, they just fill up the whole place with their beauty.

I happened to go to one such place last weekend. It was a place where these Monarch butterflies come each year after traveling hundreds of kilometers from Canada to Mexico. They gather here to lay eggs, to reproduce and then to fly back home. A really exceptional view and really a rare phenomenon.

Stay tuned for more photos from the same place :)

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355 - 5th - The converging trees

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Dec'08

It is amazing how different things start looking when you just change the angle of your view by a few degrees. I was roaming around in the jungle for almost two hours looking at figs and branches to find something "clickable". I shot some tiny flowers, some buzzing bees and some crawling creatures, but all the time I was looking either down or straight in the line of sight.

I dont know what prompted me to do that, but suddenly I looked up towards the sky. I could see the trees converging over my head as if I am looking thru a fish-eye lens. It surely was a nice view and a good one to click too.

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354 - 4th - The pine tree

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Dec'08

I think it was pine but I had a doubt because the branches were hanging really low. I searched for some signboards nearby but couldn't find any. Given that it was a butterfly sanctuary, I found the idea of inquiring about a tree totally out of context. So I just went ahead and took some photos of the sharp green leaves shining against the bright sunlight.

Later when I returned to the base, I saw some local people selling painted pine fruits. Maybe that was a silent indication that the tree was really pine :)

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353 - 3rd - The butterfly on the vase

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Dec'08

I had just entered my room in Zitacuaro when I saw this big butterfly perched on a dry branch right on top of the dressing table. Had it not been the size, I would have really mistaken it for a real one. Firstly because of the amazingly vivid and real looking colors in which it was painted and secondly since everywhere at the place one was expecting to spot the butterflies.

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352 - 2nd - The red rose

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Dec'08

I was waiting at the reception in a hotel in Zitacuaro when my exploring eyes stopped at this bowl kept right in front of the receptionist. I still dont know what made the water looked green; maybe it was the painted base of the bowl or some color dissolved in the water. But whatever it was, it made a great contrasting combination with the crimson red roses floating on the surface.

I had to bend my camera and my neck at a very awkward angle to get the right shot from the top. When I finished, I realized that everyone around including the bell boy standing right behind me, were staring at me in amusement.

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