Living in the Mexican Caribbean for seven years, I’ve experienced a few hurricanes. The Hurricane Beryl aftermath though, was something different. First, she increased in strength before making landfall, strengthening back up to a Category 3. Second, I discovered a whole new world in her wake — an incredible world of fallen botanical beauties.
There is so much beauty and sadness in the aftermath of a hurricane. The chaos and the calm are intertwined, like a yin-yang moment in time and space. The opposing forces somehow balance, creating a lifelong emotional impact that I’ll still look back on when I’m 80.
Sloshing through puddles as soon as the rains died down, a whole world of botanical gems lay at my feet. Branches and stripped leaves, tattered and torn, covered the streets in a multitude of colors. Strange seedpods and flower buds, once lost in the treetops, were now down at eye level.
Let’s not forget the beautiful tropical flowers. Bougainvillea, poinciana, hibiscus, and frangipani were floating along at my feet. It was an enlightening and quite beautiful contrast in such a changed landscape.
It’s easy to see the devastation and focus on that. Instead, I chose to take a moment to actually look at the trees, leaves and flowers that had fallen. I started to pick up things of interest. The first was a beautiful torn sunset colored sea almond leaf. I also made sure to take its fruits and long strands of tiny delicate off-white flowers.
I grabbed the top of a baby coconut that was so curled it looked like a chocolate flower. Next, I picked up fallen Spanish limes. As I walked through the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, birds delighted themselves in the fallen branches, bringing new life to the chaos.
Quite soon I had a lovely collection of botanical beauties, each found while walking around the block. Once I was home, it was time to put them all together and assemble “Beryl’s beauties” into a lovely composition on the sketchbook page.
The sketchbook page
Picking up my black pen I sat down to sketch each of Beryl’s botanical treasures. This was a lovely way to process the hurricane. I found beauty in the broken and reveled in it.
Over the next couple of days, the page grew as I added other beautiful botanicals. Room was made for native plants, which I prioritized over introduced species. I wanted to show the true beauty of the Yucatán’s flora and celebrate all that is great about life here. This felt even more right after meeting workers cleaning up the debris on the streets.
The magic of the Mamey
Thrilled I was taking an interest in one of ‘their trees’ the workers were really sweet. They stopped briefly when I asked them about the small brown fruits at my feet. Pointing up, I looked to see large tan color fruits, about the size of a grapefruit. Seeing my interest in their native flora, their faces lit up.
In a comical exchange of Spanglish (I’m still learning Spanish) we ended up understanding each other perfectly. Explaining they are Mayan descendants and puffing their chests out with pride, they told me it was a mamey tree. A traditional treat, they’d been eating for their whole lives. Then, the fun began.
Laughing, they bent over backward to find what I wanted. Debris went flying as they began digging into big clumps of raked up leaves. Tossing them aside to find the treasure, they eventually delivered me the beautiful seeds.
Of course, after that fun exchange, the mamey became the next of Beryl’s beauties to be added.
Beryl showed me I’m a crazy plant lady
I admit it. Finding these little treasures lifted my heart. Plants have always fascinated me. So finding new ones and identifying native plants made my heart sing. It’s a way of connecting with nature and with my surroundings.
It took a day to sketch all 28 items. It was a time out for my brain and my heart — time to think, process, and see beauty in the aftermath. Plus, I discovered new flora I hadn’t seen before.
I discovered a fallen strawberry tree right near my house. Little birds feasting on fruits called my attention to the fallen tree. How had I not noticed this tree before? It took Beryl throwing it at my feet to see beautiful fruits, learn they were edible, and then people make jam from it!
Art therapy can be healing
They say art is therapy. I believe this to be true. But I also adore color and what drew me to a lot of these botanicals was their lovely, vibrant color. So, I’ve added color. Layer upon layer of watercolor.
Mind you, it’s not totally finished. But honestly I don’t know if it ever will be. I like both the faint and bold washes of color. Just like the washes of rain floating flowers down the street. Some leaves were damaged, losing their color. Others were bold and striking.
So, for now, it’s finished .. but next week, this Batty Botanist may change her mind … who knows!
Sketching and painting them gives me great joy, which is why I have just started the Batty Botanist project. If you’d like to see more, you can find me on Facebook and Instagram.
Mexico Correspondent for International Living, Bel is an experienced writer, author, photographer and videographer with 500+ articles published both in print and across digital platforms. Living in the Mexican Caribbean for over 7 years now she’s in love with Mexico and has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
