Desert Speaks

Cactus Capital Of The World

Villages in the Valle de Tehuacan and nearby Oaxaca have endured forcenturies in a desert environment. One of the staples of this environment was and still is the cactus, which formed the basis for their material culture. Today eighteen species of columnar cacti grow in the valley (as opposed to three in Arizona, eight in Sonora), all of them used one way or another by native peoples. Each June, deep in the Valley of Tehuacan residents harvest the luscious fruit of the giant cacti as they have for generations.