El Peluquero de Cuyutlán

Today was hair-cut day for the palms in our adjacent lot. We did this severe trimming for several reasons. (1) There were dead fronds that looked terrible. (2) There were probably 200 coconuts just waiting to drop on someone or crash onto the new patio and make a huge mess. (3) Squirrels love these palm trees. They use the long fronds as highways onto our upper deck where they then climb up the support beams and nest in the palapa. They also nest in the palm trees and spend hours gnawing on the coconut shells making a big racket. (4) It was time to clean them out anyway. We haven't done this for at least a year and they were looking pretty ratty.

At 1:30 the palm barber arrived with his faithful dog who stands at full alert as the fronds come falling down, waiting for some unsuspecting squirrel to come down, too. Didn't happen this time, although he found two big nests (empty). This worthy chap shakes off his sandals, ties his machete to one end of a rope, ties the other around his waist and, grasping the trunk between his feet, up he shimmies. Once above the frond line, he squats in the center of the tree, pulls his machete up behind him and starts hacking away.

There are three large, old (20 years) palms against the wall. I do like the fact that they screen the north side of the house from the street and from the neighbors. And I liked lying in bed and looking through the fronds that shaded our window. Made it very "tropical".


Alas, those lovely rustling fronds are gone. Those two windows are in our bedroom, now completely exposed and without the ever-changing shadows and colors of the fronds. But at least they won't brush up against the screens and make us think it's pouring rain outside.

Here's the next one over. The fronds of this tree were beginning to brush up against the bathroom windows.


No more rustling palm fronds, no more ardillos, but no more shimmering shadows, either. Or varying shades of green. Or wildly waving fronds in a big wind.

And here's another negative thing about pruning a palm tree. No new fronds emerge from where the old ones were cut off, so the tree just gets taller and taller. Pretty soon it will be time to cut these down and plant a new crop along the wall so we can have that tropical feel again when we look out the window.