(by Pablo Burgués)

 

If we made a ranking of the best-adapted living creatures for high temperatures and the tremendous sun heat of the summer in Ibiza, the gold medal undoubtedly would go for our dear friends, the cactuses (closely followed by lizards and British tourists).

Behind their threatening external appearance full of spikes, these green creatures hide a little heart that is very tender and has turned them into the most beloved residents of the Mediterranean gardens. However, though Ibiza is full of them and I come across them every day, every time I see one I ask myself the same question: where the hell have such weird creatures come from?

Well, today I’ve plucked up courage and I’ve searched the Internet looking for a reply. I’ve gone directly to Wikipedia (straightforward, because I’m very crazy) and there I’ve found this: “a member of the plant family Cactaceae…”, “they grow up in xerophile climates…”, “their flowers are actinomorphic and zigomorphic…” But which language do these people speak, for God sake!? It’s easier to understand a Koran in Basque than this!!!

In front of this mess, I decided to forget stupid and void scientific explanations and I checked serious websites, those about legends and esotericism. What a difference, man! These people do speak clearly and moreover they use crosschecked and quality information. As proof of this, here you have their elaborated theory on the origin of cactuses:

Many hundreds of years ago, in the distant and inhospitable region of Catamarca (north Argentina) there were two tribes that were constantly quarrelling: the Huasans and the Mallis. But, suddenly, when spring arrived, Cupid threw two love arrows over those far away lands. His bad shot (or his bad blood) wanted that one of them fell over Munaylla, the daughter of the chief of the Huasans, and the other fell over Pumahima, the son of the chief of the Mallis… What a pain, my friends!

After a long period secretly loving each other, the couple decided to run away far from there in pursuit of a place where they could give free rein to their love (and what isn’t love). But it seems that the father of the girl was upset with the news of the flight and, together with his soldiers, he went out to hunt the lovers down.

On the morning of the fifth day, when the young couple were about to be caught up by their persecutors, both began praying to the goddess Pachamama, asking for help. Mother Earth, who is cooler than Will Smith and Pablo Motos together, came to help them, by turning Pumahami into a cactus and hiding his beloved Munaylla inside.

When the danger was over, Pachamama was about to undo the spell but the couple told her that way they felt more comfortable than ever, and they asked to stay so forever. To celebrate the triumph of love, the cactuses around the world bloom in spring and offer their flowers to Goddess Nature.

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Pablo Burgués on Instagram and Twitter

Translation: Dora Sales

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