Beautiful Bougainvillea

In addition to the lush green grass, the perfect-everyday blue skies, and the majestic volcanoes, we also have lots of bougainvillea plants at NPH that make this place so gorgeous. They even line the pathway down to the volunteer houses, which I love. :)

The other day, a few girls from my section ripped a huge chunk off of a bougainvillea plant and gave it to me as a present. I loved the flowers...but was slightly nervous they nearly killed the plant. Oops. :/

Bougainvillea is one of the most common tropical plants found in the highlands region of Guatemala, and after a quick Google, I discovered that it's because our area of the country has the perfect conditions for bougainvillea to thrive. Bougainvillea loves hot days and cool nights (which we definitely have...hot water bottle anyone?) and needs plenty of rain (which we will definitely get when the rainy season arrives later this spring and stays around for six months...hmm).

So while bougainvillea daintily decorates the streets of  nearby Antigua (take a peek at Vines Romantically Spill Over the Colonial Walls of Antigua Guatemala from Antigua's blog), NPH lucked out too! How nice! :)