Monarch caterpillar

Had the last day of my trip to myself and decided to head off to Balboa Park. The staff at the hotel told me it was far too far to walk and would take at least an hour but I set off anyway as it really didn't look that far on the map. Sure enough, 35 minutes later I was there.

There were so many things going on at the park, a band competition, Shakespeare festival and lots of stalls too. I pottered around in the intense sun and heat and had good fun just looking around. Outside the botanical pavilion was a tree with lots of monarch caterpillars and chrysalis on it. They were great to watch and you kept spotting more of them as you got your eyes attuned to them.

The cactus garden was great too and I stalked a small lizard around for while trying to get a decent photo. Managed it in the end but I prefer this image of the stripy caterpillar and bright blue sky. The rose garden was beautiful (and full of more lizards) and it was great to wander round and spot the occasional humming bird too.

When I got a bit hot and tired, I sat and watched some of the performances of short Shakespeare excerpts by school children. Funny to hear them in such American accents but interesting to see how excited some of the smaller children were to be performing.

Walked back to the hotel, got changed and then got a taxi to the airport late afternoon. Didn't seem to have to wait too long to board and concentrated on getting comfortable for the long journey home.