Palenque

We finally got our chance to go see the ruins of Palenque. Even though when we left Chiapas we swore we would never go back but we really wanted to see Palenque so we made the trip down. Actually it took about the same amount oftime to get there from 3 states north as it would have from Acapetahua - tells you something about Chiapas roads, hey?

Howler monkeys and ruins - it was worth it...

some ancient myan carvings

Some pyramids you can enter but they are really narrow.

Taxco (Tass-Ko), Guerrero

During Christmas we were given some time off since he office was closed during the holidays. Well we are not ones to skip an opportunity, to we headed out to some of the places we wanted to see or had been recommended to us by friends.

Taxco is about 3 hours from Mexico City in the State of Guerrero. Its a very charming colonial city, and like many colonial cities they paint all the buildings the same colors. Taxco is famous for its silver and there are lots of artists that live there and make silver jewlery.

The big church in town, where all the action is.

The interior of the church had walls covered in statues and gold leaf. Speaking personally, I think the baby faces are a little creepy...

We hiked up to an overlook ofthe city and got lost in its small passageways and tiny streets. We found several shrines along the way...

Trav overlooking Taxco

Taxco from above.

The Jesus statue that looks over the town

A couple of pictures from home

Our kitchen
Travis and our sassy kitty Lola. this is what he does when he thinks no one is looking....

El Platanal

Mountains ofthe Sierra Gorda Guanajuato

Further into the reserve is the community of El Platanal, recognized as one of the most marginalized community in Mexico. They have only had electricty for 3 years! To get to El Platanal we had go up and over these mountains on the dirt road in the top righthand corner of this picture.

We then had to drive several more hours along a river bed to reach El Platanal ecotourism site. Just as we were beginning to think "Is this worth it...?" We arrived.

And it was totally worth it. The Community of El Platanal has a large cabin available for rent and are building two smaller cabins. They also offer camping on the beach of the river. To get to El Platanal you can hire a guide and a burro to hike your stuff into the canyon.

Here I am with Chava, cool guy and all around good friend, we work with him. He is known as "Lenny Kravitz of the Sierra". Must be the hair.

Making friends with the locals.

Vergel

Vergel
Razorbacks in the Sierra Gorda Guanajuato (Gwan-na-hwa-toe). Can't you just picture Clint Eastwood cruising down one of these?

Wow It has been a while since we posted anything. We have been settled in to our new place for 3 months and things couln't be better. We work for the coolest office in CONANP and for the coolest boss, probably coolest in the world. We are having a great time out here in cowboy country and working on some really great projects.
One of our main projects is working with the monitoring department to create habitat for and protect a species of Axolotls (Ah-ho-lo-til) which is a special species of salamander. we are currently in the process of identifying the species. Once identified, we will rebuild its habitat and create an informal education program on site to teach people aboutthe importance of conserving species.
Another project we are working on is helping the small, marginalized communities promote and enhance their ecotourism activities. Many of the peopel who have tourism operations ahve never left their area. We have one project in a community of about 200 peopel called Vergel (Ver-hell). Which is lead by a very charasmatic Dona Lupe. Who is actually divorced and living with her new boyfriend (divorce in small-town Mexico is virtually unheard of and a good way to become a pariah - and her ex-husband has to get food from her store - the only one in town!)
Here we are following Harold on one of the guided hikes offered by the community. He pointed out several medicinal plants all of which are good for your kidneys. Actually almost every medicinal plant I have found, when made into a tea is good for your kidneys. My theory is that when you drink a lot of tea, its the water that benefits you more than the tea actually does.
We wound our way through the forest and came up into a passageway in the rocks onto a rock outcropping called "La Ventana" (the window).

Another guded hike offered by Vergel is to the "Puente de Dios" (The Bridge of God). a really spectactular rock formation.