Day 5--ATBC registration

Today was a relatively leisurely morning and I took my time getting ready and eating a snack before I headed back downtown for more exploration. I walked the four blocks to the main square and admired the huge cathedral and surrounding buildings, gazebo, park, and fountains.

After exploring and wandering, I walked to the (nearby) Colegio de San Nicolas de Hidalgo to register for the ATBC conference. This is one of the 4 buildings where talks will be held during the tropical biology conference. I received my registration kit and walked back to the hostel to check it out and plan which talks I would go to each day. The registration kit included: a pen (mine imploded after only one use!), a rattan folder, burlap-type bag (meh), a name tag, the program, CD of abstracts (> 700 of them!), and, the best thing, a souvenir rattan lizard!

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and reading (and watching TV!) until my friend and lab-mate Ana arrived. We went back to the Colegio to get her registration taken care of then walked around downtown some more before the opening plenary talk tonight at 7pm. The talk was nice (if a little long) and afterwards there was a performance by a traditional Michoacan dance troupe. My favorite dance was when a guy was dressed like a big white fish and hopped around until he was caught in a net thrown out by the fishermen. The fish costume was really cute and even had a little tongue sticking out.

After the talk/performance (~9:30), Ana and I went out to dinner at Café Catedral. I had some really good chicken tacos (they weren’t spicy--yay!) and we met up with our fellow UM graduate students Tanya, David, Eric, and Nate. There are a lot of people here from my university! After dinner, we want back to the hostel for some sleep. Tomorrow is the first real day of the conference and the beginning of the talks!