Random Mexico photos

Carlos and I are getting ready for our third trip of the summer (heading to a tropical biology conference in Cairns, Australia for 2 weeks!), but I thought I would post a few more (very random) photos from our time in Coatepec.

We ate a LOT of delicious food and really go to know our new town. It is a really fun and cute place!

 This fellow is looking for a girlfriend:

Garfield appears to be the mascot of a local dentist:

Piñatas are everywhere!:

This pig in his fancy Mexican hat is in a play area near a huge grocery store called Chedraui:

This "Donald Duck" is in the same play area:

Coatepec has wonderful seafood, we had a great meal of rainbow trout (this one is covered in dehydrated garlic and Carlos' was wrapped in a leaf from a pepper plant):

This is the park in the center of town--it is really busy and full of food carts and toy vendors on the weekend:

This is the courtyard from our hotel:

I enjoyed the fresh paletas (found everywhere), my favorite so far is watermelon:

 

That's all I have to post for now. I have many more pictures that I should post (including some pictures of our new orange house!), but I still need to download and edit those and I probably won't have time to do that before leaving for Australia. When I get back, we will be in the midst of packing and planning our escape from DC!

Where did June go? We were in MEXICO

Wow, poor blog--yet again I have been neglecting it. Carlos and I have been traveling around Costa Rica and Mexico for the past two months so I haven't had any time to update and actually didn't post ANYTHING for the entire month of June! We are back in DC for two weeks before we jet off to Cairns, Australia for the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC). Sheesh, I will be really glad when all of this hectic summer travel is over.

While we were in Mexico, we taught on a field course, explored Veracruz, Xalapa, and Coatepec (where we will live come September) and established our temporary residencies. We spent a few days at INECOL (Instituto de Ecología), the research institute where Carlos and I will begin working this fall. The campus is really nice and contains an amazing botanic garden and even a large patch of montane forest that you walk through to get from one part of campus to another! Here are some photos from the garden and inside the building where Carlos' office is located.

 

We had a great (although busy!) time in Mexico. We were especially impressed by the landscape,  friendliness of the people, and the food! Stay tuned for some more random photos from our wanderings around Coatepec (including our new house)!