Things are Wild in Mérida

The Wild9 9th World Wilderness Congress is going on in Mérida as I sit here in my jammies typing this note.

Here is a link directly to their brochure ,
and here is a link to their webpage




I happened to be at the Fiesta Americana on Friday night and observed participants to this congress taking care of registrations, signing up for seminars, discussions, workshops, etc.  And I also saw some of them relaxing in the bar.    This has nothing really to do with anything...except that I saw them.

This is a big deal for Mérida, the Yucatan, and Mexico in general.  Each past conference location has contributed greatly to the location in which it was held.

Associated with the conference are a group of painted jaguar sculptures along the Paseo de Montejo.
It is fabulous to have sculptures on Montejo again.   Here is a link to Yucatan Today's story and some of their photos of the jaguars.

I plan to go today and walk Montejo and take photos of the Jaguars myself.  The Yucatan Today article says 10,  I've only seen 6 as drive bys, so the walk will tell the tale, or tail...

The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, the honorary host of WILD9, was the opening speaker and welcomed the participants.  presidente Calderon is considered a 'green president' because he has launched many national, regional and global environmental initiatives. He supports environmental issues and there is the promise of significant and effective new environmental action.

One of the highlights of this conference is Jane Goodall.  She will be speaking as well as leading a workshop.

So, these are exciting times.  OK, Tom is up, and we can get a move on and go walk the dog and take the photos!
More later!!!!

PHOTO Time - we had a lovely walk, tired out the puppy, saw folks we know, took pictures...