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Training in a wildlife conservation workshop in Tikal National Park, Guatemala in 1998
This is the difficult part: to write something about me.
I come from a large, middle class family from Mexico City. My love and interest in nature started -strangely- when I was a little kid accompanying my second older brother to his hunting expeditions. As a kid, I went to a man-only private catholic school (Colegio Cristobal Colon, La Salle). Not been particularly fond to religion -even at that young age- once in high-school, I decided that I had had enough and made the shift (as usual, against the will of my parents) to a highly controversial and relatively dangerous, night-turn Science College (CCH-Naucalpan). This place was amazing for a kid like me and the experience changed my life completely and for good. I used to have burglars, drug-addicts and prostitutes as class-mates. The environment of a night high school was tough but I learned to adapt and to be flexible enough. My skills in basket-ball learned in La Salle helped a bit and after a few broken noses in the basket-ball courts (including mine for the third time) I earned a place among the guys -and more importantly, among the girls- in the college. My teachers were very weird but interesting people of all kinds. I still remember the strong marijuana smell of a young, long haired natural sciences professor (with a Ph.D in Berkeley) to come and teach some of the most thought provoking science lectures I have ever been.
As a teenager, I became an avid camper and wildlife hunter. Later I entered veterinary school and hunting became a bit out of place, so my interest in mother nature had to be re-directed. I decided to become a wildlife vet and start volunteering in a couple of zoos and, the rest is sort of history.
Update May, 2009
An interesting interview with me was published in the new June 2009 issue of ECOFRONTERAS. Here is the PDF
Download the Interview (in Spanish)
Yeap, that funny looking guy is me eating sausages with Brazilian colleagues in some remote wilderness in Quebec, Canada. (One of my students said about this picture that I look like a cheap singer of "Ranchera" music!)
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Mountain biking and kayaking
I love mountain biking and kayaking and normally try to combine my work as a field ecologist with the practice of these two sports. The Calakmul region in Campeche is perfect for practising jungle mountain bike and Campeche city's harbor is ideal for training in kayaking because of its calmed sea waters year-round.
I love mountain biking and kayaking and normally try to combine my work as a field ecologist with the practice of these two sports. The Calakmul region in Campeche is perfect for practising jungle mountain bike and Campeche city's harbor is ideal for training in kayaking because of its calmed sea waters year-round.
I love the adrenaline surge that MTB brings with it. In Campeche, I enjoy very technical jungle routes with demanding up-hills and thrilling down-hills. My favorite routes are located in some large communities in the Greater Calakmul Region as well as in the hills of the south-coast of Campeche, Mexico.
Kayaks in the coast of Campeche. I enjoy white-water, lake and ocean kayaking
I learned kayak while living in Canada (Saskatchewan and British Columbia) in 1991-92 and got training in both white-river kayaking (up to level 3 rapids) and lake kayaking. Later, I practised ocean kayak in Campeche, Mexico.
Other sports and pastimes
I like swimming, tennis and basket-ball as well as most outdoor activities. I also enjoy Merengue dancing.
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"Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are"
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Books
My favorite books are many, but I have read at least twice some of the following:
-Highly recommended-
A sand county almanac by Aldo Leopold
(The book that more influenced my conservation career. It is like a bible to me)
A hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
(The very best from my favourite Latinamarican author)
The poison-wood bible by Barbara Kingsolver
(a story of a family in Africa)
The poison-wood bible by Barbara Kingsolver
(a story of a family in Africa)
Sorba by Niko Kasantzakis
(As a Kasantsakis fan, I consider this one his best)
Stupid white-man by Michael Moore
(The stupidity of imperialism at its best. Hilarious!)
Biophilia by E. O. Wilson
(One of the most thought provoking and beautiful biology books ever)
The diversity of life by E. O. Wilson
(THE book on biodiversity)
Of wolves and men by Barry Lopez
(It sparked my first academic love: wolves)
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson
(From the new Durham University Chancellor. Science in a nutshell. Amazing!)
Obras completas by Pablo Neruda
(Just plain beautiful)
The Gary Larson cartoon collection by Gary Larson
