Going to Southern Mexico for a while....

Nomadinexile

Arachnoking
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So erm, yep. Guess I'm going to Chiapas next week. Going to mix hitch hiking and bussing it. Plan on being there at least a month, possibly longer, only time will tell on this one.

Anyone have anything down that way they'd like photographed? I'm buying a point and shoot cannon. So I should be able to get decent pics.

Any info anyone is looking to find out? Any really interesting species I should look for?

And does anyone have any good info or links on S. Mex specie distribution or anything else relevant?

Please post here, or if needed, PM or Email me. :D

I'm going to miss Arachnoboards and all of you..... :( ~Ryan
 

skippy

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i'd quite like to see some heloderms in their natural habitat:clap:

other than that, nothing in particular... any bug you find will be just fine:D
 

Irene B. Smithi

Arachnobaron
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stay safe, it's dangerous down there. maybe some pics of the local scorpions living amongst the people, those are always nice!! People really can live with these little guys, so pictures like that are not only positive, but fun!!
 

gromgrom

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grab some of the rarer species for us up in the northern states :D
 

Nomadinexile

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Stay safe Ryan. (And post some sweet pics)
Thanks! And btw, I'm going hiking in the spring if you are up for it! :)

i'd quite like to see some heloderms in their natural habitat:clap:
other than that, nothing in particular... any bug you find will be just fine:D
Pretty cool. I've never heard of those before. If I see one, I will get a pic with my finger in it's mouth. :p j/k. But I'll get a pic!

stay safe, it's dangerous down there. maybe some pics of the local scorpions living amongst the people, those are always nice!! People really can live with these little guys, so pictures like that are not only positive, but fun!!
I'll do my best Orchid. :cool: Maybe I can get a pic of SC Marcos holding a couple of C. chiapanensis?

grab some of the rarer species for us up in the northern states :D
LoL Grom! {D I'd love to. But I wouldn't count on it unless I find some loophole or get an Honorary Biological Masters and permit on my way at UNAM! This is just a picture trip unfortunately. :(


***Btw***
If anyone is interested I just got some of my Masks I made for Halloween up on my PB account. I've had a lot of people ask about them, so here you go. :D

http://s619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/Nomadinexile/Masks Halloween 2010/
 

H. laoticus

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Sweet masks, Nomad! I can see the level of workmanship in them.
There's too much beauty in Mexico to name, so just take pictures of any/every living thing you see :D
Habitat pics would be great to see.
 

Widowman10

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know this is in the scorpion forum, but i would love to see some good pics of the herps, mainly the rattlesnakes :} have fun!
 

AzJohn

Arachnoking
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That's one of the places I'd love to go. Stay safe and have fun.

John
 

Nomadinexile

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:embarrassed:Don't forget to take pics of the herps.:D
I'll get some. ;)

Sweet masks, Nomad! I can see the level of workmanship in them.
There's too much beauty in Mexico to name, so just take pictures of any/every living thing you see :D
Habitat pics would be great to see.
Thank you H.L. I'll take as many pics as I can. Problem will be battery life. I should have plenty of mb's, but batteries are an issue. I'm going to be in the jungle most of the time without outlets, so I got a AA powered cannon, but even with the really expensive batteries, I should get only get around 300 pics. But I will get as much as I can!

know this is in the scorpion forum, but i would love to see some good pics of the herps, mainly the rattlesnakes :} have fun!
Yes indeed Widowman, I will be taking pics of anything I find that is venomous, snakes included! :D

That's one of the places I'd love to go. Stay safe and have fun.

John
Thank you John. I will do my best, despite my inherent recklessness. :)
 

Harlock

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You might be able to find a solar powered charger, dunno if they make one or not (or if you can wire one)

I might be able to go out this spring, I spend a lot of time in the ento lab at UT and it depends on how stuff is going there. I'm the only person they have caring for the live collection, and we just got a 2nd volunteer to help me prepare a couple 100 bugs for identification and curating. This spring I'm going to be helping rear dragonflies, so I don't know how much care they will need.

The awesome thing is this prof is doing a special summer course were we will be going all over Texas hunting and learning about our native bugs. Plus, he gets all the permits necessary for us to collect from State parks!

Next time you are in Austin, I'll show you around BFL, 88 acres of barely touched land on Lake Austin. One of the few places you can go out the back door and have 2 scorpionflies mating on the porch.
 

Nomadinexile

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Sounds like you are staying busy Harlock! Good for you! Although I am a little jealous. :eek: I would love to see BFL with you, It would be a real treat. :)


Well, for you and everyone else, I have some good news and some bad news.

Let's start with the bad news. I'm not going to Mexico right now. Reasons?

1. It's really cold where I'm going. Way colder than average. Too cold for scorpions, that's for sure. It will be 1* C tomorrow night. :wall:

2. Lack of planning makes the trip a really bad idea right now.

3. I would return broke. Then what? What was I thinking? :?

4. I need to practice my spanish more, and I need to study scorpion biology more. I have spanish books and audio, and I just ordered Eric's book Scorpions Of The World. That and some effort reading and I will be better off at least.

5. I have a much better plan in the works.

So here is the new plan. This is so awesome, I can hardly contain myself.{D

Panama, Columbia, and maybe Venezuela! Yes indeed. I have to do some planning on order of travel. Panama has C. bicolor. That will be one of the main goals. I will be taking gb's of photos of them and their habitats! :D

Well, you can look for yourself at the other species in these countries at Eric's Scorpion Fauna.

http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/ACPanama.htm

http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/ASColombie.htm

http://eycb.pagesperso-orange.fr/scorpions/ASVenezuela.htm

For those of you that don't look, just to give you an idea, Columbia has 33 Tityus species by itself! {D

So anyway, that's about all for now. I will start a new thread for this trip later. If anyone is going to be free from the middle of march to middle of may(ish) next year, and wants to slog through the jungle with a crazy man, maybe run into guerrilla armies and has nerves of steel, I may take you along. Contact me and we can talk about it. later ~r
 

Harlock

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Going to Central America would be awesome. You're bound to find some awesome stuff there.

I went to Bracken Cave on Friday and camped out till today with my field biology class (Plant survey on treatment trying to fight that King Ranch Blue Stem grass crud) Gathered up a few bat skulls for cage decorations. It is amazing how fast you get used to guano when you are ankle deep in the stuff.

Managed to find a pseudo scorpion running around on one of the skulls, but I let him go. A few C. vittatus were still out, despite it dropping below freezing too.

I wish I could join you, by then I should have my wildlife first responder certification.
 

Nomadinexile

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I wish you could too Harlock. Looks like Mexico is back on anyway. Time to hit the road again I guess.

I'm going to try to make it down to Panama anyway, but I don't have very much money, I'll be lucky to make it to S. Mexico. But if I can figure something out, I'll be down in C. America by the spring. I'll post an update here again before I leave, but right now it looks like I have a ride to Houston, then I will start hitching south and see how it goes...
 

Treynok

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Have fun on your trip, that's like a once in a lifetime experience ahead of you (well to me anyways). Get the most out of it :worship:
 

Nomadinexile

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Thanks Treynok!

It should be wonderful. I'm sad right now because of some personal issues, but once I get on the road and get some time in the wilderness, I should be okay.

This trip should be great in a lot of ways, but it will probably be unending. I don't have anywhere to go when I am done. Such is life sometimes.

My main concern right now, besides the above, is this: I don't have very much money. I'm hoping to make it to S. Mexico with $100. Then what? I want to be outside, and traveling to different countries. But I am afraid I will get stuck having to be in resort towns and cities busking for money so I can eat. If I can figure out a way to make some money then move to the next town or country, then it will be awesome. Being broke and hungry far from home would stink though.

Oh well, life gives us lemons sometimes. I should be okay, but it is by no means a slam dunk. I may end up slinking back to America a broken mess, or I will make it work and end up posting pictures here from all over the world. Only time will tell.

The only thing I can promise right now is that I will try my best. Sometimes things work out, other times it does not. We will see.... :eek: ~r
 

Treynok

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This trip should be great in a lot of ways, but it will probably be unending. I don't have anywhere to go when I am done. Such is life sometimes.
Sometimes I wish this were the case with me, I wish ya the best you'll be missed on here if you don't check in often enough, your advice and input is always welcome and more often than not correct and helpful. Things have a way of working out if you make them work out for you. You know what they say about lemons and lemonade ... I got plenty of vodka {D

Seriously though just take it easy and be careful, even at the worst your trip is still a huge experience that a lot of people will never get to experience.

Post plenty of pics on here whenever you get the chance.
 

Nomadinexile

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Thank you Treynok! You really did cheer me up. I've been in a very stressful state the last couple of weeks. I'm a bit nervous to go, mostly because I am so broke. I don't know how I am going to get down there, let alone get back! It looks like now I will have $40-$50 when I get to Palenque, If I am lucky.

That will not last long, even in S. Mex. But I have come to grips with it. I am letting go again, finding my center. It's not going to be easy, I have no delusions about that, but I will make it or not, and I'm going to enjoy whatever direction the world takes me in this time around.

Looks like I will be heading out Sunday. I have a ride to the S. side of Houston. Will hitch to the border, and hopefully make it S. of Matamoras by dark. I should make Mexico City the next day, or even the day after that, hopefully! I should have enough to bus it through the City, then it should be another day or two to Palenque area. Once down there, I can relax and enjoy the view. Besides money, my main concern is the weight I will be carrying. It's a beast right now, and I'm not done packing. It's almost to much to carry, let alone walk far with, but maybe I can cut the weight a bit before I leave.

I'm having a hard time finding pictures for a lot of the 223 species down there. Maybe I can make a dent in the void! Should be an adventure either way. Temp's down there right now are perfect I think, plus it's the rainy season, should be lots of activity. I really hope I see a Jaguar, a pic of one would be the bees knees, but just a sighting would really make my trip. They are one of my favorite animals, besides scorpions of course. ;)

Anyone know how to say scorpion in Spanish? If you do, and can spell it out phonetically, that would be great. I'm sure someone sometime is going to want to know what I'm doing with my tail in the air and my head in a hole in the tree! :D

I'll post again tomorrow if there is anything else I think of. But I will miss AB, as much as anything in the states. I will log in down there somewhere if I can.

As for after Palenque, there are a few possible directions I may go, depending on what is happening with some people I know up here.

I could end up just coming back here in Jan. I may stay down there until March, traveling around different parts of Mexico. Or I could catch a ride on a boat to Panama, which if that happens, you all won't hear much from me for a while. Maybe a check in here and there, but that's about it. Well, whatever happens or I choose, I will connect here when I can.

Peace for All, ~Ryan :)
 

Cowin8579

Arachnoknight
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I would prepare more here bro. It's easy to earn a check from McDonalds and take it with you then hustling for money on a street with others doing the same exact thing.
 
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