Photo Essays

Sept 4 - 11, 2004

This trip was the result of the spiders (nephila clavipes), Pushchino, the Internet and Google. Last year Ellen and I went to Cozumel for Labor Day week because there was nice snorkeling (for me) a nice pool (for Ellen) and also Continental had a wonderful vacation package available (airfare and hotel). We enjoyed our time, as this is a very quiet time in Mexico, with few tourists and so we decided to visit Mexico again for Labor Day week. But where?

In the mean time, Igor Pottosin at the University of Colima was trying to identify a spider and with the assistance of Google, found my spider web page and sent me some email. As it turned out, we both had common friends in Pushchino, Russia and Igor encouraged me to visit Colima and suggested we try a place called La Boquita for snorkeling. Moreover, Tono Sanchez-Chapula was there and our research areas overlapped, exploring mechanisms of ion channel blockade.

Again Continental had a nice holiday package. Visiting the west coast of Mexico was appealing and gave us the possibility to compare with the east coast. With Igor and his wife Oxana at the other end, we thought this would be a wonderful adventure. The only uncertainty was the local Charleston weather - being attacked by several hurricanes (Charley, Frances, etc). Nevertheless, we decided to go.

How we got there:

Continental from Charleston to Houston and then another Continental flight to Manzanillo