Jacobo Reyes - Velasco

We climbed on a troca de redilas for the mountain stretch on the way to Akaretsí

Let say that it was not the most comfortable ride though the mountains

Part of the trip was through some unusual landscape, the once extensive and now endangered llanuras, grassplains, of Jalisco

We finally arrive at our destination. We still had to walk from here to the comunity

Wixarrica children watch our arrival from a safe distance

A Wixarika kid looks at us with weary eyes

We finally arrived at Akaretsí at sundown

Beto at sundown

We spend the first night by the fire in Akaretzí. Kids were still weary of us.

A local girl by the fire at night

We found many of these frogs at night by the creek

I thing this girl was gravid

The morning after we arrived several kids were spying on us from the surrounding hillsides.

Studends of Univesidad de Guadalajara performing multiple activities with the comunity

Wixarica man in traditional costumes observe us from the distance

Traditional Wixarika man attire

The community observe from a distance as we performed some of the activities with the kids

We played a gamed called Gallito (Rooster), in which we tied a couple of balloons to the feet of the child, and they have to pop each others balloons. The last one standing wins.

Finalist of the gallito competition

Wixarika girls

Ladies form the community cook some chicken soup to feed everyone

Lunch time in between activities

A girl brings her younger brother to watch the activities

Girls making some paper-bases designs

Mother and daughter sowing some traditional Wixarika clothes. The Wixarika are renown for their bead work, as the one both of them are wearing

A child sits outside a traditional Wixarika house

After the kids learned that we were very interested in the local herpetofauna, they took us to the creek to look for turtles and other critters.

A kid shows us his technique to hunt for tadpoles and fish

He was very good at catching tadpoles this way.

We tried his technique, but we couldn’t catch anything

The night falls in Akaretsí. The following morning we had to return to Guadalajara.

I met Jorge by change while traveling in the Sierras of Nayarit. He had an incredible knowledge of the local herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles).

Jorge offered me to come to his place so we could talk about the local fauna

We reached his house, were his wife and daughter were waiting

Jorge's daughter

Jorge wanted to become a herpetologist, however, because his family had no money, he had to migrate to the US and look for work. I gave him this picture book on snakes to fuel his passion for herpetology

We chatted for a long time about the different snakes that he had seen in his parcela. I was mostly enquiring if he had seen anything that might resemble a longtailed rattlesnake.

I showed him multiple images of different species of rattlesnakes, to see if he could recognize the longtailed rattlesnakes.

At the end of the day, he said that he recognized the snake in this picture, Crotalus stejnegeri. Unfortunately, no confirm record exist yet. We are still working on it.

Smilisca baudini in cloud forest - San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Plectrohyla acanthodes - Chiapas, Mexico

Triprion spatulatus - Colima, Mexico

Hyla arenicolor - Colima, Mexico

Ambystoma velasci - Colima, Mexico

Lepidophyma sp. - San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Abronia graminea - Veracruz, Mexico

Dermophis oaxacae - Colima, Mexico

Crotalus simus culminatus - Michoacán, Mexico

Micrurus laticollaris - Feeding on a Masticophis mentovarius

Leptodeira uribei feeding on frog - Colima, Mexico

Park rangers from Harenna Forest National Park get a ride in our vehicle after they help us get the car going

One of the most common sights while traveling in Ethiopia. Woman selling multiple items on the side of the road.

A kid gets surprised after discovering the Farengi taking a picture. (Farengi is the term usually used to refer to foreigners in Ethiopia).

Two brothers smile outside their little town’s restaurant. We spend a few days at this location looking for high elevation frogs. This town is located at around 3,300 meters elevation

Girls between Mizan Teferi and Maji

We were surrounded by people while we were changing a flat tire.

Several people wanted their portrait taken while we were trying to get the tire fixed.

A multitude of kids rushed to the parked car to check out the Farengies.

Kids are curious to check out what the farengi is doing

A child stands outside a traditional Ethiopian restaurant in Bedele

Ethiopian man traditionally hold hands as a sign of friendship

Picture by Patrick Bradley

Teenagers enjoy the last rays of sun by the ocean

Photograph by Sandra Goutte

Photograph by Sandra Goutte