We continue to our series of blogs about some of our recent published results, this time again about Brumback nights monkeys (Aotus brumbacki). Despite the difficulties we had following and even finding these monkeys who move at night, over the years we have been able to make a few observations about what they eat and that is the focus of the short note we are going to talk about today. You can find the note here. In this note we collected observations done during surveys and random encounters with night monkeys. Every time any student, local people or I observed a night monkey group eating any fruit or flower or found a fecal sample, we registered information to identify the tree from which the monkeys were eating. This note has a preliminary list of plants that Brumback night monkey consumed. Why is it important to have a list of plant species consumed by these monkeys? This list can help us to choose plant species useful to regenerate and reforest areas close to places where monkeys live. It also can help us to choose plants to enrich living fences used by monkeys and other animals to move between forest fragments. Have you seen nocturnal monkeys eating fruits or flowers? Share with us your observations!EspañolContinuamos con nuestra serie de blogs acerca de nuestros resultados recientemente publicados, esta vez sobre los monos nocturnos llaneros (Aotus brumbacki). A pesar de las dificultades para seguir e incluso encontrar estos monos que se mueven en la noche, a lo largo de los años hemos podido hacer algunas observaciones sobre lo que comen y ese es el enfoque de la nota de la que vamos a hablar hoy. Puede encontrar la nota aca.

En esta nota reunimos las observaciones realizadas durante muestreos y encuentros al azar con grupos de monos nocturnos. Cada vez que un estudiante, persona local o yo observamos un grupo de mono nocturno comiendo cualquier fruto o flor o cada vez que encontramos heces de estos micos, registramos información para identificar el árbol del que los monos estaban comiendo. Esta nota tiene una lista preliminar de plantas de las cuales los monos nocturnos llaneros se alimentan. ¿Por qué es importante tener una lista de especies consumidas por estos monos? Esta lista puede ayudarnos a escoger las especies de plantas útiles para regenerar y reforestar áreas cercanas a lugares donde los monos viven. También puede ayudarnos a escoger las plantas para enriquecer cercas vivas usadas por los monos y otros animales para moverse entre fragmentos de bosque. ¿Alguna vez has observado a los monos nocturnos comiendo frutos o flores? ¡Comparte tus observaciones con nosotros!If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post we are going to talk a bit about some of our published findings. It will be a series of blog posts in which we are talking about some of our results, however this doesn’t mean that if you want to compare our results with yours, you don’t have to read the whole paper. The purpose of doing this exercise is to practice how to present our results in a simpler way. Also, when we have some news about our work in the field we will share this news with you, but as we are not spending that much time in the field at the moment, we are going to try to talk about what we have published up to know.We are going to start with a short note that we mention a couple of posts before about the nest sites from Brumback night monkeys (Aotus brumbacki). You can access the complete note in this link. In this note we describe some features of the nest of this endemic Colombian species that we observed over the past 20 years in San Martín, Villavicencio and Cumaral. We describe the plant species in which these nests were observed as well as the height and we describe some features of the landscapes surrounding the forest fragments where these nests were found. We found a wide diversity of hole trees, alive and dead palms, Guadua and bamboo stands and even house roofs. This is important to know because this species is found in an area of Colombia that has a lot of deforestation and hole trees, and palm trees are not always easy to find. These are nocturnal monkeys that need a safe, dark and dry site to spend the day. In small forest fragments these kinds of structures (hole trees, especially) are not abundant because they are easy to fell down during big storms with a lot of wind. Have you ever seen nocturnal monkeys’ nest? Where in Colombia? Share your observations in the commentsIn the past weeks, we had been monitoring some of the Colombian squirrel monkey’s groups (Saimiri albigena) in Villavicencio area. As we mentioned in one of our blogs in January, this is the baby’s season for this species, and we are happy to say that a couple of new babies were born and the ones we saw last month are growing. There are also a few females with really big bellies, close to birth date. It is always a challenge and a joy to observe these beautiful monkeys during this time of the year. Definitely one of the times in which I feel more joy to be able to witness new life in this planet that we all share…Acerca de algunos de nuestros resultados y noticias del campoEn el blog de hoy vamos a hablar un poco sobre nuestros resultados publicados. Será una serie de blogs en los cuales hablaremos acerca de algunos de nuestros resultados, sin embargo, esto no quiere decir que, si quieres comparar nuestros resultados con los tuyos, no tengas que leer el artículo completo. El propósito de hacer este ejercicio es practicar cómo presentar nuestros resultados en una forma más sencilla. También, cuando tengamos algunas noticias sobre nuestro trabajo en el campo, compartiremos esas noticias con ustedes, pero cómo no estamos pasando tanto tiempo en el campo en este momento, vamos a tratar de hablar de lo que hemos publicado hasta ahora.Vamos a iniciar con una nota que mencionamos hace un par de blogs anteriores sobre los nidos del mono nocturno llanero (Aotus brumbacki). Pueden acceder a la nota completa en este enlace. En esta nota describimos algunas características de los nidos de esta especie endémica colombiana que hemos observado en los últimos 20 años en San Martín, Villavicencio y Cumaral. Describimos las especies de plantas en las que los nidos fueron encontrados, así como su altura, y describimos algunas características del paisaje alrededor de los fragmentos de bosque donde los nidos fueron encontrados. Encontramos una gran diversidad de árboles con huecos, palmas vivas y muertas, guaduales o bambusales e incluso techos de casas. Esto es importante de conocer porque esta especie se encuentra en un área de Colombia que tiene mucha deforestación, y los árboles con huecos y las palmas no son fáciles de encontrar. Estos son monos nocturnos que necesitan un lugar seguro, oscuro y seco para pasar el día. En fragmentos de bosque pequeños estos tipos de estructuras (árboles con huecos, especialmente) no son abundantes debido a que es fácil que se caigan durante tormentas grandes con mucho viento. ¿Alguna vez has visto nidos de monos nocturnos? ¿Dónde en Colombia? ¡Comparte tus observaciones en los comentarios!En las semanas pasadas, hemos estado monitoreando algunos de los grupos de monos titis (Saimiri albigena) en el área de Villavicencio. Como lo mencionamos en uno de los blogs de enero, está es la época de nacimientos para esta especie y estamos felices de decirles que hay nuevos bebes y los que nacieron el mes pasado están creciendo. También hay algunas hembras con grandes barrigas, próximas a tener bebes. Siempre es un reto y una alegría observar estos hermosos monos durante este periodo del año. Definitivamente uno de los momentos en los que siento más felicidad de tener la oportunidad de presenciar nueva vida en este planeta que todos compartimos…If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. Pictures in this post from Martha L. Ortiz and Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post we are going to discuss why is so important that we share our results and findings in academic and non-academic environments. This is especially important to students finishing their undergraduate thesis. The reason why is this so important is because most of the results and findings from student’s work can improve the decision-making process and policy implementation of conservation and managing actions. Additionally, all information, even basic information, that a lot of student’s research produce becomes accumulative information that can be used to understand how to conserve those species studied. No publishing that information, including not presenting any part of that in a scientific conference, makes that information less available and sometimes difficult to access for people looking for that type of results to better make decisions on conservation

How to choose those academic and non-academic environments? Well, that will depend on the type of results and findings and the kind of impact that you wish those results will make. It also depends on your resources and connections. Choosing an academic conference will depend on your topic and resources you have available to choose a national or international conference.

Over the years I had been in several academic conferences and, probably in fewer occasions, also in non-academic environments (trainings, community meetings, stake-holder’s meetings). My efforts to share my results had leads me to this blog also. How I make the decision to go to a conference or not, usually depends on financial resources and how much the topics on the conference interest me and make me excited to hear about other people’s results. On some occasions I had been fortunate enough to get funding but at the beginning a lot of my conference’s expenses where cover by myself and if you want a career that involves the academy world, it is a consideration you need to take in account. A lot of fellowships and grants to cover advanced degrees such as master’s and doctorates are given to people who assist to conferences and have publications. So, if you want to be a professor in a university, this is one of the many activities in which you have to involve yourself, conferences and publishing articles.

As mention in my last blogs, resources for this year research are reduced so, we will try to share with you some of the main results of our research as part of publishing, hopefully, in a more simpler way our findings as well as giving you some little updates on our limited fieldwork for this year…More soon!!!

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?

© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post we are talking about some news from the field. As every year, at the beginning of the year, Colombian squirrel monkeys (Saimiri albigena) started its birth season and despite our limited budget for this year, we started our counting of Colombian squirrel monkeys. And new babies are born in some of the groups we had been monitoring over the years. It is always exciting when we see Colombian squirrel monkeys at this time of the year, and we notice new babies. For now, some group already had a few babies while other groups did not have births, yet. Hopefully will be able to continue monitoring these groups over the following months to see the progress of those new babies. We also were able to notice some of the babies from last year season made it to their first year that is also great to see as mortalities seems to be high in the first year in some groups.We also continue looking for funding opportunities to continue working with this and other groups of monkeys in all our areas of study. Our efforts are also focused on trying to publish all the information product of our fieldwork and we are happy to share with you that part of our work with Brumback night monkeys (Aotus brumbacki) was published. We describe the diversity of nest site used by this species in areas around San Martín, Acacias, Villavicencio, Cumaral and Restrepo. This was a collaboration with Dr. Martha Ortiz-Moreno from Los Llanos University, a regional university located in Villavicencio. If you want to read this publication please go to https://doi.org/10.47603/mano.v9m2.394

We are finishing two additional publications: another one on Brumback night monkeys and variables affecting their presence and abundance and one on ornate titi monkey (Plecturocebus ornatus) activity patterns and diet in fragmented landscapes. More news on these papers soon…

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post, the first of 2025 we are going to talk about our plans for this new year work. This year started with a big challenge; we didn’t get funding for our proposed activities that will also was going to help us to continue our monitoring of primate populations in small fragments located in private land. Every time I face this rejection make me wonder if one of the reasons for these rejections had something to do with being working in private lands or because all the species with which we work are categorized as Vulnerable or Low Concern and therefore, they seem to have more time for them before they need urgent help. It also makes me wonder about my communication skills and how much I still need to learn about funding applications, despite rejections being part of science it is still difficult to get through the fist shock of each grant rejection. However, we still have plans for this 2025 and will continue applying for grants over the following months to try to achieve our plans.We are planning to continue monitoring primate populations in small fragments located in private lands as demography data and birth and death mortalities for the three endemic species in our study area doesn’t exist and it is data difficult to get due to monkey’s long-life span. Despite the 20 year we had being in the study area, some years we don’t have good enough data, and it is important for the conservation of our species of study.

We also want to implement a couple of pilot projects using ornate titi monkeys as flag species: one focus on education of small children and the second focus on connecting small fragments through living fences. As I mention in our last post of 2024, one of the main messages from our ornate titi monkey distribution project is the need to connect and protect every single forest fragment present in the distribution area of this endemic species, especially in the north, as it is highly fragmented and the two National Parks in which the species is present seems to be not very effective if its deforestation rates continue to increase as it had done over the past decade.These two pilot projects hopefully can be replicated to other areas of the distribution of ornate titi monkeys, which also are need it of connectivity measures that help not only ornate titi monkeys but other charismatic species. One of these areas in which we hope to start working during the new year is Vista Hermosa, where local tourism guides are very interested in help to protect ornate titi monkeys.

A more desktop type of project we like to work on during this year are some of our management data that needs to be publish as well as a connectivity project based on the information we collected over the past two years for two of the endemic species in our study area, Colombian squirrel monkeys (Saimiri albigena) and ornate titi monkeys (Plecturocebus ornatus), both categorized as Vulnerable. Hope fully we will get funding to make all these plans possible in the new year…

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

Today’s is our last post of the year, and we want to make a balance of this year work. It had been an exciting year, our 20th year celebration in San Martin was a small gathering of people who supported this year in different years and at different levels. We also receive lots of messages from people who couldn´t make it but were excited for us. We also had the fortune to received support for one of our main goals of this year, a revision of ornate titi monkey distribution, Plecturocebus ornatus, so again thank you to Little Chalcraft Fund and Primate Conservation Inc. for supporting our activities in this project, we will have more news on the final result of this project in following months. With this project we also were able to witness the current situation of this and other endemic species in areas of their distribution limits as well as witness some of the threats that continuous increase in some areas such as deforestation.

We continue with our primate population monitoring in Villavicencio, San Martin and Villanueva towns. This is probably one of the main parts of our work that would like to get more support in the next year. It seems that 20 year is a long term however with monkeys living over several decades, we are still collecting data to see how well the population is, despite of being stable until now.

We also were able to finish a challenging and very interesting project on Brumback nocturnal monkeys, Aotus brumbacki, in collaboration with Dr. Martha L. Ortiz from Los Llanos university to establish variables at different scales influencing the presence and relative abundance of this endemic primate. A project that proved to be challenging physically and logistically. We are working in this project results publication at this moment.

We also were successful this year to present our work in different scenarios which is an important part of doing science. Hopefully our message of urgency to connect and protect forest fragments regardless of their size in private lands had been heard…probably one of the things in which we will need to work more in the new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post we continue with some news about our fieldwork, this month we are finishing our project about the distribution limits of ornate titi monkeys (Plecturocebus ornatus). In our last fieldtrip we finished to survey the eastern limits of this endemic primate with very few observations. Changes in soil and vegetation could be part of the reason why this species is not found in the most eastern part of this area, however another reason could be related with the high transformation of this region. Meta department had extensive areas dedicated to cattle ranching and agriculture. This department have crops of plantain, cacao, corn, rice and manioc, and fruits such as passion fruit, papaya, pineapple, guava and watermelon, as well as the extensive areas dedicated to palm oil plantations. This transformation had a high impact in the forest fragments persisting in these landscapes, with extensive areas cover only by palm oil plantations, some with living fences used by primates, but other areas without any structures that improves landscape connectivity.

Our observations during this project also highlighted the need for canopy bridges to help primates to cross high traffic roads. Some part of the main roads in Meta department had canopy bridges used by primate species from the area, however remote roads didn’t have any and it is evident that at least in some areas these structures are necessary. Use of living fences and fragments next to roads is common for all primate species present in the area and this proximity to roads increase their risk to car collisions. Data on the frequency of these collisions and species who are more prone to these accidents is scarce. We also observe groups of feral dogs close to roads and traveling towards forest fragments that also represent a threat to primate species.So, as it is common for me while I’m in the field, every fieldtrip leaves with more questions than answers and a feeling of more uncertainty about the future of the primate species living in fragmented landscapes. Hopefully we will be able to continue with this project for more years and as much as possible contribute to the survivorship of primate species in this area of Colombia.

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today’s post we talk about progress in our field projects and a small tribute to one of the landowners in our study area who sadly pass leaving us with great lessons about traditional practices in cattle ranching.

As most of you know from previous posts we continue with our sampling on distribution limits of ornate titi monkeys, Plecturocebus ornatus, with new observations in northern and southeastern limits of its distribution. We want to thank Primate Conservation Inc, for their support to make these samplings possible. This sampling also wouldn’t be possible without the help of local tourism guides and two of my field assistants, Felipe and Francisco. As usual for me this project had giving me more questions to ponder and even more motivation to continue doing fieldwork despite some challenges.

As I mentioned before, species distribution data is challenging to obtain due to logistics constrains, however local people is of great help and we should value more all data that they can provide us, even if that data is not always collected using traditional scientific methods. More news and advances on this project soon!!!

We also were able to visit our permanent forest fragments to count all primate’s groups that we had the privilege of look at every year. Some groups that we didn’t see in the past months were seen again and a special moment with Colombian squirrel monkeys (Saimiri albigena) and black-capped capuchins (Sapajus apella) crossing a living fence on trees above my head while I was siting remind me why I like to do what I do. So, I hope you had the opportunity to feel like me in your daily work…

While in the field, I was also informed of the passing away of one of the landowners with who I started this project, he was the landowner of the neighbor farm who first let me visit his forest to look for monkeys. In an informal conversation we had around 28 years ago, he told me how he buys his farm and how he left living fences and isolated trees in the middle of pastures, so cattle have a place to hide when the sun was too strong. He was the first one to make me look at living fences as connecting landscape structures that can help cattle as well as wildlife to coexist in transformed landscapes. His legacy of living fences as a traditional practice in cattle ranching farms is one, I will always remember and one of the main lessons I had learned over my years working in fragmented landscapes in the Orinoquia region of Colombia. Rest in peace Don Eleodoro and thank you…

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. Pictures in this post were taken by Francisco Gomez. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com

In today post, we are going to talk about the necessity to be persistent and motivated in science to make research. Some months ago, talking with past students who are now trying to implement their own projects, we were discussing about how difficult it is to live from science when you have your own project. Also, a recent twitter from a person who finish a PhD and return to Colombia and who had difficulties to do research due to lack of funding, also make me think about all the difficulties that we have doing science in Colombia. It is true that is difficult and there not many job opportunities and even less grants.I think that one of the reasons why I had been able to do research in Colombia is because I had been able to live from other sources apart from biology jobs, although I had private and public sector jobs in biology, my main income had not been from my career. My way of keep me motivated had always been able to go and see monkeys in the field and I’m grateful with farm owners in my study area who had allowed me to do it at a lower cost.However, probably what make this project, Zocay Project, a long-term project apart from landowner’s support is that I had funds from time to time from Colombian and International grants that allowed me to spend time in the field working with monkeys. It hasn’t been easy, and my persistence had been rewarded. We all have been rejected from grant applications and jobs and what is difficult to do is to apply again after a rejection. There is a lot of techniques and books/articles talking about how to recover from rejections in many aspects of your live, however it is always difficult to do it. Not only because of the individual pressure that each of us put on ourselves after a rejection but also because sometimes it is difficult to see what our applications was lacking? To me each rejection had different phases, starting with disappointing and in some cases anger because I don’t get the grant/ job despite all my efforts. So, I usually take a few days or weeks before looking those applications again. It is a lot of effort and time to make every application, so you really need to be motivated and be persistent to be able to finish them. Another cost of living from research that is rarely discuss apart from low income is what that low income represents if you have a family or not. Live cost is high everywhere and we all need money to at least cover our basic needs. Unfortunately, most grants don’t cover salaries, and some allow you only small stipends for principal researchers, so it is difficult if you don’t have additional income to live from science in Colombia and other countries. This also means you need to have administrative and finance skills that usually biologist don’t have. You need to be willing to make sacrifices and your family needs to be willing to help you with that. So, there are many factors influencing your motivation and your ability to be persistent while you do what you love. I have been lucky in many ways…So, if you want to live from research and you don’t have a research job in which you can develop projects you love, you will need a lot of motivation, mind flexibility and persistence to be able to apply to many grants every year, be organized so those grants you get cover everything you need to do your research and don’t forget to always ask for at least small stipends for you as a principal researcher when possible. Finally, don’t forget to exploit all the other skill you have outside of research and don’t worry about what other people say because you are working in different things apart from your career. There will always be people who criticizes your way of doing things.

If you want to support our activities, please visit https://fineartamerica.com/art/xyomara+carretero or get in contact with us at xcarretero@gmail.com if you want to collaborate, donate or volunteer in our activities. You can also support our activities by buying our ornate titi monkeys stuff dolls https://www.instagram.com/p/Ctm_sEORvk8/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== and our new journals in Amazon https://www.amazon.com/X-Carretero/dp/B0CWD1DBJM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?© Copyright Disclaimer. All pictures used on this web page are protected with copyrights to Xyomara Carretero-Pinzón. Pictures in this post were taken by Francisco Gomez. If you want to use any of these pictures, please leave a message on the website or contact xcarretero@gmail.com