American Bamboo Society (ABS) 2015 annual meeting Oct 28-Nov 1st Xalapa, México
“Tropical Bamboos for a Better World”
“Tropical Bamboos for a Better World”
We have less than a year until the 2015 ABS annual meeting. This year, for the first time, the annual meeting will be outside of the United States of America, in the beautiful city of Xalapa in the central part of the Veracruz State in Mexico. The Institute of Ecology will host the 2015 meeting in the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanical Garden, the home of the accredited National Living Bamboo Collection.
Xalapa , an unforgettable city, is the capital city of Veracruz and is surrounded by cloud forest and coffee plantations. Xalapa is known as the “city of the flowers” because of its numerous public gardens. It is famous too as “the Athens of Veracruz”, because its cultural importance as a center for music, theater, dance, and visual arts among other art forms. Walking through its narrow streets and passageways you can enjoy the coffee smell in the air and one of the best coffees in Mexico.
Besides a cup of coffee, you should drink the typical alcoholic beverage calling “torito”, the local liquor made with evaporated milk, sugar cane and rum. The locals enjoy drinking a cup of coffee mixed with torito in coffee shops close to one of several gardens.
In colonial times, Xalapa was an important commercial center that connected to Europe, the Antilles with the New Spain Empire. The Anthropology museum is the second largest of its kind in Mexico that host several colossal Olmec heads. If you come to Xalapa and you do not visit the Anthropology museum, it is like you never visited Xalapa!
The 2015 ABS annual meeting will come to a close to watch one of the most famous holidays in Mexico: Día de Muertos (Day of Dead). Its a famous Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico. The holiday focuses on gathering of family and friends to pray and remember friends and family members who have died. We will visit Naolinco to be eyewitness of this holiday. Naolinco is a beautiful small town just to 30 minutes from Xalapa.