Expo Reptiles 2008 ends, El Charco presents Day of the Dead altar
October 24, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Expo Reptiles 2008
Daily through Oct 30, 10am–7pm
10 pesos

Day of the Dead altar
Sat & Sun, Nov 1 & 2
Bóveda de usos multiples
El Charco del Ingenio

El próximo jueves 30 de octubre, la Expo Reptiles 2008 llega a su fin con gran éxito y aceptación del público de San Miguel de Allende y sus alrededores.

Next Thursday, October 30, Expo Reptiles 2008 will end. This exhibit was well received and has been a great success. Since its opening on September 7, some 6,000 visitors have filled El Charco del Ingenio. The Bóveda, recently renovated and equipped as a multi-use space, has been the site of more than 30 reptiles and amphibians housed in an artificial habitat designed by Hermes Arroyo. The exhibit comes from the Herpetario of San Luis de la Paz, headed by Raúl Hernández Arciga, biologist and herpetologist from the National Polytechnical Institute, and his assistant, Gustavo Contreras. During the first month, weekend presentations augmented the message of the show and were enthusiastically received by the public.

We would like to thank all the schools that participated this month. We would also like to thank all the media that transmitted the information about the Expo at both a local and regional level and for embracing and believing in this project.

The beauty and variety of live specimens, both local and from around the world, surprised and fascinated our visitors, who expressed their gratitude for the chance to learn more about them as well as learn to respect them and their role in our natural environment. 

El Charco del Ingenio extends an invitation to everyone to visit the Expo in its last days and discover the magic of these reptiles and amphibians such as the crocodile, green iguana, rattlesnake and cobra, turtles and much more.

In addition to its mission of preserving our biodiversity, El Charco also conserves our cultural traditions and each year presents a traditional Day of the Dead Altar the beginning of November. This year, the altar, assembled by Hermes Arroyo and El Charco’s staff, will be in the Bóveda and is dedicated to two eminent scholars of Mexican cacti and friends of our garden, Charlie Glass and Edward Anderson.

Charlie Glass, who died 10 years ago, was a world-renowned cactologist and creator of the botanical collection in El Charco. His passion for Mexico carried him throughout the republic over many years, marveling at the richness of the cacti and other botanical families. In 1991 his travels brought him to San Miguel de Allende just as the botanical garden was forming. Without hesitation, Charlie joined the project and once again traveled the country gathering specimens for one of the most complete collections in Mexico. In 1998, Charlie Glass, indefatigable defender of our natural resources, left us. El Charco del Ingenio remembers Charlie with love and appreciation.

Edward Anderson, senior research botanist of the Desert Botanical Garden of Phoenix and friend of El Charco del Ingenio, was past president of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, a fellow of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, and a member of the Linnean Society, London.

In 1998 Dr. Anderson was awarded the prestigious Cactus d’Or, given by the principality of Monaco for outstanding research on succulents. His publications include Peyote: The Divine Cactus, Plants and People of the Golden Triangle, and Threatened Cacti of Mexico. He was also a contributor to several other books and published numerous papers during his more than 45 years of research on cacti.

El Charco del Ingenio invites the public to visit our Day of the Dead altar dedicated to these two distinguished friends of our botanical garden on November 1 and 2 at the Bóveda inside the garden. Admission is free.