I got up at 8:00 and took a shower before going down for breakfast. The coffee was terrible but I drank it anyhow. At 10:00 Todd took us all to a trinket shop that specializes in wood. I was delighted to find the type of birds I collect and bought a pile of them. I also got some other things for gifts. After paying, I discovered their mineral and fossil specimens. They had some amazing 30-40 cm fish fossils that I should have bought but didn't. I did buy a nice mega-crystal quartz specimen for $20--a real steal. I told the attendant who waited on me that they should sell on eBay, which they had never heard of, and gave them the website address.

We walked back to the hotel. Strom and I went out for lunch, finding a hidden-away pizzeria a block and a half from the hotel. We had an excellent meal with a bottle of tasty Chilean red wine. The waitress kept her eye on Strom most of the time.

We returned to the hotel moments before our bus left for a couple of presentations at Bolfor. The first was by Gerd Rostenkowski, which gave the economic model of the Bolivian Sustainable Forest Management Project, which is affiliated with the nature conservancy. It was very interesting and appears to be showing signs of success. The second presentation was by Tim Killeen, an American ecologist who has been in Santa Cruz for 20 years. He spoke about the natural history of the Santa Cruz region and actually incorporated the geology as the foundation element. Unfortunately the wine from lunch caught up with me and I fell asleep during the part later in the talk when he discussed petroleum exploration.

We returned to the hotel for awhile and then took cabs to the Capri Pizzeria where we were joined by Marielos and her colleague Joaquin and his wife Macarena. We had an excellent dinner. Afterward, some of us went to an Irish pub a few blocks away where a Bolivian band played 70's and 80's British and American rock. They were really good. Our reason for going there was ostensibly to celebrate Jessica's birthday which was 10 days earlier. I spent most of the time speaking in Spanish with Marielos, Joaquin, and Macarena. The band eventually played Happy Birthday for Jessica and she was queen for a day. We returned to the hotel around 2:00. I was asleep immediately.