September 27, 2005

MONK SAQI MONKEY

Welcome all wildlife lovers! Here is a sample of the menagerie of creatures and beautiful locations in the jungle of Ecuador. After leaving the jungle, we went on the 36 hour bus ride from hell - I'll post those pictures next week. Have a great week everybody!

This is our bug-catching system in the jungle. They are installed just above your door in your room at the lodge.Living the good life in the jungle. Hammocks are a nice. :)

The infamous STINKY TURKEY. Named as such because it tastes and smells bad. (That's because of the leaves it eats).
This is the flooded forest, located in the Cuyabeno, during the rainy season.

This is our cushy jungle lodge - no A/C, or electricity, but there's running water and mosquito nets!


Say, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.....


There are dangerous creatures, like the caiman, above, or the fer du lance - one of the deadliest snakes on earth, below. Our guide, Hilary and Kerry all stepped right over the snake. Travis found it and asked the guide - "What's this?". Diego then instructed the rest of the group to walk AROUND, as this was a juvenile, and had enough poison to kill 3 of us!
This is the Monk Saqi monkey. He was as interested in us a we were in him! Staring contest!
This is the ferocious piranha that I caught. Check out those teeth!
This is an anole - a lizard that lives in the jungle and laughs at gringos trying to use blow guns!

September 21, 2005

Jungle Highlights

After Quito, we ventured to the town of Lago Agrio. The other set of Romancing the Stone. I'll post more pictures later, but here's a taste of jungle-y goodness.

This was our guide, Diego, in the place that they call Cuyabeno.
This was our jumping off place for our jungle tour, in the place where the river is called Cuyabeno...

Stay tuned for the animals we saw where the River is called Cuyabeno...

Beautiful Nature


Just a little eye candy for your weekly visit...Agave plant at the Desert Botanical Garden.

Monthly Report from the Culinary Front

So it's Wednesday night, and what am I doin'? Watchin' the game, havin' a bud...or Dos Equis, actually.

Gourmet Foods was good tonight- soups and breads. The Challah was a big hit, of course, but that recipe for "soft" dinner rolls sucks. I'm going to ditch it next semester and try something else - like cinnamon rolls or something sweet. One student suggested zucchini bread, which would be a good fit, I think.

I'm up to my eyeballs in work right now, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. We're working on metabolism in my nutrition class (the hardest unit, of course) so I'm studying just as much as my students. How long has it been since YOU'VE thought about the metabolism of triglycerides? Probably never for most of you, and that's OK. Unfortunately, I've got to teach it, so I've got to re-learn it! Thank you, Dr. Koo.

Gourmet Foods is going well - next week we field trip to Lee Lee Supermarket (home of more Asian foods that you can shake a chopstick at) and dine at Pink Pepper Thai Restaurant. Healthy Cooking is going well - we really start cooking week after next. I'm enjoying my classes, but you never realize how much "behind the scenes" work is involved in teaching. I have to admit I like the autonomy, though. I have a great department chair, and Lori Zienkewicz has been invaluable in helping me get off the ground and running along smoothly. I probably bother her too much in her office - but she's always willing to listen to me.

Betsy's doing well in her job, but I know she's ready for her own place. She misses Lester, too. I'm sure he's ready to move down here, if Mom and Dad let him go (he's a cat, in case you don' t know). Travis is moving right along in his job. He was promoted a couple of weeks ago, and things are going well for him. He may have to start working at a new location in Gilbert sometime next year, but we'll wait and see.

We start digging this weekend for our landscaping upgrade. I got to go play with microfiche this morning at the city office, and I'm STILL not sure where our sewer line is, but I think we'll be OK. We plan to roto-till and doctor up the soil this weekend, and maybe start hand trenching our flower beds and relocating conduit. Next weekend (or maybe later) we'll do the trenching thing, lay pipes, and plants will come later... like maybe November. The plants will be the easy part, really!

Well, I better sign off - it's getting late and my beer's almost gone. Peace out, yo.

J & the Boyz