howler monkeys

i finally took some pictures of the monkeys today! there is a family of howler monkeys that live right behind us, and they make tons of noise all day and night but i hadnt been able to get a picture of them until this afternoon. i hope this picture is clear enough - theyre a little bit far away for good pictures. but we have been able to watch them in the trees above our heads a bunch of different times, which is very exciting for me. i even watched one pee today. fabulous.

the other night we had another pizza night, but this time with all seven of the clients that were staying in the cabanas or dorms that day. we spent a lot of time cleaning and cooking and preparing pizza toppings and balls of dough, and met all of these interesting people that happened to be staying at the hotel that day, including a girl who graduated from oberlin in 2004! that was exciting - she lived in tank, the co-op that i lived right behind all of last year, so we had lots to talk and reminisce about. there was a mother and daughter traveling together, a couple from france, and a few other younger people who all had stories of having a fulbright to teach english in some place or working on a WWOOF farm in another place ... the usual. it was like being in oberlin for a little while. haha. this is a picture of two of the girls making their pizza, and then one of me enjoying it a few minutes (the oven is so hot that the pizzas cook in about 45 seconds) later!

i also have to post a picture of the cat that has been sharing our space with us - and sleeping on elvins suitcase every night - because he is without a doubt the long-lost jungle brother of my cat in minneapolis, gus. look at the resemblence! although unlike gus, this cat is actually a real cat who hunts bugs and rats and pounces and purrs and such (anyone who has met gus knows that he is more of a dog than a cat, or at least the most domesticated cat that has ever lived). this cats name is donald and hes has a very big personality, although he has a very dramatic way of begging for food at every possible moment, which gets a little frustrating. there are also two dogs that live with us - dooki and luna (yes, dooki) - who get a nice meal of rice, garlic, carrots, eggs, milk and dog food twice a day. which sounds a lot like MY daily meal, minus the dog food. very lucky dogs.

tomorrow will officially mark our first full week here, which is exciting - i think that i have started to get used to the bugs (although i took a picture of one of the monster spiders that i will post later, which i will NOT get used to) and understand how this place works. hopefully elvin and i will get started on some longer term projects tomorrow, maybe planting some new things in the vegetable garden. we have been making some serious progress in our weeding adventures, but we will have to do more than weed every day for this next month.

oh no! the pictures are not uploading and i think im hogging the computer. they will come soon, i promise!