Thursday, November 29, 2012

Guns

In about mid afternoon, I heard what sounded like machine gun fire coming from the jungle. It's not too surprising, at least not anymore because everyone in this country seems to be armed to the teeth. I thought Americans were bad when it comes to guns, but these guys take it to another level. Never in my life have I seen so many guns in such a short period of time. Imagine going to the grocery store and seeing guys with machine guns standing guard at the entrance. Well that's reality here. Virtually every store has one guy standing around with a machine gun or a shotgun. A very weird sight for a Canadian.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Paranoia

Do you anyone you would consider paranoid?

Annoying isn't it? Having someone who believes the sky is falling, and everyone else is too stupid to realize it.  Well right now, someone is sleeping upstairs because this person believes that someone is going to steal all their lumber.

Yes that's right, lumber thieves. Something that has no sale value unlike copper wire. There's a point where you realize some people can't be helped, and then you just throw in the towel. So no, I won't be an enabler, I'm going to go to bed, and not take part in any crazy schemes.

In other news, remember to get yours questions in for the Dec 21 issue of Ingram Asked.

Monday, November 26, 2012

BBQ Bird

A week or so ago, we bought a frozen chicken from the grocery store, and today we finally cooked it. Unlike in the north, you can't just put your bird in a bag and leave it til it's done. Down here, we also can't leave the oven on for hours, or else the place will get too hot. So what do we do?

First off we cook this bird on the BBQ. To make sure it doesn't dry out, we put a half full can of beer inside the bird, and turn on the burner the bird is NOT sitting on. It's important not to disturb it for about an hour and a half, so no peeking.

Here it is with some Thyme and a home made sauce.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Ingram Asked - Again

Due to popular demand, I will be bringing back the Ingram Asked feature. Post your questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability. The deadline for questions will be December 20, and answers will come before the world ends on December 21. The sooner you submit your questions, the higher quality of an answer you'll get, so don't delay!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ruins

Today was kind of a special day, my parents went on excursion to some ruins a little ways from here. Hm? I didn't go on this trip? Quite correct, while they went exploring, I remained on the boat and looked after the dogs. It turns out that there was actually a lot of hype for this event, as the ruins are trying to cash in on the 2012 doom craze. Let's decipher these photos together.


 Their xylophone skills won't save them from the end. (Though it will help lighten the mood!)

 Some kind of ancient tablet we'll never know the true meaning of. 

 One hell of a tree.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Pork Chops

Today my parents bought pork chops from Backpackers, a hotel/store/restaurant run exclusively by volunteers. These have to be the biggest chops I've ever seen, before being cooked, each one was about an inch thick. No matter, we cooked them and made some mashed potatoes, green beans, and some home style bread. It all looked fairly good, so I sat down and went at it. Not bad, I ate some of the pork, then a little later I found an unpleasant chunk of fat. I ate my potatoes, bread, and beans, then went to the kitchen, and gave my pork to the dogs. At least they liked it.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sad Dog

A few days ago, we took the dogs into town for a walk. It wasn't really different from any other day, but we did take them to an area with more English speaking people than usual. As we passed through, an older woman commented about how Lola and Sonic were so pretty, nothing too unusual. We continued on our way and went walking around for about an hour before returning. When we arrived back, that same woman was there, and she came up to pet the basset hounds. She just loved Sonic and Lola, and gave them all the attention in the world.

Then it happened.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Pictures from Rio

Yesterday there was an amazing sunset. I failed to take a picture, but I did take some tonight.




Saturday, November 17, 2012

Shooting Stars

Tonight was the Leonid meteor shower, did any of you check it out? I did and I was rewarded with a measly three meteors. The first was amazing. It really was a ball of fire crossing the sky, it was so big I first thought it was fireworks. How stupid is that? Fireworks don't move down, they move up! Still it was a rather amazing two seconds of falling space junk. The other two I saw were very unimpressive and were just small streaks of light against the sky. I guess that makes the first one more impressive?

Friday, November 16, 2012

Victory!

An updated from yesterday, about those pesky little bugs. Well I noticed that their numbers were going down, and I found out why. My little lizard friend has been eating them. Now he hasn't eaten them all yet, but  their numbers have dropped dramatically in the last few days. Thank you lizard friend, you have earned your stay here.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Infestation

I was getting ready to go to bed, when I saw something rather annoying. A small insect started flying around my face in obnoxious manner. I simply swatted it away, and went on my business. After taking some water I looked up and saw them. Hundreds of these tiny insects were all over the wall and fly around it. I stood there for a moment, then I just went down to my room and didn't come out until morning.

What a weird thing to happen. Who would expect to see something like that?

Oh wait...

My bad, I should have expected that because that's par for the course here. Idiot. Anywho, still I was not prepared for that, I wish I grabbed the camera, but maybe I will if they come out again tonight.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Fireworks

I was in the kitchen making dinner when it happened.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM RAT TAT TAT BOOM BOOM BOOM*

It wasn't even dark, and someone was setting off fireworks again. I swear that these people love their fireworks even more than the Americans do. And believe me, the stereotype about Americans and their fireworks are totally true. Never in my life had I seen so many signs for fireworks until I went to America.

Anyways, here there are fireworks all the time.

Birthday - BOOM!

Halloween - BOOM!

Independence Day - BOOM!

Festival of the Dead - BOOM!

What I would do for some peace and quiet...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Fat Pony

Here's a little thing I did last night. I thing he needs to eat a little less...


Monday, November 12, 2012

Swing and a Miss

I had a craving for a chocolate cupcake, but as I said before small things like that are hard to find here. Or so I thought. My parents found these little cupcakes called Pinguinos (Because only penguins live in snow), which are kind of like a Little Debbie cake. I should say I wish it was like a Little Debbie cake, because these are awful. Truly imitation can never beat the real thing.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Lizard Returns

Remember a little while back when I showed you the pictures of that little lizard? Well, after I took the pictures  he ran off and I never saw him again. That is until I saw him a few days ago. Unlike before where he just scattered around without a cause, he has now found a nice home for himself. Since then, my good friend has found a nice home in the curtains across from me. Every evening, I see him come out and have nice time eating bugs. Better him than a spider.


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Winter

I guess it is November after all, and as it will, winter has reared it's ugly head. Like you guys back home, it has become cold, wet, and miserable. Fair enough, it can't be above thirty degrees every day here, but even so, the sun has disappeared behind a thick layer of grey clouds. I can wake up with the sun shining through my window, yet in less than an hour, it's gone and we have a full day of rain. One nice thing however is the setting sun. With all the cloud cover, the sky gets a nice shade of violet, making me think of nice winter evening.

One other amusing sight is the local people, and how they deal with the weather. In this rather mild temperature, the folks here are dressing in layers. I can go out in shorts, and they have to bundle up in sweaters. A very different look from summer.

Friday, November 9, 2012

So it's come to this...

I just want to share this because I can. I know this has nothing to do with me, but I really like this thing, and you should too. Here we have an excellent picture drawn by the great, Soraya Saga showing her love of robots and Lupin III. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have no love for MARVEL Comics, however, even I can appreciate a good work of art when I see it. So here it is; the best MARVEL character  mashed up with Lupin III. 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Koi

I'm a little embarrassed of this one, but here it is anyway.


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I'm living in Sweethaven?

Wait, that can't be right, Sweethaven is a cartoon village from Popeye...

Seriously thoughthere is someone here who looks exactly like Bluto from Popeye. He has the hatthe build  the beard, everything. His boat however, is by far the most amazing thing about him. He drives his very tiny boat, which looks like a bathtub, with a motor attached to it. Really, it's amazingly surreal, I love it when that guy drives by. Really brightens the day right up


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Is such a thing even possible?

Yes it is.

Honestly, it did start a little shaky, but as it got going, things began to shape up. A big problem, is that at sea level, dough does not rise very well. In fact I would say that it does not rise at all. Even after a full day, the dough moved very little, but we did have enough for two pizzas.

We also made two types of sauce, the first was a meaty tomato sauce, I frequently make this with spaghetti and pizza. In fact, I believe I have written about it before, so you should be familiar with it. The other was a homemade alfredo sauce, I like alfredo sauce, however I find that ours tastes too cheesy. A rare occasion where I prefer the jar.

So off we went, and placed our pizzas in the BBQAfter about ten minutes, the pizzas were ready, and we sliced them up

Monday, November 5, 2012

Crazy

I have never done this before, some might even say it's impossible. Nonetheless, I must attempt this. I am going to try to bake a pizza in he BBQ. Is such a thing even possible? Maybe so. I will let you know how it goes down tomorrow.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Passing

I found out today that someone I had known has recently passed away. I wouldn't say that I was particularly close to this person, but with his passing, something unique is gone from our world forever. It's people like him who change the way we think, and with one less, we are all a little poorer for it. 

RIP dear friend. 

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Die!

A few minutes ago, I was sitting on the couch, surfing the net, when I saw something scurry, across the wall. Wonderful, another cockroach... I grabbed the nearest shoe, and gave chase on this horrible beast. It turned and twisted it's way around the furniture, hoping to lose me in the process. No such luck would be had today, as I was a man on a mission. 

BAM!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Clouds

One of my favorite things to draw are clods. The way they form into such large fluffy shapes and the way the light manipulates the colors. Is there a better thing to draw? Obviously the answer is no.  


Thursday, November 1, 2012

What goes bump in the night

Last night we woke to a most mysterious event. At around 2a.m. Sonic was at the back doors, and he was going mad barking at something. I had no idea what if anything was there, perhaps something fled before we got to the door. I don't know what my dad was thinking, but he figured he should let the dog out so that he could do his business.

Big mistake.