nosy otter

The otters were performing a little circus show for us - they can be acrobats and clowns at the same time. Aren't they adorable?

Hut tut gut!

Nach der Fuehrung mit dem Zootierarzt waren wir alle leicht ueberhitzt und mussten deshalb eine Trinkpause einlegen, die Klaus genutzt hat, um sich einen feschen neuen Hut zuzulegen:)

ancient feet

If I take a closer look at the rhino's feet it seems as if he is some strange relict from a time that has long passed. The skin feels tough and soft at the same time and the three huge toes remind me of dinosaur feet. Amazing creatures!

hey buddy, need a scratch?

Dr. Jost found is comletely taken up with her new occupation: giving rhinos deep tissue massages. Isn't that much nicer than writing grants and teaching students?

Abracadabra Aldabra

This old fellow is at least 75 years old but will easily outlast all of us. It's an Aldabra turtle and the vet shows me where it likes to be scatched - under its neck!

beautiful giant

It's amazing to look straight into a giraffe's eye - these giants can be incredible gentle. But wait, until an lion attacks them somewhere in the savannah - they'll teach the big cats how to fly faster than they had ever imagined!

Steffi's new friend

Yesterday's special event took place in Reid Park Zoo: the Zoo veterinarian gave us a tour behind the scenes, so we got to pet giraffes, rhinos, snakes and even a polar bear's nose!

yummeee!

On Thursday, Dr. Jost invited Erynn, Steffi, Klaus and me to lunch at one of the oldest (and authentic) Mexican restaurants in town. As you can see, the food was great and the people too!

Over The Rhine in Club Congress

On Wednesday evening, Hilary and I went to see "Over the Rhine" after having a very nice dinner at "The Cup" with Steffi and Klaus, who are in town right now.

Simba the explorer

Although Simba stayed at home, he still had some thrilling moments:
- he caught a bug which was hiding behind the sofa
- he managed to win the footrace against his brother into Hilary's room
- he chased a pretty nasty pen through the living room until it gave up
ergo: he's a hero!

what the heck?!

There are many creative ways to overcome an obstacle. maybe mine wasn't the easiest, but it finally worked:)

Black-tailed rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus)

This cute little rattlesnake is one of 4 snakes we saw on the weekend - 3 of them were rattlesnakes and one was a Gophersnake (non-venomous). I found this one when we took a lunch break and I wanted to sit down on the old trunk she was hiding in. Luckily, she began rattling very loud, so I saw her just right in time...

Native American mortars

These holes were made by Native people a long time ago - they used them to grind up seeds for their meals. You can still find these holes in a lot of places here around Tucson.

Hanna at Hutch's Pool

Here's Hanna, making friends with the wet element. She has some kind of art project about water going on, so she decided to experience it in a quieter way than we did. Hanna is also a walking song book and I'm going to learn some of her favorite rambling songs and take them back home.

so much water in the desert!

If Hutch's Pool alone isn't enough for you and you'd like to check out all the other gorgeous pools and the waterslide, there's just one way you can get there: follow the stream...

The great pool

mermaid-waterballet

Maria and I performed a little waterballet-show in one of the bigger pools - well, as you can see I struggled a bit but still managed not to drown:)

on the way to the rock water slide

Last weekend, 10 other ramblers and me went on an overnight backpacking trip to Hutch's pool - a great natural swimming pool located in the Santa Catalina mountains. Moutains, great people, lots of water, many snakes & other critters as well as a natural slide - what do I need more?

Rambler's backpacking trip to Hutch's pool

Dead of the week 17 - bat

This corpse of a bat is a guest dead and was found by Marie under a truck in Mesquite, Nevada. It might have been hit by a car while hunting for flying insects around a streetlight by night.

And here is a guest poem from Tina:

There was a tiny bat
fleeing from a hungry cat
seeked shelter under a car
end of story so far

CREEPY!

We are full of experiences and ready to go to bed - so have a good night, amazing desert!

what a handsome moth!

Sabino Canyon is like a zoo without fences - there are animals EVERYWHERE!
I love it!

little frogg's night walk

This cute little froggie was fearlessly climbing up Bojan's arm. Does he know that there are hungry rattlesnakes around?

Western spotted skunk

Even on our way back we got to see more wildlife! Fortunately, this little spotted skunk was too busy to remember that it has scent glands:)
I was very surprised, how small it was - probably about 25cm long without its fluffy tail.

eye to eye

Can you see her rattle? And that stunning little face? I can't beleive how lucky I am that she stays so calm and that she allowes us to observe her for such a long time!

the explorers...

As you can see we got quite close to the objejct of our observation. Chris seems to be very happy with that, but it might be bit too close for Bojan...

amazing, beautiful creature!

there she goes...

We are following the snake to a prickly pear cactus...

Here she is!!!! What a beauty of a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox)!

Jipppieee!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here she is, my beautiful rattlesnake! She is so incredibly amazing and I'm so happy, that someone will have to surgically remove my smile or it'll stay on my face forever:)
There are no words to describe her gracile movements and silent alertness - the three of us observe her quietly and are astonished that she's so calm and doesn't seem to mind our company at all.

hey, a black widow!

Although the snake didn't show up yet, we're definitely not bored. This black widow showed up while we were exploring a dry wash that seemed to be a perfect rattlesnake- habitat.

night in the desert

It's slowly getting darker and darker - but where is my rattlesnake? I try to imagine I would be one of them - where would I be? Under a bush? On a rock that's still warm from the day? Or would I be hungry and go on a hunt?

promising sign

Now I really feel like some weird crocodile-explorer bushwacking through the depth of an african rainforest - chakkah!!!
I hope the promises on this sign are right?

Wow! Look at this gila monster!!!

As we walked around searching for snakes, Chris mentioned that he's never seen a wild gila monster before and that it would be so cool to spot one. Shortly after that this little guy showed up! Isn't that great? Since I beleive that everybody sees what he or she wants to see really badly, I'm now really very excited to meet my rattlesnake soon!

spiderman and his prey

Not bad for the beginning of a desert wildlife exploration night!

The beetle is as big as the spider itself - I wonder, how he's going to eat it all up? Probably he saves some for tomorrow, so he doesn't have to hunt and enjoy a lazy friday...

rattlesnake expedition

Yesterday evening Bojan, Chris and I went on a Sabio Canyon night hike to hunt rattlesnakes. Well, not really to hunt, but to experience them in their natural habitat. I've been wanting to meet a wild rattlesnake for so long, and today it's finaly gonna happen - well, hopefully...!!!

Paolo Nutini at the Rialto Theatre

snorkling rocks!

Just trying to see how it would be if I was snorkling barbie.

Not bad, not bad:)

crazy Americans III

This is Andrew (not the guy in the car, the one next to it). Andrew thinks he's a monster-vampire-dragon. Probably he's right...

...so watch out, maybe u r next!

hasta la vista, amiga!

Marie is flying back to New York and will be heading back to Germany next week:(

But in December, we're going to meet again in Berlin and we're planning to work on our Spanish, so that we can come back to Mexico sometimes!

Marie's farewell dinner at Guadalajara Grill

Hilary invited us to the Guadalajara Grill, a Mexican restaurant. As you can see on the picture, the food was great and the music too - a tiny folk band was playing Marie's favorite song especially for us!

Dead of the week 16 - little fish

This tiny silver fish lay at the bottom of the sea (well, the sea wasn't very deep there, but still!) in a kind of fish-graveyard. A nice Mexican dived down to get it for me. Since Mexicans share my rapture for death, I should probably move there?

Silver fish
was a dish
for sharks and more
along the shore

Hilary, Santiago, Marie

Santiago really spoiled us - he brought us fresh flowers every morning and gave us very pretty seashells as a farewell present.

scorpion

unser Unter-mieter...

ladies in black

pelican

...in an octopus's garden in the shade

hehe besser als Mallorca

While Marie and Hilary took a sunbath at the shore, I didn't give up to look for dolphins. Although I din't find any, I was happy to be out in the ocean swimming and diving and swirling around and imagining how it would be to be a dolphin:) jippdidappdiduuuu!

I'd like to be under the sea...

Einsiedlerkrebse

what a life!

After Marie and me went snorkling for a couple of hours and Hilary rented a kajak, we were pretty exhausted and needed to relax a bit at the pool...