A few years ago, we decided to go on a sea cruise for a week. My wife saved up her beer and cigarette money for a long time and paid $1500 for the whole fam damily to ride through the Caribbean for a week on a little tub called the La Boheme out of St. Petersburg, Florida. I was the pastor of a small church at the time and $1500 a week was an incredible amount of money for an $18,000 salary. I had heard from many a soul that a cruise was essentially nothing more than a floating, non-stop cornucopia of gluttony and hedonism. So I was determined to get as much of my money back as possible by eating everything in sight. The ship pushed backed from the dock on Saturday, and I basically stopped eating on Wednesday. By the time I had lugged the bags into the hull, I was so weak that I could hardly stand up. Linda escorted me to the dining room entrance so I could bolt through the door as soon as the dinner bell rang to fasten on the feed bag and begin the marathon of eating myself into money-saving history.

No sooner had the ship cleared Tampa Bay than somebody was on the horn inviting the first round of contestants who wanted to be on “The Biggest Loser“ to somewhere in the back of the ship. Apparently most of the people on board had thrown out their bathroom scales too and were prepared to eat themselves into oblivion as I was because I heard an army of passengers stampeding past me like Haitians who hadn’t eaten since the last earthquake. I flew behind them in their wake and came around the stern to behold a veritable banquet that surpassed all I had ever heard described before. I passed through the line multiple times like it I was mounting a roller-coaster at Six Flags, reloaded my plate, and packed in hors d’ oeuvres, dips, champagne, salads, fish, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, tacos, pastries, nuts, papaya, and pop. I consumed everything visible and finally dropped into a deck chair to start the digestion process so I could be nice and ready for the next round at dinner in a few hours. But no. I no sooner let out my belt, lighted, and crossed my buckling legs than the same voice that had called us to the first all-you-can-eat buffet issued the first call for dinner. I checked my watch thinking something must be wrong. An Old Country/HomeTown Buffet with a Thanksgiving dinner on its heels? But the floor beneath me shook as the ship’s passengers thundered for the dining room like people running down Topanga Canyon ahead of a fire storm. I jacked myself from the lounge chair and charged into the formal dining room right behind them. The feast in the back of the ship was like war rations compared to what was offered up to the starving patrons in the chandelier-bedecked seafood and steakhouse that surrounded us. I have not forgotten it to this day. With full array of elegant table linens, maitre ‘d, and towel-draped waiters, I nearly choked myself on succulent lobster with drawn butter, soup, pasta, vegetables, baked and mashed and sweet potatoes, sour creme, chives and bacon, cold butter cubes, wine, filet mignon, rolls, salad, mangoes, and some lemon dessert that was on fire. They almost had to carry me out. I was so bloated that Linda and the kids got under my arms as I lumbered from the dining room with my arms folded and resting on top of my stomach.

They escorted me into the open air and laid me back on a chaise lounge so I could recover for the next day’s meals. I had just laid my head back to shut my eyes when some moron nonchalantly broadcast on the loudspeaker that a new smorgasbord had just opened somewhere near the bow. I remember thinking, “I am not even hungry. But I have $1500 in this cruise, and I am going to try and get my money’s back.” All I could think of was that when I wasn’t eating, I was losing money. I couldn’t understand why anybody would even think of quitting now when his life’s savings were literally on the table. So again I pushed aside my pleading family and slowly bolted down the side of the ship passing other gas-filled customers pretending to be ravished but merely trying to recover the cost of the cruise. Professional Islanders hired for the cruise were pounding on the steel drums to set the dining mood while I was pounding down scallops, shrimp, shark nuggets, smelt, tuna, squid, perch, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, bleu cheese dip, ice cream, pastries, and olives. It was now Midnight. I hadn’t been hungry since the noon buffet when the ship fired the opening salvo in this consumption madhouse. But I was eating like it was The Last Supper. I had been pumping my right and left biceps to my lips for twelve hours, and I was dead tired. The family had retired long ago. So I finally started for my suite and to bed. I was about ten feet from the room when that same imbecile was back on the microphone again declaring the Midnight Feast! was now being served. I want to tell you that this declaration gave me pause. This whole thing was now beginning to become incomprehensible to me. But I swear the ship listed to the left and creaked like the Titanic as twelve hundred people ran like looters through New Orleans after Katrina for one of the five hundred restaurants on board. And I joined them because I was going to make these people pay as I tried to recoup some of my money. I came into a room lit like a Las Vegas casino with tables weighed down with gourmet fare topped with ice-sculptured porpoises. I popped filets of salmon, cod, halibut, herring, and flounder like candy. Dip flowed like lava down my arm. Punch and champagne poured, gurgled, and arced from fountains like falls. I slurped bowls of clam chowder like I had never eaten before and shoved it all down with relishes and sourdough bread underneath layers of butter, golden cheeses, sardines, cold cuts of ham and turkey and roast beef, and mayonnaise followed by a stream of sangria and champagne. People who weighed 400 pounds were moving their arms like fans and lifting shovels of food into their faces.

I finally could take it no more. I had just spent 14 hours of non-stop eating. At 2:00 am, I picked up my stomach and threw it into bed. The next conscious moment I had I saw Linda standing over me slapping my face and screaming, “Dale, wake up. It’s time to eat.” I remember saying to her, “When is it NOT time to eat?” This was madness. But it went on for seven days. I literally had not had a taste for food since the very first meal just past the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, but I ate like a starving skeleton from Bangladesh through Key West, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cozumel and to home for a solid week, only stopping because they mercifully closed the restaurants at 3 am. If anyone had gotten his money’s worth, it was I. Some of the people were carried off on stretchers. If people could get five minutes before the next meal began, you would see them lying in a chaise lounge like a walrus with the stretched and bulging webbing scraping the ship’s deck. Everyone’s clothes were now obsolete. Stretch marks lined the girths of people who had never had or could have had a baby. The ship sat low in the water and pulled into the home port like a giant slug. We had all gone on as passengers, and we had come off as cargo. But…we had made them pay.

The Affenpinscher does not have a detailed history of their arrival in America as many of the other toy breeds have. There was an article published in the April 1950 issue of the AKC Gazette that says the Affenpinscher breed was imported in the mid-thirties.

Also known about the Affenpinscher breed is that Mrs. Bessie Mally of Cicero, Illinois imported at least a pair of Affenpinschers in 1935. The dam of this first litter was the first Affenpinscher registered with the American Kennel Club. Her name was Nolli v Anwander.

The Affenpinscher breed was first recognized by the American Kennel Club through the persistent efforts of Bessie Mally. There is very little known about Bessie Mally. It is thought, however, that Bessie Mally must have been a woman of wealth and influence to accomplish what she did. In the 1930′s few people owned purebred dogs, and those that did were of the upper class. The unemployment rate during this period was quite high. People did not everyday travel to Europe on airplanes as they do today. The only way to travel was by ocean liners, which was quite expensive. The more common people could not afford such a trip.

Although Bessie Mally was not the only one to bring Affenpinscher dogs to the U.S., she was the only one to do any breeding with the exception of one litter produced by Evalyn Walsh McLean out of Mrs. Mally’s stock. All the Affenpinscher dogs bred by Mrs. Mally were sired by Osko v.d. Franziskusklause. The McLean Affenpinscher puppies were double Osko grandchildren.

After World War II began, all breeding came to an end. The last Affenpinscher litter was whelped on June 24, 1940. Nothing was bred for the next nine years.

Dogs that resembled the Affenpinscher were known to be bred since about 1600, but were somewhat larger. The colors of these dogs were gray, black, fawn, black and tan, gray and tan, and red. White feet and chest were common. These dogs had the job of being “Ratters.” They were the farm or store dog running around loose and sleeping in stables. Their main purpose was to kill rats.

From the reports of historians, they were first bred in Lubeck, Germany. These dogs that resembled our present day Affenpinschers were bred to a smaller size and used in homes to catch mice. There was much crossing done of the dogs that were salt and pepper, reddish black (red gray with the black hair mixed in ) or solid black to dogs that were salt and pepper in color and more of the Schnauzer Ratter type dog. Some of these other breeds included the Pug, (which started the Brussels Griffon), the smooth haired German Pinscher and a German breed of Silky Pinscher (giving some of the soft silver coat to our Affenpinschers of today).

Breeders in the 1750′s got together with their small dog crosses between the Mini Schnauzer and the German Pinscher while other dog lovers during this time period were breeding crosses using some of the same type of dog holding to a basic breed but adding small differences from the other breeds used. The Pug was used and the nose was greatly shortened so this breed soon became our Brussels Griffon. All of this activity was the beginnings of the Affenpinscher as we know it today. The breed is said to have changed very little in the last centuries and many of the old artists painted pictures of small, black bearded dogs looking very much like our present day Affenpinscher.

In Europe and England the color has always been black with a light frosting of grey permissible. Canada, Mexico and Bermuda use the American Kennel Club standard that allows for several colors which are black, silver, black and tan, red, and beige (a mixture of red, black and white hairs).

The general appearance of our Affenpinscher today is a balanced, wiry-haired terrier-like toy dog with high intelligence. The name Affenpinscher means “monkey-like terrier.” The Affenpinscher is a sturdy, compact little toy dog with medium bone and not delicate in any way. The Affenpinscher moves with a light, free, balanced and confident gait. The Affenpinscher is said to carry itself with a comic-like seriousness.

The Affenpinscher is a loyal companion. Although the Affenpinscher is generally quiet, he can become quite excited when threatened or attacked and become fearless toward an aggressor. His job is no longer the ratter of stores and farms. He sleeps more on our sofas than in the stables. He does, however, retain many of his original instincts of the “Monkey-faced Ratter from Germany.” If you don’t like cats, an Affenpinscher may be the way to go to catch those mice and rats!

Compared to USA and Hawaii, Mexico has more bird species and it has double the amount of bird species found in Canada. One of the best Bird Watching spots in Mexico is the Yucatan Peninsula. You can find 548 various species which includes 11 endemic varieties; during winter one finds even more species because migratory birds go to the warm region. The Yucatan provides great Bird Watching year round because of its subtropical location. Famous birding sites close to the Riviera Maya are:

• Sian Kaan Reserve
• Cozumel Island
• Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve
• Botanical Garden Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin
• Coba Ruins
• Punta Laguna

You can visit all these bird watching sites in one day tours from the Riviera Maya. The Riviera Maya is a very good birder destination because it enables the visitor to appreciate its tourist infrastructure and comfy hotels while going out on day trips to specific birding sites. One can also opt to stay in non-urban areas with less comfort yet a lot more birds!
Here is a brief introduction to these six Bird Watching Destinations that can be visited from the Mayan Riviera:

Sian Ka’an
Sian Ka’an Biosphere is surely well worth a visit by birdwatchers as 345 species of birds can be found in the site. Because of the excellent diversity of aquatic habitats, marine and wading birds are well available. The species found here represent 33% of all species determined for the whole country of Mexico and 67% of those documented for the Yucatan Peninsula. Two-thirds of its species reproduce within the reserve.

Cozumel Island
Only 5 to 10% of this lovely island has been improved which leaves lots of habitats for exotic bird species. Cozumel -which indicates island of swallows – has subtropical forests, mangroves and dune vegetation. 214 Species of birds have been listed of which 71% are residents and 29% are migratory birds. On the list of most typical species we find: herons and egrets, Magnificent Frigate bird, Black and Turkey Vultures, Osprey, American and Brown Pelican, parrots, fishing eagle, sea swallows and tanagers. Special attention endemic species are the Cozumel Thrasher, the Cozumel Vireo, the Cozumel Wren, the Cozumel Great Curassow, that is extremely endangered and the Cozumel Emerald – a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family.

Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve
One of the most considered bird site for bird watching is Rio Lagartos having a total of 72 migratory and 141 resident species. The reserve protects an area covering around 120,000 acres of protected land, made up of mangrove forest, coastal dune vegetation, low deciduous forest, savannas and hummocks. The reserve is well-known for its significant groups of Greater Flamingoes as the area is an essential nesting site for this species. Birding tours are often done by boat although trials are also available.

Botanical Garden Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin
The 150-acre Yaax Che Jardín Botánico del Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marín is the biggest botanical garden in Mexico. It can be found in Puerto Morelos. A nature walk goes straight through the mangroves for some excellent birding. There are more than 220 species of birds identified here and there is a tree house in the garden which serves as a lookout for even better bird watching experience.

Coba Ruins
The ruins in Coba is well worth a visit in itself; this is the only Mayan ruins dating back to the Classical period in Quintana Roo. The site has temples, pyramids and structures that are built wide apart with a park having immense dimensions, huge forest which is excellent for bird watching. The site was constructed next to a lagoon and therefore yields habitats for both terrestrial and aquatic bird life.

Punta Laguna
Punta Laguna is a little Mayan village whereby roosters and pigs have the right of way and the smoke from women preparing tortillas over an open fire filters through the thatched roofs of their houses. Together with some 4 other villages, Punta Laguna is part of a 5,000 hectare, government-protected nature reserve known as Ma’ax Yetel Kooh. Along with the distinctive subspecies of spider monkey that inhabits the region, the protected area is also home to howler monkeys, pumas, coatis and a huge diversity of birds.

To be accompanied by a local guide who has been trained to identify birds with their English names is the best way to enjoy your birding and natural history experience. This allows you to check out destinations you never would have discovered on your own.