Manuel Montes got his BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in Dramatic Writing. He lived and taught English in Taoyuan, Taiwan (a half hour outside of Taipei) for a year. He then lived, taught English, and did administration on a Thai government education project in Bangkok, Thailand for a year and a half. He now lives in Sydney, Australia and will begin his Master's in Logistics Management and International Business at Sydney University in July. The monkey on his back is a spider monkey he found in the rainforest of Iquitos, Peru. It could walk upright and drag a small cart with a small dog in it at the same time.