On leaving Germany and moving to Costa Rica, and then to Ecuador

Comments, compliments... no complaints, with the exception of mosquitoes, but that's biodiversity for you! :)

Friday, March 2, 2007

Ants and lizards and frogs, oh my!

Ok, I'm in the tropics, and I should expect a few of these critters every once in a while...but I was not prepared for some of them showing up on my BED in the middle of the night!

I had been talking to the maintenance department, saying that there were ants in my kitchen and bathroom, that I knew that there was a family of lizards living in my bedroom wall, and that I always discovered BIG spiders whenever I moved the furniture in the house (a gene I inherited from my mom...my dad once told her: Honey, next time you do this, please call me at the office, and let me know, just in case I have to come in through the window instead of the door -- this, after he came back after dark, and without turning on the light in the living room decided to go to the terrace and ended up on his bu ..uh behind with a strong pain on his leg...he'd bumped into a table that shouldn't have been there).

these ants are actually fun to watch, at first sight they look like a parade of leaves! I think they're cute...must be because I always encounter them on my favorite bridge FAR away from my house

So, they came and sprayed my house on Tuesday. I almost choked when I came back (I had the feeling someone would find me on my back like the cockroaches in Raid commercials when they came to clean the next day), the smell was unbearable...I expected to see dead ants and spiders everywhere, but only found three dead lizards...poor things! I was considering sleeping in the hammock, but it was too cold, so I slept in the living room with all windows open.

this lizard kinda looks like the ones that died at my house

On Thursday another team came (the exterminator type with this can type equipment...) ...Thursday evening I was getting ready to sleep around midnight (I'd just turned off the light after reading) when something crawled over my face. So I took the critter with my fingers, squeezed it and tried to sleep when another one crawled on my eyelashes...so I turned on the light and discovered HUNDREDS of these disgusting ants with wings on my bed!!! I guess they didn't like the exterminator stuff and decided it was cozier on my bed? Anyway, I spent the next two hours spraying them with some grease cutting spray I bought for the kitchen...

so-called urban termites

Needless to say I was extremely grumpy the next morning...went to maintenance, complained...so they're spraying my house again today...

About frogs, no, I didn't forget them. Last night as I was returning home, I thought I saw an extra stone by my terrace...so I came closer...and it moved...jumped, and jumped and then disappeared in the bushes!!! It was a HUGE frog...I'd never seen such an enormous kind!!! I guess I'd be scared if I saw one of those inside my house...just because it was so unexpected...but I really found it extremely cute :)

my frog was cuter, this one looks a little mean

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