This is my desk where I spend a good amount of time. Right now, out the window on the right, I am looking at the twinkling lights of San Jose off in the valley. It’s like Christmas every night. I can just see the dim outline of the mountains on the other side. I’m looking thru the zillion bugs plastered to the window, moths and things seeking the light and a little company.
You could never forget you live in the country in Costa Rica. Maybe in the city of San Jose, there are not so many bugs. But everywhere else, there are bugs. Flies, mosquitoes, crawly things, ants galore – every size, shape and color! Moths, butterflies, millions of little nighttime flying bugs. An entomologist’s dream location. And not just little bugs. Oh no. Bigger ones, too.
On my left in the window are cards from my friends Ellen and Mary. Pix of my mom and dad above that. The "to-do" pile on the desk. (How come those never get smaller?) The skinny thing under the window is the microphone I use to talk to everyone on Skype.
OH – and tucked in the upper left hand corner of my desk is the Reik cd. Leaning against the wall. Reik has a great song I’d love to learn to sing. It’s called Noviembre Sin Ti (November without you). It’s in Spanish so I don’t really know exactly what I’m singing about. Yet.
Spanish love songs are like country songs. Country songs are all about mama, trains, cows, wimin and beer. Spanish songs are about corazón (heart), lluvia (rain), te extraño (miss you) and mujeres (wimin). The usual suspects.
So last night I’m blogging away about the UFO’s, happy in my little world. Everyone’s asleep – my alone time. When I see a movement just outside the upper left corner of my screen. Behind the cd. I glance over. I leap from my chair, backing up as fast as possible. Mouth wide for the scream. I want to run screaming from the room, but I can’t. For one thing, the boys are asleep. For another thing, I have NEVER seen anything that big. The camera makes it look smaller somehow. But I SWEAR it was the size of my head.
Fortunately I had just finished off the ice cream (there was only a tiny bit left) so after taking a zillion pictures, during which time it never moved a hair (oh yeah, it’s hairy), I trapped it in the creamy peach cardboard container and threw it as hard as I could out the front door. It is bad luck to kill a spider. And way too gross. I mean, I just ate.
Nobody told me about tarantulas in Costa Rica before I got here. That would be a good thing. Learning about tarantulas was the only thing that has given me pause. I think I actually stopped talking and moving when I heard about them. Spiders have always creeped me out. Silly, I know. They are actually pretty cool little creatures. From a distance. Or behind glass.
I need a new camera. This is definitely not an accurate photo. Maybe the camera shrank the bug like the dryer shrank my pants. Yeah, that’s probably it.
Before last night, I’d already seen two on my front porch. They were not as big as my head like this one. Or as close.
Tarantulas are not poisonous. Just hugely creepy. I can deal with creepy. I’m from Key West. When it comes to creepy and horrible, nothing tops a scorpion. Running around in a completely unpredictable fashion, waving that horrible tail and those arms. This spider was a gentle thing in comparison. Nice and quiet. Still.
The thing is, scorpions travel in pairs. If you find one, keep looking because you WILL find a second one. So is that true about tarantulas? ‘Cause I swear I keep seeing things move…