Espeluznante

Last night, Chris and I were watching a movie on our little computer. It was almost 11, a very late bedtime for Suchitoto. We turned the movie off, and Chris was headed to the bathroom when he exclaimed "WHOA" and smacked something with my flip-flop.

A big scorpion had fallen from the beam of our ceiling onto the floor, right in front of him.

We have recently learned that scorpions are very common here. Almost everyone in El Salvador has had a sting or two. If you do get stung, your tongue may go numb, and other parts of your body. You may feel intense pain at the sting site. 

In order to avoid the wrath of the scorpion, we have to check the bed every night. If we leave clothes out to wear the next day we have to check those too.

There are many great things about living here in Suchi, but I will admit our lives are not nearly as clean and tidy as they used to be. 

Ants are...everywhere. When we first moved here I would get at least 10 ant bites a day. Our door is not well sealed at all, so we currently have a little colony of ants living in our room. 

Let me just say that I hate ants. I think my skin is overly sensitive to their bites. The itch is intense!

And then there are the spiders, worms, bats, mosquitoes carrying dengue. Our kitchen and living space are outdoors. We have seen it all.

One of my favorite things to do is watch the geckos on our wall. They sit so patiently waiting for just the right moment to pounce on their prey. The ones by the light bulb always get the best dinners.

Sometimes in the night I hear a loud noise coming from our roof. The rats again! They are always chasing something it seems.

Our room is a small, dark space with a lot of cobwebs and dirt. We need to borrow a ladder and clean the ceiling, that is true. But with time we have come to peace with the dirty walls and bugs. Except when they bite me, and then I want to go back to my air conditioned room with an indoor kitchen.

We have a view of the lake at our house, which is really beautiful. It is like living in a jungle. Sometimes, you can't see the water because it is covered with ninfa. The green plant fills the lake and sometimes makes it impossible for any ferries to pass. 

No one said life was going to be easy, or without bug bites. 

(note: this is an ant carrying dog food. they love the stuff far more than our dog does.)