Creepy Crawlers

I considered myself to pretty lucky with not coming across any particularly terrifying critters thus far, especially in my house. Friday night, my luck ended. Lori and I stopped by my house after school before going to hers for dinner, and there we encountered our first little friend (yes, only our first one). Sitting calmly on the floor, minding its own business as if it owned the house, was a cockroach. Normally I cringe at the sight of these little fellows and whimper like a child, but I suppose since it wasn’t moving I didn’t totally freak out. Thankfully I had Lori with me and she has no fear towards cockroaches. Armed with solid rubber boots, she crushed it with one stomp. Alright, she wasn’t that powerful. It was a tricky little bugger and she had to jump on it a few times, but she still got the job done and even picked it up with her bare hands to throw it away. Even though I didn’t panic, I still had no desire to get even remotely close to it.

Then we made our way to her house and ran into another surprise. Lori opened the door and instantly started screaming, so I poked my head in and saw the cause of her terror: a tarantula. Scurrying across the floor was a black, hairy, decently-sized tarantula. Coincidentally, Cassidy had told us earlier that morning about seeing this exact spider next to her bed the night before so we knew who we were dealing with. I have no idea how that girl slept through the night knowing that a giant, terrifying spider was in such close proximity to her bed. I told Lori to grab a tupperware so I could trap the poor sucker. As I approached it, it actually started crawling towards me so naturally I screamed like a little girl too. But, I put on my big-girl pants and trapped the tarantula in the tupperware, we slid a piece of paper underneath it to create a spider-proof seal, and then took the little devil outside. We made sure to throw him someplace far far away so he could not come back and make his home in their house – we tossed him into the river. Our hearts were pounding all night, but we were so glad to get rid of both of those critters. Thankfully I had Lori to kill my cockroach, and she had me to capture and dispose of her tarantula. (Sorry friends, no pictures. We couldn’t risk letting our horrid pets get away.)

On a more positive note we did get to spend part of the evening at La Unión’s finest view point. Jake and another guy, Mike, picked Lori and I up from school on their motorcycles and drove us up a road towards an aldea called Las Playas. It wasn’t a far drive, maybe 20 minutes, but the view was incredible. Jake said that whenever he’s having a hard day, he escapes up to remind himself why he lives in this country. I completely understood. You can see for miles up there! I had no sense of direction – which way was north, south, east, or west – but that was not important. Jake and Mike pointed out all of the different aldeas (small villages) in the area. We could see countless coffee and corn farms nestled in the hills, and a river that counts as an unofficial boundary. I especially loved how un-developed everything was – nature at its most innocence and pure form. It was simply breathtaking. We watched the sun set behind the mountains before taking off. As we were driving away you could see the lights from all the aldeas just freckling the mountainsides; there couldn’t have been more than a dozen lights per aldea. It made me thankful of the place that I live in – that it wasn’t as small as those places and most likely more developed. I can’t wait for my next trip up there!

Pray for me that I keep finding these (good) hidden treasures. I certainly don’t need any more bug encounters, but I would love to spend more time just soaking in the natural beauty that surrounds me here. It was so peaceful and exciting to see. It certainly helped me fall in love with the place that I am living in. Not everything has to be negative or humorous here, it can be enchanting if I just look for it.