Somewheresville

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The anxious yet indignant frog (here being humiliated by my friend) makes an appearance in a couple of days, but I wanted to include him because he is a constant presence, and I’m fond of him and his singing. I admire the beetle for attempting to camouflage himself on the Insects of Costa Rica Identification Chart. That is smart – although he slipped up when he chose the wrong genus. The magnificent mantis made a loud scratching noise as he rustled across the tile floor that gave him away, not that a large, fast-moving leaf wasn’t going to attract my attention anyway. The Jesus Christ lizard has decided to share my bedroom, as well as my bathroom. I like him, but he gets so panicky. The scorpion . . . well, the scorpion was the only casualty, and that’s because he climbed into my bed and stung me. He’s shown here, shortly after his demise, on an emergency numbers call sheet. I woke with nausea, a stiff shoulder and neck, general aching and a bad headache. It was an effort to get dressed, and up the hill to the hotel, and over to the kitchen to ask if any Central American scorpions were deadly. When, after some consultation, the answer came back ‘no’ I felt instantly better. I’m not really sorry he had to die, because, apparently, there are plenty of them left out there.