Friday Jan 28/11 Do You Know the Way to San Jose

Happy Birthday little sister!

I was going to write about our trip (see below) however the events of last night are worthy of mention. It was a case of Invasion of the Beetles. We have had bug problems from the beginning but basically they have been confined to the kitchen downstairs. They seem to come ot of the ravine directly in fr ont of the house after dark, when our lights are turned on. Last night it was on the cool side so we decided to eat indoors and close up all windows and doors. Worked like a charm.

Later in the evening we looked out the back door window and we saw dozens of beetles sitting on the back stoop, just waiting to get in. Interesting, weird and creepy all at once.

Bedtime and suddenly I heard a screech from one of the other girls. Beetles were all over her room, including the bed. She had kept her window open and when the lights went on the beetles flew (who knew they flew?) directly up from the back stoop to her room. And since this is an Ecuadorian designed home, the walls to the ceiling do not go to the ceiling, in other words, the beetles flew over her wall into my room. I slept with the sheet over my head and prayed I would not asphyxiate overnight. I had visions of beetles covering the bed in the morning. At one point I decided to try opening the window to see if they would fly back out. Didn’t happen.

Miraculous we survived the night. My 2 companions slept together in the netted bed so they are still sleeping. Me, I had to verify that there were no bugs sleeping with me so I was up at the crack of dawn shaking out the sheets. Mercifully I didn’t hear any thunks go to the floor. I think I am cleaning but I’m going to go take a shower now!

Part 2

Off for a fun filled long weekend, so don’t expect any posts while I am away. We are going canoeing in the mangroves, eating at the Yacht Club and salsa dancing on the beach so I won’t have time to attend to my writing duties! This is a vacation from my vacation! All things are possible in Ecuador.

All things, that is, but punctuality. Like other South American (read Spanish decent) countries are famous for manyana. Tomorrow, and tomorrow and the day after that.

So now you can wait for my next exciting post and I hope to have some awesome nature photos to include. (quite a challenge to upload but I will make the attempt. Let’s hope the power is on when we return to San Jose!)