i guess this is one weekend i am glad i had no television. so sad. oh well, life goes on especially as down here no one knows anything about american football.

so i have been failing to report on some of the wildlife i have seen. ames, dont read any more of this.

two weeks ago there was a very large snake killed by one of the grounds crew people. after decapitating the poor beast, they found a large frog, completely undigested, that came out of the body of the snake. of course, it was left on display next to the sidewalk that every one uses to go to and from classes. ineresting.

then of course there are the hundreds of geckos. they are litterally everywhere. my friends in my building are somehow afraid of these extremely colorful little guys, so they are always asking me to come into their offices and round up one or two to release outside. amazingly, their tails do not fall off when i grab them, yet their tails are a completely different color from their rainbow-like bodies.

scoripions (alacránes) are everywhere, but i am smart enough not to try to pick up those bad boys. they dont really bother people that much, and i am lucky i have never seen one in my house.

bees, wasps, etc. are also everywhere. as this is the tropics, there is no off season for them. great. i keep my distance and we dont bother each other. i still have my injection pen, so no worries on that end.

ants. i hate ants. ants are also everywhere and get into absolutely everything. big ones, little ones, flying ones, i dislike all varieties. i kill at least 10 a night in my room as they run across the floor while i am reading. luckily, i dont have to clean them up because their friends act as undertakers and wisk them away within minutes of death. i like that part.

spiders. currently, i am watching one walk across the wall behind my computer screen. i like them for the most part because they trap mosquitos, which are the bane of my existence as they really love my sweet sweet blood. spiders, however, also like to bite me sometimes in my sleep. i have woken up on a few occassions with a swollen finger or toe, oddly just those body parts, and i know i had a visitor the night before who was surprised by some sudden movement from me and thus bit me. these are mostly the small variety, but there are so many different types it is hard to tell.

mosquitos. there are big ones, little ones, mean ones, and evil ones. ok, they are all evil. almost once a day i find a bite, and sometimes multiple. the worst is when i am working in my office and ankle starts itching. they get under the pants and bite my ankles or the back side of my wrist as i am typing. there are not so many that they are swarming around in my office, so it is difficult to tell when one or two are hiding and waiting for my blood. i dont like them either.

i purposely left this until last on the chance that amy did not take my advice and stop reading. tarantulas. these suckers are huge. they are as big as my hand. not my palm, my hand with the fingers included. the guards had a dead one at the front gates the other day and i thought it pretty intersting. then, on friday, there was a ginormous one crawling along the window sill of our building on the outside. my friends have pictures, but i will refrain from posting them out of respect for ames. someone eventually killed it, one of the students, but they are also everywhere.

this is just a very small offering of the crazy insects and little creatures that live everywhere down here. of course, there are the roaming packs of dogs, the cows, donkeys, horses and goats that seem to like the roads more than the grass covered sides of roads. that is always interesting.

ok, enough animal planet for today. have a good one and, hokie fans, remember that there is something good that comes out of every loss. i dont know yet what that is, but i am sure it will become clear sooner than later.