critters and other stuff

You know you're an El Salvadoran missionary when:

• A bat flies through a room while you're sitting around talking and nobody blinks or thinks anything of it. (Reality: we only have occasional bat sightings, and usually one one or two bats, not bunches of them. Don't want to scare off anyone that may want to visit me.)


• When it feels like something is crawling on your leg and you look down and find a small cockroach, and you flick him off as you continue your conversation. (Reality: we get out food delivered to us in cardboard boxes, which are infamous for containing cockroach eggs. Plus, my apartment is fairly close to the kitchen...another place where cockroaches are infamous. We tend to grow sizable cockroaches here, but I only see one every 2 or 3 weeks, and we also have a pest control guy who treats any needed area with incredibly smelly stuff.)


• When the weirdo critter pictured below is found frequently throughout your apartment. This critter is very light wt. and moves along like an inchworm, dragging behind it's cocoon like shell. Just before his short life is over, he attaches his cocoon like shell to a wall (usually in a corner) with a strong web-like strand.


• When you're finally able to sleep through the rooster that crows all through the night. However, there is one type of tropical bird that has a screech like "song" that resembles nails on a chalkboard. He particularly likes to sing btw 3-6am and I've yet to be able to sleep through his song when I have my windows open (which is always).
• When your legs have bug bites all over them. I don't get eaten much by mosquitoes, but there is some bug that we call a "no-see-um" that's bit is much worse than a mosquito. I'm told this bug is black and tiny, but I've not seen him because I don't feel it when I'm being eaten. The bites are often very close together and is red and flat. Unlike the mosquito, the bite of this critter can causes insane itching for several weeks....no kidding! The bites I got on the 2nd week of Nov still itch on occasion and the sore hasn't yet healed. In the twilight and evening hours I've learned to wear long pants or use bug spray, which seems to be effective.
• When you save any possible left over from your meals for a pittiful loooking dog just outside the gate. Actually there's a german shepherd dog that's just outside the security gate that looks very hungry, and I now make a point of giving him something to eat every night. I've never been a person to particulary like dogs, but somehow I gain comfort by loving this dog.

Some other things I've noticed:

• I spied a huge possum way bigger than a cat, more like the size of a small to medium dog, calmly walking down the center of the road beside my apartment. He and many local cats and dogs are frequent visitor to our trash dumpster just outside of our main gate. As the possum walked down the road, a german shepherd dog was coming from the opposite direction. They passed only inches from each other and I could've sworn I heard a conversation that went like this: "Hi Fred, how ya doing?" "Oh, Hi Sam, I'm doing quite well. Great night for a walk isn't it?" They seemed to be accustomed to mingling together.


• In Virginia, I can count on huge amounts of leaves to be raked every year. This year I'm thankful that my dad is doing this job for me this year. But do trees here also loose their leaves? After all, everything here is always lush and green. I now know that most trees/shrubs loose their leaves a little at a time all through the year. However, there are a few types of trees that drop most of their leaves twice a year. In Oct the little kids squealed with delight as they kicked around and threw the fallen leaves. Some of the leaves are quite large. See the picture below. By the way, when the leaves are off this one particular large leaf tree, it reveals some type of large fruit high in it's branches. And the fruit draws literally hundreds of colorful tropical birds.


• Thanks to the advise of one of the kids, I've learned that if I don't want my chewing gum to be extra sticky and gooey, then it needs to be stored in the frig. Now it's perfect. I keep my passport in a ziplock in the frig too to protect it from mold/mildew.


• Speaking of mold/mildew, now that it's dry season I don't have much of a problem with mold/mildew anymore. I still occurs, but nowhere near as bad as before. When rainy season comes in May I may have to see if I can afford a dehumidifier or two.
• Currently the temperatures are in the upper 70s or low 80s during the day. When I go to bed at night, my indoor/outdoor thermometer shows the outdoor temp to be btw 73-76, and the inside temp is usually 1-2 degrees warmer. I consider this season to be comfortable. December is known as the windy month and a month where earthquakes are common. However, we haven't had much of either. And the humidity is low too.
• And just fyi....the gas prices here are currently around $3.50 per gallon for regular.

Just wanted to share the above slices of life with you. I hope you're doing well.