It's a Jungle Out There!

Hello friends.  How is life in the states?  I heard Obama gave an address last night; somebody please tell me what he said, Limbaugh doesn’t make the airwaves down here. 

 We’ve been here a little over a week now and the novelty is wearing off a bit.  I’m realizing more and more everyday that I live in the jungle.  Not next, near or kiddy corner to, but in the jungle.  This little spider over here on the right is nothing compared to a few I’ve seen in the last few days.  Big brown beastly spiders, not spindly and fragile looking, but hefty with girth, yes I just said girth.  When we walk to the beach, it’s like we’re in a green tunnel with vine-covered walls.  The sun barely reaches the ground because the canopy is so thick.  It’s kind of like we’re playing Tarzan and Jane except my Tarzan doesn’t sport a loincloth, not yet anyway.

 Today I saw the biggest snake I’ve ever seen outside of a glass box at the zoo.  At first I thought it was a big black stick in the middle of the path, but as it slithered off into the green I figured out what it really was.  Apparently they are the reason there are no poisonous snakes on the island, they eat them all.  A snake-eating snake, never heard of that before.

 The bugs are relentless.  Yesterday we found a bizillion ants in our peanut butter even though the lid was screwed on tight and somehow they got into Jameson’s cup o noodles even though they were completely covered in plastic (I wasn’t too bummed about that one). They also found a way inside our toaster oven so Jameson decided to take his revenge by turning on the heat and watching them roast.  We have a few geckos that live in our apartment.  They’re too high up to catch, but I don’t mind because they eat the other bugs.  However, I don’t appreciate finding gecko poop in my bathroom sink.

 Work has officially begun on the beach club.  On Tuesday Jameson, Justin, and I worked for hours in the sun clearing dead leaves, driftwood, and all manner of green stuff.  To our surprise we found that underneath all that junk was beautiful sand.  You can see from our before and after pics what a difference a few hours of elbow grease can do for a place.  I had no idea I could sweat so much, did you know your ears could sweat?  We also sent a few million ants and tree crabs into a frenzy by destroying their nests.  There is a massive termite ball up high in one of the trees.  Every day we try to throw stuff at it so we can watch it explode with thousands of bewildered termites.  So far we’ve all missed, but tomorrow I’m going to get it.  I’ll try to take a picture so you can see just how huge this thing is. 

 We’ve met with Eric, the aquaculture/landscape architect, who has some really cool ideas about how to move the water and sand around to make everything look sweet.  Hopefully that will all be underway by early next week, but we’re beginning to see that just like most other countries around the world, Panama does not run on American time.  This afternoon may mean next week and next week may mean next year.  It’s very frustrating, but it’s a reality of working in another country.

 So the catamaran tour was great.  We saw some dolphins (see pic), went snorkeling and got caught in one of the biggest rainstorms our captain had seen in 10 years.  We parked our massive boat behind a mangrove and waited it out.  It was pretty awesome; horizontal rain, lightning all over the place, and deafening thunder.  Not bad for $40.

 I’m off to do laundry for the first time 10 days and to post this so we hope you’re all happy and healthy and enjoying your ant free life!