Of Monster Bugs, Fire Ants and other Crazy Crawlies

We quickly learned to expect the unexpected around the village of Xoxlac, including a big bugs, attack moths and other creepy crawlies, especially at night.

When I went out to wash my hands after dinner the first night, a big black "Rhino Beetle" about the size of a shoehorn was legs up and squirming in the sink. Thought I took a picture but can't find it now so if one of the team members reads this and has one please send.

Moth on latrine door

The doors of the two metal latrines up the hill, well lit and shiny and night, were caked with large moths and other winged creatures.

I tried to read by flashlight at night but soon learned that I could not because the bugs would see my little light as a big bullseye and soon swarm all over my book. There was no way to keep the bugs out as the school had open eves. In fact the Hands for Peacemaking staff sealed off the dining area with Visqueen in the rafters to keep out the resident bat population.

One night John Kirk introduced us to a moth with a wingspan of a legal male Dungeness crab that had gotten into the school house. Later while reading the same fellow tried to settle on my hand. I didn't want to kill him, so shooed it away. That  just made it mad. The heart-shaped apparation winged beast quickly started dive-bombing my hands and face. I yelped quietly as I tried to push him off me..it eventually settled down on my blanket, which I considered a happy compromise. The next morning, we saw that he had made his way over to Steve's boot, where he stayed for some time and even posed for photographs.

Our attack moth settled on Steve's boot at foot of his bed

I think it was that night, while I was inside printing photos on the portable printer Jon Schmick had brought, that John Kirk spied a hand-size something or other with big red eyes and yellow-brown body that was clinging to the wall of the school house. He was able to grab a photo and if he sends it to me I will post it here.

Another night, while we were in the middle of devotions outside of the dining hall, we heard an urgent "psst" of sorts from one of the villagers to another small group near us. The villagers took off to see what was going on, and Jon Kirk followed. When he returned he reported that someone had spied  a snake - he thought a deadly coral snake - over in the playing field across the road.  The villagers killed it.

One of the primary team tasks at every stop was to level the ground where the stove would be placed. This was not an especially pleasant job and especially at first proved time consuming to get the ground just so. Doug and I were working on our first installation and Doug started digging dirt with the claws of a hammer then his bare hands. Suddenly he felt a painful, burning sensation all around his fingers as he was bitten by itty bitty fire ants. A few minutes later I spelled him at this task and quickly learned for myself the horrible sting of these little nuisances as they gorged themselves on the bare flesh of my fingers. Fortunately the sting was short-lived.

Over the course of the first night I had to get up several times to, well, do what people must do when nature calls. Since the latrines were some distance away I just did the guy thing and went across the road. As I was standing there looking into the hills, I saw hundreds of flickering lights in the trees. Fireflies! We don't really get these glowbugs in the Northwest and it was kind of fun to see these small-winged creatures light up at a distance.

Later on the trip, while exploring the nature preserve in Panajachel in the Sololá district, we visited an enclosed butterfly area. Hundreds of beautiful butterflies, of which species I just don't know, were fluttering from flower to flower and very colorful to watch as we walked through the containment.