There are so many things that I am getting adjusted to - the food, the heat, the language, etc. We also have to get used to the creepy crawlies that we are sharing our abode with. Some of them are nice, like the ants and little lizards. But others are not so nice, like the giant tarantulas. Before I go any further, I should disclose that Frankie is deathly afraid of spiders. We knew this going in and Beth and I told her that we would protect her. We were also told that big spiders were not seen that often, maybe once or twice a month and really only in the basement.
Friday started as a normal day. The sun was shinning, we walked to the school for a few hours to play with the kids and practice our Creole, I read some Sherlock Holmes, sat in the sun, ate some food...you know, the usual! Around 7:30pm everything changed. Beth and I heard a scream from downstairs. We thought one of the dogs was whining as he got some of his cuts cleaned, but then we heard feet pounding up the stairs. We realized instantly that Frankie had just seen her first spider. It was incredibly ironic that she would find the first one. We asked her where she had seen it and she said that it was in the chapel. We headed down the back staircase with headlamps and flashlights and Brittany who was a year-long volunteer several years ago and ended up staying for two more years and comes back frequently. But we were held up on the second floor by another big spider hanging out on the wall of the stairs. I'm pretty sure we all screamed. Brittany told us to find a broom and then ran down the other stairs and came back with bug killer. I had found a broom. She sprayed the spider and then hit it a bunch of times with the broom. During the commotion we learned that this was a Wolf Spider and noticed that it had an egg sac attached to its abdomen. We could also see tons of tiny spiders crawling on the wall. Brittany was successful and we pitched the body off the balcony. First spider down, one to go.
This isn't a high quality picture and it doesn't really do the spider justice. It was pretty big, maybe around 4 inches. We could see its eyes glowing from our flashlights and it moved super quick along the wall. The white "fur" on its back is the sac.
We descended the next flight of stairs rather gingerly, eyes peeled for more spiders, and made our way to the chapel. It was right there, just hanging out, probably perusing the titles on the shelf looking for its next good read. Brittany sprayed the tarantula and it ran back into the books. We couldn't see it, so I tried taking the books off the shelf with the end of the broom while Brittany poked around. This technique wasn't going anywhere, so Sr. Jackie, brave soul that she is, just moved the books from the shelf with her bare hands! But we still couldn't find it. Finally, we discovered that it was chillin' on the bottom of the shelf above, upside down, and victory was ours.
This was was a little less than 5 inches in diameter and was super hairy.
These first two spiders were alright. I had known Haiti had big bugs and resigned myself to the fact that we would occasionally have to come face to face with them. I had not been expecting to see one only a few days after we arrived, or to see two in one night. I also wasn't planning on seeing two more within the next few days either.
Our third encounter with a fuzzy friend(?) was outside. The house was smelling a little funky a few days ago. Brittany said that it was probably a dead rat, so one evening she went outside to look for it. I heard her and Beth shouting up to me to come down and I instantly knew what was happening. I got my light and ran outside. Our battle this time was pretty exciting. He put up a valiant effort, and after losing it under a bag for a minute or so, we found it hiding in the grass and Brittany got it.
It's a little hard to see, but the blob in the lower right corner of the beam of light is the spider.
It is hard to get a good picture during all the commotion. The spider is under the black tube. My dad is really upset about the quality of the photos and has asked me for better pictures. I'm not going to promise anything because I don't really want to be close enough to actually get a good photo, but I may work on it...maybe.
Now for spider number four. This week, we started taking Creole lessons from a former 1st grade teacher. Our classroom is in the basement (there's a picture in a previous post). On Tuesday, we went down for class and opened the door to the outside and right there, hanging out by the hinges was a huge tarantula. It was the size of a dessert plate, no joke! Luckily there was already a broom in the room, but I ran upstairs to get the spray. By the time I got back, Madanm Chals, our teacher, had taken the broom and had brought it outside. Then she crushed it with her foot!! No way in the world would I get close enough to one of those things to even touch it with my foot, let alone step on it. But there she was, cool as a cucumber, saving our lives. I didn't get any pictures of this guy, but I'm sure there will be others.
I'm not sure if I will ever get totally used to the idea that there are giant spiders possibly lurking around every corner, but, as I have come to realize about many aspects of Haiti, I have to just accept it and try and find a way to make the best of the situation. It's not so nice while we're actually in the process of removing our unwelcome guests, but looking back, it is definitely a funny sight of all of us dancing around trying to get it or get a photo without getting too close.
No comments:
Post a Comment