Mosquitos and Spiders and Scorpions… OH MY!

This morning while making the bed a scorpion fell out of my pillow.  I am not sure what the worst part of this was, the fact that it was small (think baby but not the cute type, which means there are probably more), that it was black (therefore more dangerous) or that it was in my pillow!!!!

I remember watching a movie about a woman who had moved with her husband to Africa as one of the many British Colonists, I watched as the servants carted her china and set up tents so they could have a bush lunch and was amazed that anyone would be so stupid.  I think I get it now, at least a little bit better than I did.

I love our sense of adventure and awe with everything we are doing on this trip.  Seeing different cultures, how they live on a day to day basis, going to the Mercado to buy my food, living in a rented house, trying to mop the floors using a “Guatemalan Mop” and trying not to get shocked showering in a “Guatemalan Hot Shower”.  But upon finding a store that sold Balsamic Vinegar, Capers and Barrilla Pasta I was ecstatic, now I could cook a meal from home, make an approximation to a daddy salad and eat pasta that didn’t get really mushy when you cooked it.

I try to adapt to my new environment and wonder what the locals think of the white girl in their midst, but at the same time I feel like the woman from England in the movie.  Part of what I do is under the guise of health, boiling the water to wash the dishes, using only potable water to cook the rice, but I also know that part it is to make “here” feel more like home.  She did what she did because that was how it was at home and it was beyond her comprehension to do it any other way.

This morning as we moved the bed out from the wall so I could spray poison behind, around and under the bed, I wondered how much good that would do to keep the next scorpion out of my pillow and I wondered how much I will have to drink tonight before I crawl into bed so I can sleep.  Isn’t a hangover better than a scorpion bite?  I hope I never have to find out if it isn’t.