Creatures That We Lived With

One thing that kept things interesting was discovering new creatures inside our house, around our house, and very close by as we traveled.

Of course, there are spiders.

The spooky thing that Stefan discovered is how to find spiders quickly at night. Just put your flashlight on your forehead and look. Their many tiny eyes reflect the light right back at you. When we were out at the Sian Ka'an Bio-Reserve in Tulum, we astounded to see just how many spiders were out hunting at night… like this tarantula that Stefan found.



There are insects all over, and it’s a good idea to check your towel before you use it.

(We’ve summited!)

That first guy is a Pseudoscorpion. They are supposedly not dangerous. There are also scorpions that appear on your walls, in your shower, in your kitchen, etc. – especially after a rain.

These guys are supposedly not dangerous either. But, their sting may be worse than a bee (luckily, we don’t know for sure). We were told that it is the light brown scorpions that one should worry about. This guy here was about the size of a dollar bill. The baby scorpions, in comparison, are tiny and could hide themselves on a penny. One time I tried to get a picture of a little one as he sauntered across our dining room. I put a coin down next it to show scale, and then the little bugger scampered off under a chair! Well, that chair got put outside and hosed down.

One night, I found a mantis who was about as curious of me as I was of him

Off course there are many types of moths and butterflies. It's hard to tell in these photos, but these guys are HUGE!

(Do you see the spider? Click on the photo to see a bigger version. If you like, you can click on all photos.)

With all these insects, there are animals to eat them. Throughout the nights, one hears the geckos chirping away. They patrol each room clearing out spiders, mosquitoes, and other things. We liked the geckos.

One day coming home, we found this guy at our front door. He had such beautiful colors that these photos just don’t do him justice. We checked him out for a while and then herded him across the street back to the park.

Our neighbor (and friend) had many cats – probably over twenty. They’d check us out whenever we went into the backyard. And, they would come inside and sleep on our beds and checkout the fridge if we left a door or window open.

Pato!

Ok. Stefan was reading in the back room when he heard a good thump. It turns out a duck had crashed into our backyard. Yes, a duck! There are no lakes anywhere near us (It’s the Yucatan, most all rivers and water are underground in cenotes.). So, he must have escaped from a neighbor. Now, all the cats were very interested in this duck. So, we had to find his home. I checked out the backyard to look into other neighbor’s backyards. But I didn’t get to far because it is HUGE! The open space in the middle of the blocks as a couple football fields in size -- all over-grown. Anyway, we never found the owner. But, Sasha and a friend found a family that knew of a family that had pet chickens and stuff. They took Pato off our hands.


Cuco!

And then there is Cuco. Cuco lives in a tailor’s shop. Cuco and Stefan became best of friends. Cuco would happily bite our fingers and keep us away, but Cuco was the happiest bird when Stefan was around. I think there will be a parrot in our home some time soon.

Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading,
Tim (et.al)

Sasha's Birthday, 5/1/06

How does one throw a birthday party here. We don't really know. What we do know is that they are usually big deals with lots of friends and lots of food. The start after 9pm and end before 5am the next day.

We decided to start off with a quiet family gathering early that morning.

The big party was at the Aquatica Centre. Since we didn’t dye and hide eggs on Easter, that’s what we did today. This was kind of a novelty.



Afterwards, it was time to swim. What’s interesting about this facility is that there are three pools. Two of the pools are over many kid’s heads. One of the pools has two big slides that whip you pretty good. For the few that know how to swim, I did not see any strong swimmers. There are no rules. There are no lifeguards. But, there is a whole lot of fun! Run, dive, jump, go down the slide in groups of three. Man, talk about freedom! BTW, that is Marcos on top of the slide. He is a favorite soccer (football) sparring partner of Sasha’s.

After swimming, it was time for food and cake.

And then, of course, the bashing of the piñata.

It was a fun day.

Coba 4/21/06

Hi all,

Coba is a small town between Valladolid and Tulum. It is built around a few lakes. And this is rare because there are very few lakes on the interior. One of the attractions here are an extensive set of pyramids.



Of course, there is a Ball Courte (actually, there are two).

One nice thing about Coba is that is more free to climb and explore the structures. This is always fun.

It’s a few kilometers between the major building groups. There are bike taxis available.

Or you can rent a bike to explore on your own.



Coba has one of the tallest pyramids in the region.

There is a room at the top, a very cool place after a blazing hot climb (it was hot that day).

When you are done with the above ground tour, head over to a cave.

And, swim in a cenote!!



Cheers,
T&3S