Critters

Returning to Blue Creek after a couple of days in town for the Easter holiday, I was looking forward to getting back to my routine and my own bed.  After unpacking my bag and my groceries, I unrolled my yoga mat for my usual afternoon exercise, only to find a dead lizard pressed into my mat like a preserved autumn maple leaf. Rather than shock or disgust, my initial reaction was one of complacency, followed by the thought that this is something that isn't likely to happen to me back in the states. I chucked the lizard outside for the ants to take care of and cleaned my mat with some bleach water, hanging it out to dry so that I could eventually get around to the yoga part of my day. The lizard/yoga mat incident is just the latest in a string of recent close encounters with wild life that would be so very strange in my other life. Small fish getting stuck in my t-shirts when I am doing my laundry in the river, frogs jumping on my leg during my shower, snakes crossing my path on my way to the bathroom at night, and bats flying just a little too close when I am outside doing my dishes at the water-pipe; all just part of living this life.  The good news is that with just 117 days left before I return home, I can look on these encounters with a bit of amusement, knowing that someday soon it will all be just a fond memory of those wacky 2 years I spent in the jungles of Belize.

PS – So that you don’t feel too bad for me, tomorrow I am taking off for a short vacation up in Mexico, just a couple hours south of Cancun. Goodbye critters and hello Margaritas and beaches. I guess my life isn’t all that hard after all.