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I apologize for the personal and unrelated content of this post. You see, what happened to me today was one of those things that linger on your mind for the whole day (OK, it has only been
First let me give you some context so that you can understand my experience better. I live in "the island". The island as in LOST. I'm not exaggerating, nor trying to be funny, I truly live in the Island. I'm the "others", I'm part of the Dharma Initiative, only that Dharma here is a huge mining company messing with nature instead experimenting with it. The only difference is that you can locate us on a map, our food is not labeled with dharma stickers and you can get off the island every 6 months by plane (no submarine). As for the rest, is quite similar. Our houses are yellowish, there is a book club, everyone at the site wears an uniform and our "Ben" likes to fire people instead of kill them. And there is the jungle, wild wild jungle, just as in Lost.
So, now that I have given you some context I can move forward to tell you about today. Today was THE DAY. From the bottom of my heart, or shall I say, the very deep in my head, I knew this day would come. I've been living in the island for almost 4 months and everyone has said it: the day will come. For some it has been longer, for others shorter, but for me it was today.
It started very good, I was really happy that after 2 consecutive days of pouring rain I was able to go out for a run. The day was beautiful: blue sky, sun shinning bright, not hot, just perfect for a morning run.
I was on my daily routine: wake up, quick shower, running clothes on, give Matthew a bottle, prepare everything, change him, on the stroller, and out for a run. Or I think I was. The problem is, between changing Matthew and putting him on the stroller something happened. As I walked into the kitchen to get to the entrance room I saw it. I panicked. It creep everything out of me. The most horrendous, disgusting, revolting creature: A giant Centipede, and by giant I mean almost 10 inches long and 1.2 inches wide. Centipedes are venomous, a single bite can cause fever, chills, swelling, weakness (not to mention huge pain) and in children can even cause anaphylactic shocks. And they are everywhere here in the island!
To make things worst I had left my phone at the entrance (remember when I said I was getting prepared for a run?) So I couldn't call husband to ask him what to do (obviously the answer would have been: kill it) or to seek comfort (let's face it I needed someone to hear me screaming). Shoes were right next to it so that was out of the equation. Just the fact that this revolting creature was going to coexist in my home, with me and my cute little boy, gave me the courage to attempt murder. And so I did. I braved myself, took a large thick cutting board and dropped it on top of it. Then I stood on top and made sure it was dead.....YUCK! (triple times). Then I knew I had to do the inevitable, take it to the garbage, 'cause the idea of that thing in my home was nauseating. So with an icky expression on my face (which I still think have), I lifted it with a shovel and took it outside to the garbage bin (glad the the garbage it's being picked up today).
I really hope you never have to deal with such a stomach-turning creature. I'm a city girl and this wilderness I'm dealing with it's just too much, not fun at all! About two weeks ago a spider came down my running shorts while I was pulling them up, yuck + panic attack all the way, and now this, I wonder what awaits for me in the next couple of weeks. It's really making me consider consider (which means consider the idea of considering) staying a little bit longer in the US on our next R&R and take the flight back all by myself with an 18 month old baby (23 hours of air time alone). We'll see what happens. If I was brave enough to kill a giant centipede maybe I'm brave enough to fly 23 hours (3 flights) with a baby. And yes, I just took a peek under the table, still in panic.
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