Critters

We have been busy, and we have a backlog of posts to make.  We had hoped to make posts that are both timely and interesting.  Apparently not able to do both, I will try to be more timely with the posts at the expense of making them interesting.

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We had been warned, and it is true, that living in Bali means keeping close company with critters.

At first we were startled by the geckos making their loud 'Eck-O', 'Eck-O' chants seemingly directly above our heads in the middle of the night.  But they are to be treated as harmless house pets.  We are now used to the sight of geckos scurrying along our walls.  In the morning we find their nocturnal presents in various locations throughout the house.  They always use the same spot, we are told.  Fortunately one of ours is housebroken as his spot is directly above our toilet.

An active mid-size brown spider that was zooming along the walls startled Alexa as she was trying to use the bathroom.  Luckily he quickly scurried out a crack in the window so that she no longer had company in the room.

We went on a trip outside of town to look at a house that we had looked at online from DC as a possible rental home.  It is owned by an artist, decorated with art, and overlooks a spectacular river gorge.  Looking in the far corner of the small room that served as the outdoor shower, we noticed a wonderful piece of art- an over-sized spider with a five-inch black and yellow body perched on webbing that stretched nearly from floor to ceiling.  On second glance, we realized of course that it was a real spider.  The owner, despite of showing his property to prospective tenants, had not wanted to disturb it.  We found the house too treacherous for kids so our decision not to rent was the right one, despite our missing out on having the company of that glorious spider during our showers. 

We have to be careful as soon as night falls to quickly shut behind us the doors to our rooms, which all open to the outside, so as not to attract a swarm of insects to the brightly lit rooms.  This is a lesson quickly learned.

There are many other animal encounters - from the monkeys overspilling the local Monkey Forest attraction and climbing up the walls of neighboring shops, to stepping around roosters on the sidewalk, to seeing the informal transport of chickens, pigs and cows on the back of trucks.

So far we have tried not to bother the critters too much, and they haven't bothered us too much, and we hope to keep it that way.