Super-local wildlife

In the endless summer of Dezam, we generally measure seasons by the kind of insect or animal that invades our house. We've been through little brown centipedes, crickets (our least favorite: chirping + a concrete house = ear-ringing noise), a winged ant, spiders, and tree frogs. They come in hordes for a week or two and are then replaced with something else.

We do, however, have a few old standbys: ants (boo, hiss) and lizards. Most lizards in Haiti are arboreal and climb on everything, so when we kept seeing lizards on the floor (and helping them out of the sink when they get stuck) we pitied them. "Poor little things - guess they can't make it out in the world since they can't seem to climb."

It turns out these are terrestrial lizards (ah!) and that they can climb a little. We recently hung a new curtain in the kitchen, and one of them loves to hang out there in the evening. You have never seen a snugglier lizard - you would think we wrapped up a hot water bottle and ticking clock in a soft towel and tucked him in, he looks so comfortable.

And we recently found another checking out one of our papier mache dinosaurs:

(Sorry the photo's a little blurry - it spooked after the first shot and I couldn't get another.)

We don't really mind the lizards, but we do wish they would take a little more advantage of the revolving buffet the world brings them in our living room. Come on, guys: you eat the bugs, we promise not to step on you. Deal?