Sorry, I know my last blogs were about leeches and cockroaches, but I am sick of bugs (and I think subconsciously focusing on it to make leaving in five days easier...that's gonna suck).
I was sitting in bed last night watching the Full House of spiders, three of a kind of the "peek-a-boo" type and a pair of the thick black ones that are in their nesting season so are spinning and inhabiting cocoons all over the place. (I have never seen spiders make a cocoon and then live in it for weeks, coming out occasionally to feed/prowl and I think mate?) I call the big flat ones peek-a-boo's because they love hiding behind and under stuff, but only hide their bodies, leaving 4 or 8 long legs sticking out, depending on how thick whatever they're hiding behind is. (These are the jumping ones that reminded me to live my birthday as an everyday.)
Then I saw a sixth, which was dark black with two yellow stripes and was way more aggressive than the others. It was living on the curtain, just above my head, and when I'd open the curtain in the morning he'd sometimes take a big base jump off it on a silk strand, so out of curiosity I asked our host about it. He related that that kind of spider is highly venomous and can spit its venom. Apparently if it gets on your skin "much disturbance" and in your eyes "blindness" and on your tongue "(shake of the head and serious expression)." As far as I know I don't sleep with my tongue out, but just to be sure I borrowed their vacuum cleaner and slurped the little bastard away. He led me a merry chase before I cornered him. I left the vacuum on for awhile to make sure he was all the way inside. (Though then I sucked up two silverfish before returning the machine, so maybe I kidnapped him to buffet paradise.)
Brushing my teeth last night I watched one of the centipedey-worm things (the ones we found under K's pillow one night) wander around the walls until finding one of the nest-building spiders on top of its cocoon. The wormy killed the arachnid in epic and repulsive combat then spent the next hour or so eating all the (relatively) fleshy parts of the body, before letting the body drop, where it hung from one of its own silk lines, vanquished and humiliated, like a desiccated trophy. The centipedey thing then tried to find his way into the cocoon. He was initially frustrated by the cottony thickness, but found his ingress in the seam with the ceiling. Soon the overly mobile top part of its body was inside, blurred as it went about devouring the contents in what I reckon would be the most repulsive thing imaginable if seen clearly. I took a picture, which I'll upload for your pleasure (and disappointment, it's not that clear) once we get back to Belgium...next week.
I'm going to miss 99% of Nepal.
I was sitting in bed last night watching the Full House of spiders, three of a kind of the "peek-a-boo" type and a pair of the thick black ones that are in their nesting season so are spinning and inhabiting cocoons all over the place. (I have never seen spiders make a cocoon and then live in it for weeks, coming out occasionally to feed/prowl and I think mate?) I call the big flat ones peek-a-boo's because they love hiding behind and under stuff, but only hide their bodies, leaving 4 or 8 long legs sticking out, depending on how thick whatever they're hiding behind is. (These are the jumping ones that reminded me to live my birthday as an everyday.)
Then I saw a sixth, which was dark black with two yellow stripes and was way more aggressive than the others. It was living on the curtain, just above my head, and when I'd open the curtain in the morning he'd sometimes take a big base jump off it on a silk strand, so out of curiosity I asked our host about it. He related that that kind of spider is highly venomous and can spit its venom. Apparently if it gets on your skin "much disturbance" and in your eyes "blindness" and on your tongue "(shake of the head and serious expression)." As far as I know I don't sleep with my tongue out, but just to be sure I borrowed their vacuum cleaner and slurped the little bastard away. He led me a merry chase before I cornered him. I left the vacuum on for awhile to make sure he was all the way inside. (Though then I sucked up two silverfish before returning the machine, so maybe I kidnapped him to buffet paradise.)
Brushing my teeth last night I watched one of the centipedey-worm things (the ones we found under K's pillow one night) wander around the walls until finding one of the nest-building spiders on top of its cocoon. The wormy killed the arachnid in epic and repulsive combat then spent the next hour or so eating all the (relatively) fleshy parts of the body, before letting the body drop, where it hung from one of its own silk lines, vanquished and humiliated, like a desiccated trophy. The centipedey thing then tried to find his way into the cocoon. He was initially frustrated by the cottony thickness, but found his ingress in the seam with the ceiling. Soon the overly mobile top part of its body was inside, blurred as it went about devouring the contents in what I reckon would be the most repulsive thing imaginable if seen clearly. I took a picture, which I'll upload for your pleasure (and disappointment, it's not that clear) once we get back to Belgium...next week.
I'm going to miss 99% of Nepal.
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