Sunday, November 26, 2006

Jungle Life - The Bad Side

What I had which I would have been happy without over the past month in the jungle:

• 3 Bee Stings
• Several (6-12) Wasp Stings
• 3 Maggots
• 2 Burning Ant Stings
• 2 Thorns in Fingers

...and finally lots and lots of Butterfly and Bee saliva and pee over most clothes.

• Bee Stings - 2 in bed after a poor effort (on Clare's behalf) of clearing out the mozzy net one night.
• Wasp Stings - when 'cleaning' some paths I cut down a branch, which I soon realised had a wasp's nest on it, and instantly saw a small cloud of insects flying towards me and next felt numerous stings on my face and hands. I then let out a classic yelp and ran. The next time I cut down a wasp's nest by accident I was much much quicker to run and did not get stung.
• Maggots - horse-flies follow mammals, including me, around and plant an egg or larva under your skin. This gradually grows and has small spines on its skin so stings whenever it turns, especially if you aggrevate it. Ba$tards! I had 3. To get it out you have to stop it breathing by covering its tiny breathing hole with glue or something. Later it dies and you have to squeeze the tiny thing out and it's fairly deep under. The things look as grim as they sound but cause more aggro than you'd expect for something so tiny...
• Burning Ant Stings - along with the numerous small bites and stings that weren't a problem, I got stung by an infamous tiny little ant known for its sting that keeps burning for about 3 hours.
• The thorns were nothing really - especially compared to Fernando's (boss/friend) who had a couple go proper deep into the palm of his hand.

Don't worry though, I absolutely loved the month out there and did and learned loads. The good side of the jungle will follow but not until I get a fair few photos up so maybe a week or two.