WHY A MEXICAN LADY SLAPPED ME ! ! !

Yes, I was just sitting there, listening to the sermon in Spanish in the Cruz de Cristo Lutheran Church in Mahahual and the lady next to me slapped me on the arm. That was a surprise.

Out of concern for me, she had just killed a TABANO on me.  Those critters are NOT to be ignored and common courtesy here is to help each other by keeping them from biting someone next to you, if you can.

They are of at least three colors:  yellow (I find most common), green and black)

 

The sting/itch usually lasts about 15 minutes and for me, after that it doesn't bother me much.  For others, they get a big welt and it lasts for days. The Tabanos come out of the mangroves.  If there is a strong breeze from the ocean, we hardly encounter them.  But the worst is about five o'clock in the afternoon, especially if little wind is blowing or the it comes from the west, out of the mangroves.  You plan your outside parties at noon or early afternoon.


In English, they are referred to as the Tabanid Fly, one of many members of the Horse Fly family.
This photo from Wikipedia shows the biting mouth well.

TRAVELING TO COMPECHE

 

 

Campeche is a state in the Yucatán Peninsula, and also a city in Campeche.  The city is located on the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Jim and I have just returned from visiting in the state of Campeche for a week.   One of the highlights was seeing the jade mask of Jaguar Claw which had been transferred from a pyramid in Calakmul to the San Miguel Fortress Museum of Mayan Culture. Along with a mask from Palenque, this one was one I had long wanted to see.

 

 

 

 

 As we were driving south from Campeche we were allowed us into the dock of one of the largest fleet of shrimp boats in the Yucatán, located in the town of Lerma. We were met by 6 guards at the entrance to the dock. We explained that Jim had been a commercial fisherman in Washington and were very interested in viewing their boats, etc. We signed some papers, left our driver's license and were told to wear the visiting badges. We were warned not to take photos of the Navy Patrol boats also moored there, and finally we were allowed entry.

Only one boat appeared to be new and most were well used and loaded heavily with fishing equipment, nets, freezers, diesel cannisters etc. for their trips out in the Gulf for up to 8 weeks.

 

Fisherman mending nets.

 

Only one boat had just come in...no shrimp, but a load of Balá, or Raya Blanca...a kind of ray.

 

 

 

Farther down the coast at Champotón, we saw many, many fishing boats but they were much smaller.  See the white nets?

 

 

 

BET YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THESE BEFORE!!

Part of the fun of travel are new adventures and finding things you've never seen before. Being in the Yucatán allows for lots of those. Here are two examples.

Here's the first.  What are those four white things below?  I had never seen them before.   They are future animals. Make a guess? (That's my pen there to give you an idea of how small they are.)

 

These are the eggs of the Common House Gecko of the Yucatán.  Their gestation period is 60 to 120 days, far longer than I had guessed.  Last year I had a bad time sleeping due to what I had thought were crickets.  I was temporarily sleeping in my anti-gravity chair in the kitchen at night because of my recovering hip.  The sound was really loud and shocking...over and over again with pauses in between. 

Krrrk krrrk krrrk krrrk krrrk krrrk!

 

Now I learned it is the male mating call and the owners of the house where we were staying decided to totally eradicate them after they arrived.  We haven't had any problems this year with the noise although I have found 2 in the bathroom. I don't know if the following is true about the Common House Gecko but this is true for some geckos:   Sex is determined by temperature. This means that you can determine the sex of hatchlings by incubating at a specific temperature. Incubating at 85 degrees Fahrenheit will give a good balance of male to female hatchlings. Incubating at around 82 degrees Fahrenheit will give you mostly females and upping the incubation temperature to 88 degrees Fahrenheit will give you mostly males. It is thought that the temperature determined sex is only within the first 21 days of incubation, after this period of time the sex of the hatchling is locked in.

 

Hm...I wonder if that could ever apply to humans?

 

Common House Gecko of the Yucatán

Ok, here's the second.

 

 

 

 

Well, you probably guessed this one.  It's the head and neck of a chicken I bought.  I found it totally amazing in  how did they EVER skin the HEAD so well.  I have never tried to do this and totally appreciate their ability to extract the windpipe, etc, so neatly.

 

Jim is leaving tomorrow for awhile to work with some other men in the neighborhood.  They will be fixing the jungle dirt road, holes, rocks, etc. a few kilometers away from us.  Many have already repaired the road near their own property.  Also, the rains have lessened and the roads are becoming more passable again.

 

We planted 6 small Royal Palms on our property last week, saw the Super Bowl with friends in Mahahual bar and restaurant El Padrino.  I especially enjoyed Renée Fleming, the fine soprano who sang the National Anthem, and also Bruno Mars.  Manning just seemed to be always studying his plays with the papers in hand. Way to go SEAHAWKS !!!!!