Nov
18
2010
A typical night at Rainsong
Author: KristiWhile I was making dinner one night I saw a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness of the night. Slightly worried I called one of the other volunteers down to the kitchen to investigate with me. It was a strange creature that had lurked in the dark a few nights before, a tepizcuintle, who had returned this evening. One of the other volunteers had named this creature Inspector Squinty (long story). A tepizcuintle is the largest rodent in central America.
Later that night one of the volunteers was going to bed long after I had and saw something strange happen. I got up out of my hammock and just stood there. She asked me what I was doing and I then realized I was sleep walking. So I crawled back into my hammock and went back to sleep, I think I may have freaked the other volunteer out a bit!
The next night we all decided to stay in and watch a movie on my laptop. The laptop died at the perfect moment, because once we turned the light on there were ants swarming around our feet. I was the first to notice and I yelped out. Everyone jumped up on to the picnic table and just stared in awe of how many millions of little ants were all around us. A huge swarm had engulfed Jackie’s backpack that was sitting on a decrepit couch we all avoid sitting on (maybe for this very reason). We took lots of pictures til they moved on and we decided to call it a night.
I was dreaming about the ant encounter and started sleep walking again. I hopped out of my bed with a loud scream and was in distress because I could not find a flashlight. In a fit of anger I tossed everything off my bedside table searching for my light. Also I did not want to move my feet because I was certain there were ants crawling everywhere. In the middle of this fit I realized that I was sleep walking and got back into bed.
The next night, it was storming and raining outside so we stayed in again. We had now figured out that the ants do not like light, therefore we kept the lights on while watching a movie. There was no “natural” excitement in the night, so Jackie found a way to amuse us all. She tied a fishing line to Kristi’s hammock and after all the lights were turned off she gave the line a tug. Kristi screamed and thought something was attacking her foot. She didn’t notice the line so we were able to do this a few more times before she figured it out. We all had a good laugh.
As the creatures of the night do not like rain, they seek shelter in our room. Poor Melanie woke up at 2am to find her bed and herself covered in ants. When she woke up in disgust she awoke Sonya, sleeping next to her. Sonya herself found a large quantity of ants covering her bed as well. Oddly enough, this is the one night I slept soundly through the commotion.
That morning we all woke up to the sound of Sonya’s shriek. She had been stung by a scorpion that had made a home her pant leg. She was brave and didn’t cry, but you could tell she was in a lot of pain. We all rushed to her aid and got her a cold compress and elevated her leg. The pain subsided after an hour or so but it was still quite tender for the rest of the day.
Tags: Army Ants, Rainsong, scorpian, tepizcuintle