Today was Wildlife Day for us here in Nicaragua. Morning surf brought warmer waters. Most Northwest surfers would envy those words, but warmer weather here brought... jellyfish! They look pretty there in that photo. I'm not sure what kind those are, but the blobby part look like what I'd seen here before, and the tentacle part looks similar to stings left on my legs.
My first visual encounter with jellyfish involves Buck and our first trip to Nicaragua. It was our last day. Me, Buck, and Hubby were out surfing. My legs dangling off the board waiting for a set.
"OUCH!" Electric stings laced my thigh. "What the hell?" Then I looked in to the water and actually saw the tell-tale bobbing glob of the jellyfish. It was about the size of my palm.
I have written about my mom before. She was a Public Health Nurse and most likely due to her exposure to pretty much everything, she lovingly tells us to be careful of everything too "Watch out for the drunks" when we'd go out at night when we were teenagers. "Watch out for avalanches" when we'd drive from the Interior of BC, to the Coast. "Watch out for sharks" When I started surfing. But these days with the PVR, she'd record shows for us. Her latest was on Box Jellyfish and Jellyfish in general and how they are taking over the world, stinging everyone in sight, so as much as I watched it and rolled my eyes, not wanting to live/surf fear-tinged... when I saw that damned jelly fish in the water, I screamed like a 4 year old girl, and I swear my board was skimming over the water as I screamed "JELLLYFIIIIIIIIISHHHHH....!" passed Buck who was himself looking down at his legs and making unhappy noises. We both motored past Hubby who saw it all and still, to this day, can't help but laugh at us. one day, my friend, one day...
See those tentacles under those pretty domes? Every beautiful lacey thread has thousands of stingers smaller than needles that inject poison in to whatever contacts them. I had a welt of every single one of those needles blistered on to my leg for weeks after Trip 1.
Jellyfish like warm water. Today it was just jellyfish bits, no tentacle wraps like last time. But sitting on a board past the break, guess where you're likely to get hit? Either lower leg, or thighs, or arms if paddling. I got INNER THIGH, and I ain't dainty when the itch comes. They blend in quite nicely with my bug bites, but you can tell the difference by their clumped blisters. I will never be a leg model of any kind...
Interesting to note: Jellyfish populations around the world are exploding due to climate change, polluted run-off (most notably industrial fertilizers) in to our oceans, and over-fishing (sharks and tuna). Because Jellyfish 'eat' plankton, smaller fish and the rest of our marine ecosystem is being thrown off significantly off balance. There is much more to be concerned about than some uncomfortable stings, crappy as they are.
BUT! With the jellyfish, came a great session. Yihoooo! Love. Peace. LIFE!
Tonight me, Hubby & Little M did an early dinner and then went on a safari for Howler monkeys (did I write about our first encounter with Howler Monkeys last trip? I will save that for a smaller post, but NEVER STAND UNDER Howler Monkies - I will say that in case you're thinking about it right now) We could hear them in the distance, so hubby and Little M thought it would be a good idea to hunt them down. We followed their guttural growls and finally, with a keen eye, we spotted a family up in the trees at sunset staking their territory. Pretty darn cool. Then a local goes by eyeballing us. Probably equivalent to people on the side of the road here, all staring in wonder at crows.
We came home to Buck & Bambam telling us a swarm of African bees have been trying to set up a new hive in our building. Coincidental since I am all in to bees right now. African bee colonies can be very aggressive (they have a large defensive zone 1/4 of a mile and a swarm can chase an offender for up to a mile), but some are gentle too. Very interesting.
My own little monkey calls, awakened from a bad dream, missing her departed kitty at home. To slumber I go.
Day 10, over and out.
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