Snakes, scorpions and tarantulas.

I had my very first close encounter with the local serpent population the other week. It was a scary incident but no one or the snake was harmed. We were stepping across some grassland next to the beach and I, just in time, noticed something moving under my foot. It was a very long snake, about 1.5 meters, very slim and with a head like a viper. They tend to be triangular, the heads that is. The interesting and scary thing about this one was that it was moving with its head high in the air. I had never seen a snake do that other than cobras so it felt quite threatened I guess. Anyway, it glid off into the grass and eventually disappeared. I will attach a video, see if you can see it, it was well camouflaged. So upon return home I looked it up and it turns out it was a harmless vine snake. They aren’t poisonous and very docile. I should have caught it. Next time? I think not.

And on the subject of wildlife we have been quite the naturalists. I found a zebra tarantula hiding in a burrow under some bags of cement. It pays to wear protective gloves here, preferably thick enough to resist stings and bites. But the tarantula was not aggressive and just sat there in its burrow waiting for the annoyance to pass. Which I did, but only after marking the spot and covering her up again. The females live for 20 or more years would you believe. However the males are a little less long lived.

And Daniela has been the resident exterminator in our lovely house. I think the scorpions must find it lovely too. They come in through any crack in the door. They are usually tiny ones but stingers nonetheless. They are obviously quickly despatched with a flip flop. I found one under a log I was cutting the other day. But this one was a lot bigger! About 5 inches long with a very threatening sting. I didn’t kill it, I don’t like killing things. After all it is I who have moved into their territory and therefore I feel obliged to respect their ways and leave them alone. This one was a little close for comfort, though, so I brushed it away with a stick. Unfortunately it went into a hole in the log I was about to rip as a fencepost. Damn. Tried to coax it out but gave up and just cut the log and hoped for the best. It would have been just my luck to cut straight through the tail and the chainsaw fling the sting into my face. It didn’t but this was on my mind as I cut through the log. I attach a picture of half a scorpion.

We have progressed nicely with the land and the permission applications. We have now appointed an architect to submit the drawings which is a great step. He assured us it would take no more than 8 weeks from now so we are very excited about that. A new road has been created and compacted ready for the delivery trucks bringing sand, cement, concrete and steel. This was an urgent thing on the list as the rains are beginning and when they do come in full no trucks would be able to enter our property so we did it. 

I got the digger driver to create the road right up to the main house and now we can see how it will look. I am better than Dani at envisaging/imagining what things will look like with careful planting and landscaping. She just trusts my vision and isn’t that a nice thing?I think it will be terrific!

I have also been cutting logs as posts for our perimeter. The wood here is very hard. I have used quebracho which is typical for fencing. You just chainsaw a log into two or three pieces dig a hole, throw the post in along with lots of stones and compact it down as hard as you can. It makes for a pretty firm post and saves a bunch of time and effort mixing concrete. The fence only needs to last us a few years because we are planting inside the posts with bougainvillea, hibiscus and limoncello. After this has taken root and grown the fence will be unnecessary. But for now we need to keep the cows out. They tend to roam wherever they wish and eat everything in their path so we have to create something to protect our saplings and seedlings. 

I am also going to create banks on top of dead wood around the perimeter in which I will plant the hibiscus and bougainvillea. It’s called hugelkultur. The wood rots and provides nutrients to the plants above via their roots. It is a clever and ancient technology which a lot of permaculturalists use. I will also create, dig, a zig zag running from high to low through the trees. This will be a path through our edible garden but also a channel for the water, which we will have lots of. The idea is that the water will be held for longer, seeping through the ground to all the new plants and also increasing the water table. It is also a traditional skill used for generations. The earth you remove is banked up on the downhill side giving you a bed to plant in and a conduit for the water. We have a very clay rich soil which tends to hold water longer. So keeping the rainwater on the land as long as possible will be most beneficial.

I may even have all that water end up in a pond at the bottom. This is still just an idea but I have been reading about waste water management from sinks and dishwashers etc. This would run out of the house to a reed bed which filters the grey water naturally. The water leaves the reed bed and goes off to the pond where it is further cleansed by the plants in the water. I wouldn’t drink it but it can be used for irrigation later in the year when the rains stop. Which is where the problem lies. How long would a pond last in the dry season? I am still looking into it as I said. More research required.

We happened upon a huge amount of bamboo being given away by our friends in Junquiall. It is giant bamboo some of it up to 6 inches diameter. I jumped at the offer. Bamboo is such an amazing and strong material. You can landscape with it, build with it (I won’t be, but many do) you can cut it in half and make irrigation channels with drip watering included, or even make plant pots out of it. The uses are so many I can’t list them all. But we now have a huge amount of it. I have already used some to build a shelter for shade and protection from the rain when it comes. 

All in all the past month has been quite an adventure. Learning new ways of relaxing, beginning to understand and adopt the Tico style of life which is wonderful.

Next time. Pura Vida.