There are pictures of spiders coming. You have been warned 😀
Panama is not the place to be if you don’t like bugs and critters. I have never seen such an interesting variety of bugs as we have here. There are some big ones, and some so tiny you can’t see how beautiful they are until you take a photo and enlarge it. I never knew there were so many kinds of bees, or ants. All of them are pretty mellow though and I don’t get bitten or stung unless I disturb an ant nest when I’m out gardening.
But, I will start with some critters.
This little guy was on the window sill by the lamp waiting for something tasty to come along.
This baby iguana was on the bushes between our house and the house next door.
Handsome fellow, isn’t he?
Nothing like an iguana on a metal roof to make you wonder what is stampeding across your house! He ducked down when he saw me but you can still see his head right in the middle of the picture
Then he went to the other side of the house and peeked at me from under the papaya tree.
The iguana in the last picture decided it was time to go, so it jumped off the roof to the ground, ran across the yard and through the chain link fence, and disappeared into the woods.
This beautiful butterfly was at my friend’s house looking our the window
This grasshopper was on a fallen flower on my car
I noticed one morning that something was eating the lime seedlings in their pot… again.. *sigh* It didn’t take me long to spot these strange looking little caterpillars, this one on the edge of the pot.
This one was on a seedling, and you can see it’s already done quite a job on the leaf in front.
This little centipede was also running around in the pot, fast enough that I was lucky to get a photo. It looks like it is wearing a beaded hat and face covering. I don’t know if this is normal. I’ll have to keep an eye out for others to see if they are the same.
The caterpillars were relocated to a large citrus tree in the back yard where there are more leaves than they could ever eat.
Time for spiders!
This really big one was found on the back side of the house, just hanging out.
These interesting spiders spin webs quite frequently in our yard.
What an interesting underside!
This one has become a friend of sorts, and has visited my outside table quite a few times.
This one is really cool!
It can run fast and jump high
Look at that face! I don’t know what is going on with all those extra parts in front
Flies are fast and I can’t get them without a fly swatter. But, the spider disappeared down the side of the table and returned shortly with a fly in its grasp!
I guess this explains the extra parts below his face. How fast do you have to be to catch a fly, and how strong to run around with it in your grasp?
Just when I think I’ve seen the coolest spider, another even more interesting one comes along! I love having an outside office where I never know what is going to visit me next.
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About Kris Cunningham
We live in David, Chiriqui Provence, Republic of Panama! This blog is about some of our experiences in our new country.
The Panama Adventure 
Love the post, Kris. Sometimes the short ones are the best ones. We look forward to discovering our own creepy-crawlies very soon. In just fourteen days we’ll be back in Boquete. Can’t wait!
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14 days? on a Sunday? Joel has a gig on that Sunday afternoon if you get in early and if you aren’t dead tired.
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We have centepedes here, which I hate. They get pretty big here, stung three times, very painful. Once one dropped on me when I was sitting outside. Don’t like to sit outside too much.
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I’ve heard that they can sting but haven’t experienced that. My neighbors also say these centipedes are harmless. Thank goodness because there are a lot of them, though the biggest I’ve seen are maybe 3-4 inches long and they are always on the ground, never in a position to drop from anywhere. I would hate that too!
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Hola Kris,
You should try sitting in the jungle for 3 days during the rainy season. At some point, it seems like the entire jungle is moving in different directions. VERY disorienting. Stuff that looks like part of a plant, or a rock, or vine starts moving. Mostly, it is small stuff but there is so much of it there is no stable point of reference.
Still, it is fascinating to watch once the hairs on your neck and arms lays back down. Then you can watch half the stuff eat the other half. The same process continues after sundown, then you only hear what is going on.
The vegetation can be a problem, at times. A friend of mine slipped in the mud and bounced off of a black palm, getting stabbed by the rough bark points. Two days later the infection was serious enough to haul him out for treatment by the medics.
Still, the beauty of the scenery makes it impossible not to be outdoors with every chance. An outdoor office sounds perfect to me. (As long as I don’t have to produce any work! LOL)
jim
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Wow, that would be an interesting experience out in the jungle! I wonder if the woods here would count? Yes, there are plenty of things that can injure you and it’s said that wounds don’t heal quickly and tend to get infected because of the high humidity. Any stab type wound of course is worse.
Yes, the outside office is a joy and I don’t produce any work either! I just write, read, paint, things I want to do, not have to do.
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Nice assortment of bugs, spiders and critters Kris (love that you make friends with spiders – I do too).
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There are so many spiders here. One night Joel put on a headlamp to do something in the yard and saw all these little green glowing things reflected back at him. They were the eyes of all the spiders! It doesn’t work with a flashlight, only a light very close to your own eyes.
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Oooh!
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