I was on my way to the museum of amber when I encountered a comic figure of a preying mantis on the walking street . Next to him a man held a live tarantula in his hand. I had held my first tarantula at Tikal and was eager to repeat the experience. For those of you who are afraid of insects and of enormous spiders in particular, holding a tarantula may seem like something you would never do. I understand this impulse. I met my first tarantula in Australia, in my bedroom, as a 17 year old exchange student. I was scared spitless. I screamed. Despite the reassurance of my hosts that tarantulas were not agressive unless provoked and that they were good at eating insects, the tarantula was killed. In fact I smuggled it home preserved in alcohol and showed all my friends this dead massive spider. Now that I know tarantulas I am sorry I behaved so aggressively towards this gentle creature.
Museo de los Bichos, The Museum of Insects
I was on my way to the museum of amber when I encountered a comic figure of a preying mantis on the walking street . Next to him a man held a live tarantula in his hand. I had held my first tarantula at Tikal and was eager to repeat the experience. For those of you who are afraid of insects and of enormous spiders in particular, holding a tarantula may seem like something you would never do. I understand this impulse. I met my first tarantula in Australia, in my bedroom, as a 17 year old exchange student. I was scared spitless. I screamed. Despite the reassurance of my hosts that tarantulas were not agressive unless provoked and that they were good at eating insects, the tarantula was killed. In fact I smuggled it home preserved in alcohol and showed all my friends this dead massive spider. Now that I know tarantulas I am sorry I behaved so aggressively towards this gentle creature.
3 Comments
|
Louise "Luisa" Wisechild, PhDI first visited Guatemala in 1995 as a member of the Vashon Island sister city delgation to Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala. Archives
October 2023
Categories
All
|