Crazy-Ass Insects

I know crazy-ass isn't the most intellectual term I could use to describe the following insects but I was in the forest, I was tired and hot, and that is the first thing that came to mind.

Terrestrial leeches. If you have never come across a terrestrial leech you are lucky. They live in tropical forests and come out when the forest is moist. They love our necks, mostly because that is the only skin that is exposed since you can't go out in the forest without pants and long sleeves. I now refer to their bites as leach hickies. Luckily I have only had one, so far.

Another insect, Jamie and I both despise, is a cross between a fly and what looks like a termite. It has the most painful bites and leaves a tiny puss-like welt which also hurts. Oh yeah, I am bringin' sexy back. The insect which amazes me here is the ant. There are at least 10 different species of ants here and some of them are as big as a spider. They love worms. Every day I see a group of ants attack a worm and then carry it off as food for later. A group of ants carried away a 13 inch worm yesterday! They are strong. I'll admit it's gross to watch but fascinating at the same time.

I was disappointed today after being in the forest for 9 1/2 hours and following the Gibbons for 7 of that. We lost them at the very end of the day when trying to figure out their night trees. They ran so fast Jamie and I couldn't keep up. I clumsily went through a huge group of ants and had hundreds of them all over me. Then she did the same. The day wasn't wasted though since we watched them grooming each other for the first time, which is pretty incredibly cute.

I can't really comment much on Thai food in general since the only restaurant I have eaten at is the one in the park and I use the term restaurant very loosely. It is basically an outdoor kitchen with wooden benches but Bahn makes a pretty wicked Pad Thai. I sure could use a Chef Salad right about now though or chips and salsa.