After a week in Amsterdam, a week in Budapest and a week in Berlin, I am back in Conakry. Everyone asks - what did you do on vacation?! I did whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, eating whatever I wanted. I drank latte macchiatos. I bought myself red roses and shopped in organic outdoor markets. I bought pearls. I drank a half liter of raw whole milk in one day. And it was good. I even took up water color.
Back in Guinea, drinking a coffee (the instant kind, where you mix powdered coffee, sugar and if you’re lucky self-stable liquid milk, not so lucky = powdered milk that doesn’t actually dissolve) and painting with imported German watercolors, I almost feel like I am not in Conakry at all. I could be anywhere. I could be in Venice painting random flowers.
And then, it happens. Sitting at my dining table I glace up to see a HUGE spider. Twice the size of ANY spider I have ever seen in my life. I am scared of spiders in general, even the ‘little’ ones. If there was a fight between this spider and a mouse, my money is on the spider. Even a cat – I’m thinking the spider has fair odds.
I posted a picture of the beast on Facebook, and an Aunt commented ‘I bet it’s poisonous.’ First of all, thank you for that, because that had not actually crossed my mind, honestly. But now it has. And secondly, poisonous or not, this thing could kill and eat a person without venom, it was that big and scary.
I tried to best the brute with a broom, but upon approach the creature sprinted like a cheetah to the other corner of the wall, causing much screaming by myself and a friend. Much screaming. Then I stood guard, on a chair, broom in hand, while my friend went to get the security guard to come kill it.
Standing outside the door, we heard a WHACK…. WHACKWHACKWHACK…… WHACKWHACK…… WHACK….. WHACKWHACKWHACK… WHACK. When the carnage was over, we came back in to see the assailant split in two, but still taunting us with its massive legs. The gentleman not only killed the spider, but also used a broom and dustpan to contain the wreckage and remove said disturbance outside.
And I thought YES, Africa is great because I have a security guard to kill huge insects. And then I thought CRAP, in other countries I wouldn’t have giant insects to kill. So I guess it’s a wash then.
Back in Guinea, drinking a coffee (the instant kind, where you mix powdered coffee, sugar and if you’re lucky self-stable liquid milk, not so lucky = powdered milk that doesn’t actually dissolve) and painting with imported German watercolors, I almost feel like I am not in Conakry at all. I could be anywhere. I could be in Venice painting random flowers.
And then, it happens. Sitting at my dining table I glace up to see a HUGE spider. Twice the size of ANY spider I have ever seen in my life. I am scared of spiders in general, even the ‘little’ ones. If there was a fight between this spider and a mouse, my money is on the spider. Even a cat – I’m thinking the spider has fair odds.
I posted a picture of the beast on Facebook, and an Aunt commented ‘I bet it’s poisonous.’ First of all, thank you for that, because that had not actually crossed my mind, honestly. But now it has. And secondly, poisonous or not, this thing could kill and eat a person without venom, it was that big and scary.
I tried to best the brute with a broom, but upon approach the creature sprinted like a cheetah to the other corner of the wall, causing much screaming by myself and a friend. Much screaming. Then I stood guard, on a chair, broom in hand, while my friend went to get the security guard to come kill it.
Standing outside the door, we heard a WHACK…. WHACKWHACKWHACK…… WHACKWHACK…… WHACK….. WHACKWHACKWHACK… WHACK. When the carnage was over, we came back in to see the assailant split in two, but still taunting us with its massive legs. The gentleman not only killed the spider, but also used a broom and dustpan to contain the wreckage and remove said disturbance outside.
And I thought YES, Africa is great because I have a security guard to kill huge insects. And then I thought CRAP, in other countries I wouldn’t have giant insects to kill. So I guess it’s a wash then.