| It was thrilling when I saw my first Chrysina spectabilis fly to
our light in Cusuco National Park. I had never seen a living one before. It had brilliant
golden dots, and it seemed huge! Of course, when I looked at it again the next day it
didn’t seem to be nearly as big (although it was still as colorful) as it did when I
captured it. Mistaken first impressions are all part of the thrill of the hunt. |
The biting insects are horrendous at Pico Pijol National Park. Some of
the biting flies, appropriately named no-see-ums because they are so tiny you can barely
spot them, were particulary bad. It seemed like zillions attacked me every night. I used
insect repellent to keep them at bay, but after a few hours it was useless. I was
miserable. I itched for days. Fortunately, the "good bugs" at Pico Pijol are so
abundant and interesting that putting up with the horrible biting ones is possible. |
Our lousy ability to speak Spanish caused us to make a few errors while
in Honduras. On one occasion, my colleagues and I needed a break from our bug work, so we
started splashing around in one of the rivers near our research site in Cusuco. Rob
Weppler took out his special biodegradable backpacking soap and proceeded to explain to
our Honduran associates that this was sopa biodegradable, just to assure them that
it wouldn’t pollute the water. But they just looked at him funny. Hours passed before
Rob realized his mistake: Sopa means “soup” in Spanish. |
