There sure are a lot of bugs out here in the tropics. Last night I had a battle with a large brown beetle who kept buzzin around my room. I tried to kick him out, but he wasn’t having any of it, and latched on to my calf—it’s surprising how much six pointy little legs can hurt. Finally I got him out the door, but then he paced outside, biding his time, for a good many minutes.

Also, every morning I wake up and discover new mosquito bites. Today there were five, including two spooky dark pink ones on my right wrist. They’re each a couple of millimetres in diameter and they’re about three-quarters of an inch apart, like a large-ish (for a bug) vampire bug attacked in the night. Yike.