Ants and beetles and roaches, oh my!

I can say with certainty that there is one thing I greatly miss about Canada, and that is the lack of creepy insects and odd animals. I like to look at the cute deer and grazing goats as we pass through Jasper Park. I don't mind the mosquitos and bees in the summer. I enjoyed living in an apartment that was insect free (except for the infestation of carpet beetles, but that was NOT my fault!). It is another story altogether here. Not a day goes by now when I do not see something odd and unsightly. My newest dislike is the cockroach. I remember reading stories taking place in great American cities, where all apartments had roaches, and I also remember thinking I would rather die than live in a place with an insect that could survive a nuclear holocaust. I eat my words now. There are roaches here. There are BIG roaches here. They are so disgusting that you can't help but be in awe of them. As I write there is a 4 inch behemoth right under our patio. While I sleep I have nightmares that they will drop off our ceiling and land on our bed. Every ping or tick I hear in our place sounds like a roach. To be honest though, my nightmares are founded on nothing but imagination and wives' tales, because I have not seen a single cockroach in our apartment...yet. What we do have however, is the smallest species of ants known to mankind. They are the dwarfs of the ant world with an acute sense of smell. The peanut butter jar will have not been on the counter for more than 10 seconds when out march half of the troupe. If they weren't so pesky I would actually think them rather cute. After the ants and roaches there is the category of "insects on steroids." I am certain that the largest beetle in the world lives here. When I dropped Blake off at work the other morning we noticed a gigantor beetle nearly half the size of his shoe. He was so big he was nearly pet-keeping size. Last night while playing tennis we also saw the largest moth I ever wish to see. I interrupted Blake's and Jan's intense game with a shocked exclamation of " What the HECK was that?" We had to follow it around the court for a minute to be certain we weren't looking at a small bat. And this phenomenon doesn't stop with the insects. Yesterday I watched a giant iguana sun himself on a palm tree. I nearly swerved off the road a week ago when driving Blake home after a lizard the size of a small rotweiller came rushing along the shoulder. I do have to add that I am pretty fond of the iguanas here-you can't help but respect them when they stare you down with a look of superiority. I can even deal with the bird-eating moths and maybe... maybe even the cockroaches, but there is still one insect that makes my heart run cold. One that, should I ever see, will have me paralyzed in fear. The scariest and ugliest of them all- the scorpion. Every day that goes by without a scorpion sighting is one less I have to live here in fear of them. They are uncommon enough to warrant stories of their sightings, yet common enough to ensure you check your shoes before you wear them. Infact, a scorpion was curled up on our friends' welcome mat just last week. Finally, I just heard the news yesterday, after nearly 50 years absence, the island's namesake is back! The Caiman (a type of crocodile) are reappearing on seven mile beach now. The first sighting being on the very section Blake and I spent the day at on the weekend. With the diversity of land creatures here, I fearfully ponder what we will find underwater when we do our PADI course in 2 weeks...