Got ants in your pants? Nope, I’ve got a scorpion in my pants.

Current location:

SINAC station Palo Verde National Park, Guanacaste N10°20’52’’ W85°21’10’’

There is nothing to wake you up like a scorpion stinging you. I guess it was just a matter of time before I’d get stung with the amount of scorpions that are always walking around waiving their stinger proudly in the air, but I didn’t expect being stung first thing in the morning. In order to go where we need to go we need to time the tides right. At 5.55 am it was time to get up, and like one normally does, I put on my pants with an intent to start my work day. Right as I had finished buttoning them I felt a sharp pain on my left butt-cheek. Ouch. I start jumping around hitting my ass and taking off my pants at the same time. Much like I imagine a rain-dance must have been performed back in the days in dry tropical forests like this one. I manage to take half my pants off, but I already have a shoe on and it proves difficult to remove with all the jumping going on. I finally get my pants off and a small little scorpion scurries off across the room. “So what do I do now?” I say out loudly clearly annoyed with how rapidly I got an adrenaline rush in the morning. The scorpions here are not toxic enough to cause any real damage to humans, that is of course, if you are not allergic. Awaiting a potential lethal allergic response I walked up to the dining hall and had a cup of coffee with a lot of sugar. Nothing happened to me except that I enjoyed the feeling of caffeine in my blood. I am not allergic to scorpions, now it’s established. The day went by with the usual routine of trying to find crocodile nests; i.e. digging holes all day. No luck today – maybe tomorrow.

#mfs #uppsalauniversity #stockholmuniversity #studentlife #crocodiles #nature