RANDOM I - gecko

In Colombian apartments we leave all of the doors (except the principal door of course) and windows open to allow airflow and circulation in. Even on a scorching hot day it feels a hundred times better than any air conditioning unit; not to mention delicious mountain air and zero negative affects on the planet from having windows open. Once in a while a bee or a fly will make its way into the apartment which doesn't bother me just as long as they don't lay eggs in my food or eat at my flesh while I am asleep. Luckily, very rarely do mosquitoes make it up to this altitude especially in a metropolitan environment like Medellín. Still I prefer a bug free zone while indoors; outdoors is fair game obviously. My bug free zone may have been answered by nature.

Another interesting aspect about most Latin American countries is that one cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet because the pipes cannot handle anything more than fecal matter and other fluids. Therefore, every bathroom comes with a waste basket to dispose of toilet paper, tampons, q-tip (cotton swabs), etc...my private bathroom is no different. Although my waste basket has a lid on it it still has the potential to attract unwanted poo-eaters. Gross but I'm happy from an environmental point of view that there are things willing to eat my waste. The window to my shower/bathroom cannot be closed which, if bugs could write and comprehend the Latin alphabet & the English language, there could've been the possibility of a tiny neon sign saying, "Welcome poo-eaters". I pray to the gods and the angels that a future employer reads this blog.

Nature has provided me with a good solution to a problem I don't have but would like to prevent from happening. For the past week there has been a gecko living in my bathroom. He just hangs out by the window, eats bugs all day, and enjoys the humidity while and after I bathe myself with sweet scented soaps and shampoos with cold water*. The gecko doesn't have a name nor do I plan to name him/her because, well, I don't need to provide an explanation. But I do consider him/her a pet in a way strange way. Commensalism is a beautiful relationship in nature; (s)he benefits from the bugs outside my window along with the humidity while I am unaffected (because I've never had a bug problem, therefore the relationship is not considered a mutualism relationship).

But when I finally bring a vieja muy buena (attractive young lady) into my shower I hope that the gecko doesn't kill the mood. Then our relationship (between the gecko and myself) would be what is called by biologists a parasitism relationship because parasites - in this case the gecko - reduce host fitness in many ways (i.e. depriving me from making sweet love in the shower with a beautiful young lady because she is frightened and/or disturbed that I allow a gecko to chill out near the shower...what a mood killer and ball buster). If that is the case, I would then have to nicely ask the gecko to leave or even better take him with me to the Botanical Gardens of Medellín to give him a better home.

If I had batteries I would take a picture of the cute fellow.

*I haven't bathed with hot water since I moved into my new apartment (except for my time in Bogotá because it is a cold place (12Cº/53Fº)). It's not needed here in Medellín and my roommate and I are environmentally & fiscally conscience.