Rich in Lizards

When Subash was growing up, lizards were just another nuisance. Like a moth getting in the house and fluttering uselessly at the lights. He remembers studying and having them drop down on to him from the ceiling and having to brush them off.

There is an almanac called the Panchangam that includes a "palli dosham" -- what it means when a lizard falls on you, by body part. There are different meanings for men and women. Here is one of the charts I found when I searched online:

For me, and I know for my brother, the idea that lizards could be SO normal and so everywhere that they have to divide up one falling on to you into this many categories is mind blowing. 

Perhaps if we had grown up with them so common they would not have such a hold on us, but for me a lizard can only ever mean one thing, one internal monologue that comes as a shout: WOWLOOKAWESOMECATCHIT.

This reaction was instilled in me from birth by nature-loving parents, and practiced over many trips to the southwest as a child, where we spent hours chasing after lizards large and small. 

On this trip I have refrained from trying to catch anything so far, mostly because I don't want them to drop their tails and suffer those consequences just so I can touch them, and also because I probably couldn't if I tried. Instead I have just been watching them, both in passing and specifically, sitting still, thinking statue thoughts, until I blend in with the background and they come out.

From what I can tell this one lives inside this clay lamp. It's the perfect spot during the day, protected and shaded but close to the action. It can pop out to catch some insects and then go back again. I think most of what I've seen so far are Gray's Speckled Anoles and Leaf Anoles, although I'm not certain.

After one rainstorm there was a hatch or a morph or something of what I think were flying ants. For a few hours only they were everywhere, buzzing against the concrete wall by our room and slipping through the cracks in the door. The lizards had a field day, running out to catch one, working their mouths to fit the papery wings in, then running back. The best picture I could get isn't very clear, but you can see the outlines of the insect sticking out of the lizard's mouth at least.

Another time after the rain I saw a lizard crawling down a thin vine of flowers. It dangled precariously, clinging to the end of the plant where the flowers were.  It lowered its head to the base of the flower and drank. Water? Nectar? I'm not sure how it could get nectar from that side of a flower, but if it was just water there seem to be any number of easier choices. After drinking it went back up the vine and back to its normal business, leaving me to wonder.

Today around 7 pm we are heading off to Barbados. I hope there are lizards there too. For now, I am a wealthy woman, with lizards scampering from the palms, darting out from between where that concrete sculpture meets the pool edge, rustling through the leaves, waiting for the rain to stop.