Welcome to Paraguay....
cockroach style! Apparently it isn't just the human denizens of this area who throw out the welcome mat. Let me get you in the right mindset. I am staying in a 4-star hotel in a well-to-do suburban area of Asuncion. This place is run by Germans. This hotel is spotless, the lawns are manicured (I'll take a picture for you), everything is clean. They even have high quality German shower heads, I know the brand from traveling in Germany. Everything is orderly - in the proper German way.
Since it was Sunday yesterday I decided to stay in my hotel room the whole day to work on the website and just rest. As I was going about my business, nearly ready to go to bed for the evening at 10PM I turned toward the small desk and practically jumped out of my skin! In a glass I had been drinking out of earlier was the largest cockroach I had ever seen. It's main body is equivalent in size to (3) average sized middle fingers. Side to side and from the tips to the knuckles -- not including the antennae. I couldn't believe my eyes. Where did it come from? Clearly it was thirsty for it must have been drinking whatever few drops of beer were left in the glass.
I promptly covered it with a small tissue box and took every empty bottle and glass to a small table outside of my room. Later, I crammed a plastic bottle in the glass - suffocating the cockroach. Upon further inspection it turned out there were 2 large cockroaches. Mating? I don't know. Each was about the size of 2.5 fingers. Crawling on top of each other they must have appeared larger. At this point I was spooked. Were there other roaches around? As I started lifting items off the floor, a couple smaller ones scurried from beneath one of my bags - disappearing under my bed. Kids?
Frankly - I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. I've lived with ants, spiders running around my home in California before. They didn't really bother me. Use the vacuum, spray a little, set out a few traps, they disappear for several months - except for a few spider webs in distant ceiling areas. Not a problem, spiders eat ants. I've encountered cockroaches before while traveling - usually outside - but NEVER this big. If I was in a dingy room - ok, but I'm not. I ventured outside to the front desk, which was closed, but I ran into a security guard. He brought along a small iron handle broom. With me moving furniture, we killed one small one. Another one got away behind a dresser before disappearing. He offered to put me up in the room next door. I gladly accepted.
Right now the room I was in is being fumigated. I wonder if they think I trapped the large cockroaches in the glass? Yea -- I lured them there. It was sheer luck that the 2 big ones were in there. Before I moved any of my bags to my new room I emptied them out in the hallway and examined every crevice. I also turned my clothes inside out. Hopefully I didn't miss anything. If I did - maybe you'll hear my scream echoing.
Maybe they crawled through the window I had opened earlier? A crack somewhere? Maybe thery were lying under the bed all this time? Don't be jealous that you are not in Paraguay. When do I go to Buenos Aires?
PS: I could have taken a picture but I don't want to sicken myself any further. Anyone who knows me - knows I don't exaggerate. In fact - when you read what I write, I tend to be pretty precise. So find a picture of a cockroach on the web, and put your fingers together and let your imagination wander.
cockroach style! Apparently it isn't just the human denizens of this area who throw out the welcome mat. Let me get you in the right mindset. I am staying in a 4-star hotel in a well-to-do suburban area of Asuncion. This place is run by Germans. This hotel is spotless, the lawns are manicured (I'll take a picture for you), everything is clean. They even have high quality German shower heads, I know the brand from traveling in Germany. Everything is orderly - in the proper German way.
Since it was Sunday yesterday I decided to stay in my hotel room the whole day to work on the website and just rest. As I was going about my business, nearly ready to go to bed for the evening at 10PM I turned toward the small desk and practically jumped out of my skin! In a glass I had been drinking out of earlier was the largest cockroach I had ever seen. It's main body is equivalent in size to (3) average sized middle fingers. Side to side and from the tips to the knuckles -- not including the antennae. I couldn't believe my eyes. Where did it come from? Clearly it was thirsty for it must have been drinking whatever few drops of beer were left in the glass.
I promptly covered it with a small tissue box and took every empty bottle and glass to a small table outside of my room. Later, I crammed a plastic bottle in the glass - suffocating the cockroach. Upon further inspection it turned out there were 2 large cockroaches. Mating? I don't know. Each was about the size of 2.5 fingers. Crawling on top of each other they must have appeared larger. At this point I was spooked. Were there other roaches around? As I started lifting items off the floor, a couple smaller ones scurried from beneath one of my bags - disappearing under my bed. Kids?
Frankly - I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. I've lived with ants, spiders running around my home in California before. They didn't really bother me. Use the vacuum, spray a little, set out a few traps, they disappear for several months - except for a few spider webs in distant ceiling areas. Not a problem, spiders eat ants. I've encountered cockroaches before while traveling - usually outside - but NEVER this big. If I was in a dingy room - ok, but I'm not. I ventured outside to the front desk, which was closed, but I ran into a security guard. He brought along a small iron handle broom. With me moving furniture, we killed one small one. Another one got away behind a dresser before disappearing. He offered to put me up in the room next door. I gladly accepted.
Right now the room I was in is being fumigated. I wonder if they think I trapped the large cockroaches in the glass? Yea -- I lured them there. It was sheer luck that the 2 big ones were in there. Before I moved any of my bags to my new room I emptied them out in the hallway and examined every crevice. I also turned my clothes inside out. Hopefully I didn't miss anything. If I did - maybe you'll hear my scream echoing.
Maybe they crawled through the window I had opened earlier? A crack somewhere? Maybe thery were lying under the bed all this time? Don't be jealous that you are not in Paraguay. When do I go to Buenos Aires?
PS: I could have taken a picture but I don't want to sicken myself any further. Anyone who knows me - knows I don't exaggerate. In fact - when you read what I write, I tend to be pretty precise. So find a picture of a cockroach on the web, and put your fingers together and let your imagination wander.
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