Picas

I had a friend ask me the other day if there are any really crazy bugs here, and my response was, ¨None that I can actually see.¨

Every morning I´ve been waking up with more little red bites, and I don´t know what they´re coming from!  My Chilean friend thinks that it´s probably fleas…excellent.

I found it especially disturbing when we were talking about spiders yesterday and my housemate and friend launched into their warning about the araña de la rincón, a spider in Chile whose bite can kill you.  ¨Oh, but they´re not very common, right?¨ I ask nervously.

¨They live in every house in Chile.¨

¨No exceptions? You´re absolutely positive, they´re in this house?!¨

¨Yes, but don´t worry, that´s not what the bites on your arm are from, because bites from the araña de rincón turn red and then black¨

Greaaaaaat.

I felt a bit reassured when they told me that the hospital has an antidote, and also that neither of them have ever known anyone who´s died of a bite.