Crabbie patties (featuring my mother as guest blogger)

My mother is taking over the writing on this one, my comments will appear in bold italics.

The holiday has been the best one ever celebrated by the crab campers in FUNLAND. For those of you new to the concept of FUNLAND, it involves the selection of those worthy, but unable to afford time in FUNLAND. The crabs are selected based on important criteria, ie is their shell big enough to hold wiggle eyes...

...and would they look good in the colors of nail polish available at the camp beautification center.

When the selection process is complete the campers are given the wonderful opportunity of learning camp songs, dining at the food court provided and swimming in the pool which comes with a flamingo. 

I should describe the camp itself. Besides the swimming pool and food court, the campers have a recreation room (actually a rock) that boasts a TV and a fireplace. Upon arrival campers are given sunscreen, a pool towel, flip flops and a water bottle.

At the end of their time at camp well wishers gather to say goodbye to the lucky campers who must return home. It is truly a magical experience that I wish you could be part of my dear friends.

This year the campers will be sent home on Christmas evening to the delight of the children visiting here from various countries. And for the first time the crabs will have miniature lights attached to them so that we can track their return to their families whom they will delight with numerous fun camp experiences.

They run in such a rush that sometimes carpooling occurs. These crabs are not glued to each other... We arent savages, we just put them in camps.

This is the crab known as "pretty shell". You may remember my mother painting her on video.

What a wonderful year for this group of crabs.....I forgot to mention that we had a repeat camper this season, he still had his green painted shell from July. It was nice to see him again.

That is all the Christmas news from Crabnation

Mammalia

Mammals are the most under represented in my camera roll.

Most of the donkeys we have seen have been through car windows at 35mph. Which seems slow unless you take into account the crappy roads and wind that makes it feel like youre going 80. They exist though, we have passed several herds on the way in and out of town. They just sort of wander around doing Donkey Stuff, like eating, pooping, and making waffles.

Goats also indulge their wanderlust, turning up on the side of the road wherever brambles cry out to be eaten.

Then there is Carlito, who shows up for cheese at happy hour. He seems to enjoy protecting our porch from the dinosaurs. Probably where he got all those scars. He is happy to chase and bark at anything that moves, and has the dental integrity of a meth head.

He rolls with Daisy, who makes a bark that sounds like she has been a chain smoker for years. She is his partner in barking and chsasing.

I dunno if this guy is a mammal, but he makes me laugh every time i walk past him. I think hes a Canadian minion. 

The Lizarding World of Villa Incognito

My mother has been schooling Iguanas. See my post called "the great white hunter" from last year for more on her methods. When we first got here, it took some coaxing to get them to come out of the nan tree. 

They hide there looking all dinosaur, and stare in my bathroom window when i shower.

This tail belongs to the iguana my mother calls "bent-tail". He is the only iguana on the island not named "Iggy", "Lizzy" or some variation thereof. Though she also has been referring to them as "dinosaurs" this trip. I think she is trying to train them like Star-Lord does in Jurassic World. Soon they will be taking out t-rexeses.

They came cautiously to check the food, and with much trepidation.

Now they make this face when they see her coming, and scamper down for noms.

"yay! Rotten avocado!"

They have lost their fear of man. And my mother. Here you can see Bent-tail and Iggy/Lizzy/Izzy.

This guy sucked down a piece of bell pepper so big that he physically couldnt shut his mouth. It didnt stop him from trying to scoop up other pieces though. He ran around like this for about five minutes.

The foodbringer cometh.

We have been visited by a baby iguana a few times. He is less excited about the training.

There are also some unsung lizards around for happy hour. My mother has not yet devised an effective trap for these, though she suggested my dad catch one in tupperware for her. We call them wood geckos, but i dunno if thats what they are. Like most things on the island, they loves them some sugar.

There are three that come regularly to the feeder during happy hour. One is slightly larger than the others and seems to feel territorially about the sugar. 

This has lead to the occasional gexican standoff. He gets all throatpuffy and tries to scare everyone off.

He usually seems to win with the birds, but the other geckos sneak around him.

The smaller ones go full body into the sugar.

They all seem to get their faces sugar coated and walk around looking like they just came out of the studio 54 bathrooms.

They are tiny and super camoflaguey. There are 14 in the picture below, along with 8 ninjas. Can you spot them all?

Our Last Lizard is the Race Runner. These sometimes hang out by the pool side door and are shy. I slow-herded this one around the pool for a while. They are the prettiest of the lizards here.