Lizards. What impressed me most about the little cottage we stayed in was the population of lizards that lived on the property. I noticed them immediately. Upon arrival, I ran up the stairs that lead to the highest cottage (the one we were staying in) and was startled by lizards of all sizes and colours scurrying underfoot. I’ve never seen so many in one place!
I took several photos of the lizards of Itassi cottages in the early days after arrival, but they soon became as commonplace as the birds, and as demanding for treats, too! They didn’t seem to have any fear and would often greet us on the porch bright and early each morning. And like the birds they would come right up to the window and peer in if scraps of fruit and citrus rind were not set out early enough.
These larger guys with pretty blue patches were the only shy lizards of the bunch. This was the closest I was ever able to get to one with my camera.
There were lizards on the stairs, lizards on the porch, lizards on the railings, lizards on the curtains, walls, ceiling… lizards everywhere! We found a dead one in the living room. I’d been warned that they can create quite a stink, but this one hadn’t been there long enough for me to find out. Some people would find so many lizards creepy, but I found our little menagerie of lizard friends endearing. Plus they helped deal with the insects, which are omnipresent and voracious. Looking back on this trip has made me long to return, but all I have to do to curb those feelings is remember the discomfort of sleeping huddled underneath a net and the new layer of relentlessly itchy bites that greeted me each morning.
In Palm Beach Florida, there were lizards in my grandmother’s covered porch, hanging on the outside of her house, scampering around the shrubbery. Some were missing a limb or tail from encounters with predators (house cats, birds) or perhaps a bike tire or closing window. The funniest encounter was a bit farther north, near Daytona Beach, where we played miniature golf in a dense, shady tropical forest and lizards unexpectedly ran across the “greens” at many of the holes, just missing getting hit by a golf ball. The details in your lizard photos are wonderful, taking me right back to the early 1980’s.