My OTHER Human Moment.

We stayed in several places while in country.  I only photographed one.  Honestly, we were out all day, and by the time we got home, it was usually dark, or we were headed to dinner.  I have fond memories (or at least vivid ones) of the places we stayed- especially our main guest house in Choma- I can't wait to go back there.

But while in Macha, Whitney and I stayed here for 2 nights.  I need to stress how extremely nice these chalets were.  They were very, very special.  And staying there was supposed to be, like, a treat for us.  Like, a gift.  They even had a shower- the water was ice cold, but it was OK by us.

And I couldn't get over how much they reminded me of one of Monet's Haystacks.

The trade off?  The roof was full of spiders.  These spiders.

It was like my own private nightmare. 

Stop it.  Stop it right now.  Stop laughing at me.

Believe me, I know the truth.  These were harmless spiders that do good, eating mosquitoes and other insects, and they're more afraid of me than I am of them (doubt that) etc.

I have an irrational fear of arachnids.  At the sight of a spider, I come unglued.  I cannot be talked out of it.  I am terrified of them- even the harmless ones.

To give you perspective, we went to a crocodile farm in Livingstone, and I came face to face with huge crocs, and lots of snakes- even this one.  And, while I wouldn't want to snuggle with a Black Mamba while we braid each other's hair, I'm cool with seeing one behind glass- not creeped out at all- whatevs.

But get this- while we were looking at the snakes, one of those same spiders inched it's way out from a crack in the wall and I shivered- no lie.  I had to walk away.

I have a vivid memory from babyhood.  I was lying in my crib, the bars all around me, the morning light streaming in my yellow bedroom.  I had just opened my eyes, and I'm looking down at my leg as a ginormous daddy long leg spider crawled slowly up to my face.  Then I screamed.  True story.  Ever since then, I'm a goner.

We saw lots of bugs in Africa because of course they're everywhere- and they're big.  Because they don't die in winter, because it never freezes there.

But the spiders- oh the spiders.

They provoked my other human moment.

I even got to see a whole family of about 500 babies get born, right before my eyes.

Sleep tight, Megs.

I'll go back to Africa, spiders or not- but I promise you, they will always be the undoing of my will to keep cool.