Gecko...IN MY BED!!!

And I thought bed bugs were bad...that was before I found a Gecko in my bed!  And INSIDE of my mosquito net!!! I think this takes the cake for my wildest most scary experience in Rwanda thus far!  It happened a few nights ago like this:

Since my host family goes to bed right after dinner, I find the time alone just before I go to sleep to be very relaxing and stress relieving--alone time is very rare and hard to come by as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  On this night, though, after reading my Word and giving thanks to the Lord for bringing me through yet another day, I decided to study my language a little bit since we have a language exam coming up soon.  I was sitting in the middle of my bed cross-legged when suddenly I felt something crawl up my back! I dropped my pen and grabbed my shirt to shake it out and hopped to the opposite side of my bed.  When I turned around to see what on Earth had just violated me in the comfort of my own bed, I saw a 4 or 5 inch long

GECKO run up the inside of my mosquito net!  At this point, my eyes began to water and I panicked a bit regarding what I should do next.  I quickly untucked my net from the side of my bed and slid out from underneath it.  I stood up next to my bed and just stared for a moment as I attempted to devise a plan of action.  Here were my options: I could stand there and cry all night as me and the gecko just stared at each other out of sheer fear...I could wake up my host mama and ask her to come save the day...or I could swallow my fears and attempt to tackle the gecko myself.  I decided on the latter.  I didn't know what to do, so I just moved forward a bit, grabbed the net, and shook, hoping the gecko would fall.  But then I realized that if it fell, it would fall onto my bed (which was covered with books and my jumbled up blanket) and then it would hide and I'd have to find it.  At this point I took my headlamp and strapped it around my head, folded everything up inside my blanket and removed it from my bed...all while bending my neck every which way to keep an eye on the perpetrator--I was NOT about to let that gecko out of my sight!  Once my bed was cleared out, I untucked the mosquito net so that it dangled over just one side of my bed so that when/if the gecko finally did fall, it would fall onto the floor.  I began to shake my net, at first a little, and then a lot.  This dang on gecko would not budge!  The poor thing was holding on for dear life!  Finally after about 5 minutes of shaking, the gecko began to make its way down the mosquito net; it would fall a little bit then hang on...then fall some more and hang on.  It took about 30 minutes to finally get the little fellow to fall onto the floor.  I expected the gecko to dart away once it landed on the floor, but it just sat there...breathing so very hard!  Once it caught its breath (I'm assuming) from the major earthquake it just survived through, the gecko scurried toward my wall and then off into a dark corner. 

Finally this whole ordeal was over and I was able to crawl back into my bed...feeling very accomplished might I add.  I felt like I could do anything in the world as I made up my bed so that I could crawl back in and sleep.  Brave little old me tackled the gecko all by myself.  But...that didn't stop me from feeling things crawling all over me as I fell asleep; that gecko definitely altered my psyche for the night.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea