Operation Invasion Dispersion/Do Not Die of Toxins

We have done our first good deed of the adventure and our first stupid thing.

Late at night in the depths and darkness of the Amazon, I was preparing to bunk down under a gossamer cover of mosquito netting. 

 

Settling in to the chorus of nocturnal creatures crooning, singing, screeching, and croaking, I was prepared to let the heat and humidity wash over me and take me to a sweet slumber when a flash of movement just below the hem of the curtain caught my eye. 

"Please don't be a tarantula," I thought as I reluctantly slunk out of my cocoon, "or at least not a jumpy one." 

Flicking on the bare bulb that lit the room, I prepared myself to face the invader and likely a multitude of legs and mandibles only to pleasantly discover a little amphibious stowaway instead. 

 

A cutey patootie tree frog! Remembering at the last moment that many things in the rainforest rely on powerful toxins as a defense, I halted my outstretched fingers and thought it best to proceed with caution. You know, maybe not pick up the potentially leathal creature with bare fingers. 

"Hmm, what would happen if I licked it?" I thought. 

"No Brain..." I reprimanded myself, "just no."

Listening to the small, sensible portion of my brain, I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and gently scooped our frog up in it. With my sister's assistance at the door, I transported him to the edge of the porch. He haphazardly hopped away as I spread the possibly poison-coated towel out on the railing. Eager to remember to NOT dry my face with it tomorrow. 

 

"Hop along little buddy!" I thought, mentally saluting the frog before crawling back beneath the lip of the mosquito netting and hopefully to peaceful slumber.