Critters

Lots of big, strange scary critters here.  I've learned never to say things like "that spider was huge" because there is always one that will prove to you that the prior was not all that big at all. 

While doing a little random cleaning the other day I discovered this guy.  Thankfully he had already met his demise by the time we encountered each other, that is one big ol' stinger he's got there.  I thought it was a bee, you know, black/yellow and a stinger?  But apparently this a fly.  Now, that's just gross.

Funny story while taking the following photo.  I propped the guy up (with a pliers of course!) and got veeerrrry close up with the camera trying to capture him in all his glory.  Just as my camera lense got right up in his pointer, he fell over, scaring me half to death.  

Vastu - Recycled Lighting

I love finding unique little stores full of funky handmade items.  Not too long ago, during a little trip to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua (ok ok ok, it was like 6 month ago and I've just been slacking on posting!) we stumbled upon a little recycled lighting store named Vastu.

Vastu is full of lighting fixtures, table lamps and hanging lighting all made from recycled plastic bottles, bottle caps, driftwood and newspaper.  The artist is a soft spoken, slight Italian transplant named Massimo Argnani, who seemed more than happy to let me turn on and off almost every light in the store to see the colors :)  I'm like a small child in places like this.  I've gotta touch e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. 

I love the way he uses all the different color bottles, cutting them and forming them into all kinds of great shapes and patterns.

This past weekend I visited San Juan again and was sad to see that Vastu wasn't there anymore.  But, when I looked him up on FB, I saw he had moved to Managua.  Glad to see he's still making all this wonderful lamps and goodies.  To see more of Massimo's amazing creations, visit him on Facebook.

Spooky

I was working a wedding recently and the hotel room we were in had lots of very old B&W Costa Rican photos hanging on the walls.  It's normal that people in old photos look somber and emotionless, however, this guy really freaked me out.  This is his wedding day photo for God's sakes!  He looks like an axe murderer!!

On a cuter note, I love the barefoot little kids.