At the time, I didn’t know that she was a she, but while assisting her across the water, her soft, sensual touch immediately confirmed her gender. After watching Roger “go in deep” for a girl he could barely see, I thought, “Oh, what the hell, I can lend a hand to this strange little lady.”
As I approached her small island, I realized that the water was too deep for this type of creature to be willing to swim across. I guess the heavy rains had flooded the assorted types of ground nests in the lower areas of the property. She was simply standing with several of her 10 legs testing the water assessing her last option; swim.
As a kid I had carefully handled several wild Tarantulas and discovered them to be gentle and somewhat curious creatures. Somewhere around the age of 8 years old, I remember, very proudly, showing my mom my newest pet, larger than my hand and slowing crawling up my arm. To this day, I can’t remember a person reacting so violently to something, other than a fatal event, than my poor mom did that morning. It was not until that very day that I realized she harbored an exceptionally deep-seated fear of spiders, especially really big hairy ones.
So while standing in ankle deep water, I simply put out my hand in front of this black and orange beauty and with out any hesitation, she crawled right on; at last, taxi de aqua. After taking her across the water obstacle and up to higher ground with good cover, I put my hand down to set her free. It was at this point I knew she liked the warm dry hand far more than the cold wet ground and was very reluctant to leave this perceived place of security. Since she seemed to be set on holding hands for a while, I took the opportunity to examine her furry little body very closely. (This is the perfect point to interject some ribald nuance that could no doubt offend many of our female readers; however, I must abstain.) After returning my hand to ground level I used my other hand to give her a gentle bump in her soft orange butt and she grudgingly wandered off into the dense undergrowth. I am now more convinced than ever, that friends in Mazatlan come in all shapes, colors and sizes, even though some may have more legs than others.
NOTE: If you are not comfortable or familiar with these shy creatures, don’t try to handle them. If they perceive any type of threat, they can produce a nasty sting, however in most cases, they are just trying to stay out of the way. I have also included a picture with this post, but am relying on the moderator to post it properly. If it doesn’t come up, email me and I will send it directly.
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