Day 14 – Gecko

In an earlier post, I mentioned how one of my favorite features of my rental is the outdoor shower. I have taken all of my showers in this outdoor shower since day 2. I love this outdoor shower.

One day while showering, I saw a bright green gecko staring at me. I muted a shriek of excitement – I hadn’t seen a gecko in Hawaii since my first trip in 1992. What I have seen plenty of are anoles, mainly brown anoles, although green ones are said to have invaded these islands also. Brown anoles are endemic to the Caribbean region but are an invasive species here in the Hawaiian islands. They are everywhere. I don’t mind them because one ate a huge cockroach the other day (the only cockroach I have seen so far) and because they are familiar to me. They were also common around my great-grandparents house in Miami, a place I frequented when I was a child.

My favorite memory of my great-grandfather is of him catching two small anoles, squeezing their jaws open, then “clipping” the poor anoles to his earlobe like earrings. For some reason, be it shock or fear, the anoles just clung to his earlobes, leaving me in stitches from laughing so hard.

Alas, the anole has nothing on the gecko. These funky footed, lizards, that can climb up anything, like little spidermen and that look on their face – what is it about that look on their face? They make me smile every time I see one. They too are an introduced species – originally from Madagascar.

Today, Gecko decided to show him/herself next to flamingo which added to my amusement.

I was lucky to get these images because he scurried off soon after I took the last picture.

I can’t wait until he visits me again.

Aloha!