Kiss the Frog

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​The other night there was a big green frog in our bathroom! It was beautiful, extremely green and much bigger than the ones I knew from Switzerland. It was sitting on the ‘mandi’, the traditional wash basin they use here to wash yourself. And it was probably just as surprised to see me as I was to see it!

For a moment, I was considering kissing it, but decided I was not in a presentable state to meet my future prince. I watched it for a while to find out whether it was going to jump at me any moment or if I was safe to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. As it didn’t move, I started my bathroom routine while constantly checking whether the frog was still there. It just sat still, observing every move I made. But after a few minutes, it probably got bored and took a big leap on to the wall dividing our bathrooms. It started nonchalantly climbing up the wall with its big hands and feet sticking to the leafy surface of which the walls are made here. It then paused for a while as if to think whether it really wanted to leave or stick around a little longer. Apparently, my activities were not interesting enough, so it squeezed through a gap in the wall and disappeared. As much as I was first a little unsecure about the presence of a frog in my bathroom, I was sad to see it go.
The frog keeps coming back once in a while and I must say, I have gotten fond of it. Sometimes, it seems very scared and hides behind the toilet which almost makes me feel sorry for it. Sometimes it brings along a friend - who knows, I might soon find myself dancing with a whole family of frogs in the bathroom...

I am slowly getting used to living close to nature. Even if Raja4Divers is an extremely well-kept luxury resort, we are still in the middle of the jungle. We don’t really belong here, it was the animal’s territory before we intruded it. So they have right of way, and we take great care in protecting them whenever we can.

This means that we share our rooms and bathrooms and all other buildings with the creatures that live among us: insects, grasshoppers (even praying mantis), lizards, birds, frogs and many more, I guess, that I haven’t found out about yet. I am both curious and reluctant to see them as I’m simply not used to living so close to wild animals. What if the frog was poisonous or the lizard suddenly decided to attack me? How was I supposed to react? I know, they are all more scared of me than I am of them, and it will not happen, but still…
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Despite my occasional unease, I feel very privileged to live so close to nature and to be able to witness animal behavior so closely. ‘Back to nature’ still feels new and sometimes strange, but I’m convinced I will experience things here that I never even dreamt of.