Last night I was getting ready for bed when I heard a thump against my living room window. First I thought it was a bird – but at night? A bat? But bats don’t crash…they have sonar! I decided to investigate. I was startled when I opened the door to see the largest grasshopper I’d ever seen – on the door to my indoor studio. I grabbed my camera to catch a photo and include the door knob and …lock as size references. Easily 6 inches long, this creature was even a bit formidable to the Zoologist in me. I left him alone, went back inside and turned off the porch light.
This morning as I walked out to the outdoor kitchen, I passed a bright red plant – and there he was again! I happened to be talking on the phone with Frank at the time and I told him about the visitor and that he appeared to be just hanging around. He wasn’t eating. He just seemed to be watching. As we talked, I described the grasshopper. And then it happened. As I began to define his color, I said he looked like he was covered in a camouflage design in kind of an olive green. Frank said, ‘Are you sure it isn’t a new miniature drone the U.S. has developed?’ And I had to admit that it seemed possible. What better way for the U.S. to check on ExPats in Costa Rica than to disguise a monitoring drone as a grasshopper? This one wasn’t very clever, though. He’d do better on an olive green leaf instead of one that is bright red. Hm.
The puzzling thing is to me – why me? Why would the U.S. be sending a drone to check up on me? I can’t be laundering money I have no access to and am simply leading a simple Pura Vida lifestyle in the hills above San Isidro. Ah…maybe that’s it. I am likely just a little too content. Maybe the U.S. is worried…
Another siting of a similar grasshopper – found by a friend and reported to be seen at Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula – only this one is red-orange in color. Hm. If they are drones, the developers need to make some adjustments so that the green versions hide in green vegetation and the red orange versions hide in red orange colors. This is admitedly difficult in a colorful place like Costa Rica but now I understand. The reason we are seeing them is that they got it wrong. Or – if they really are grasshoppers, perhaps they simply are able to change color, though slowly! Nature provides the most beautiful lessons…
