However, with the good comes the bad. There are what are called giant centipedes here in Vanuatu and they are demonic. When most people hear the word centipede, they think of funny looking creatures with a ton of legs. They do not get a feeling of fear and impending doom. Well, those fuzzy, pathetic looking creatures drank some monster juice mixed with some amphetamine or something because the ones I have seen have been big, red and fast as blazes. They have little horn looking things on their head and just scare you to death when you first see them because they come out of nowhere and in the blink of an eye, they are gone.
For people who find it difficult to wake up, nothing wakes you up faster and better than a centipede biting you. You go from deep sleep to extremely wide awake in less than a second. I know this from experience. Last week, I was sleeping, looking forward to going to town the next day, having a nice dream. All of a sudden, my dream changed and i just felt a sense of impending doom. I felt like something was going to happen that I could not prevent. All this was while I was dreaming, so it was really weird. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I was still dreaming though, so I thought, what a strange dream. Then the pain got worse and I woke up..but I was still groggy and started thinking, what is this pain? Then my brain started working really fast and I thought..I'm in Vanuatu..there's only one thing that can cause a pain like that at this time of the night. CENTIPEDE!!! Immediately I thought that, I went from sleepy to wide awake in a quarter of a second. In a Hollywood movie worthy move, I leapt out of bed, while at the same time tossing my covers as far away from me as possible. Now, all this took place at three am in the morning. I looked at my bite, sat down for a couple minutes just dealing with the pain and preparing myself to look for the centipede because after that bite, I had to kill it. There was no way i was going to sleep again until that monster was dead. While sitting down the centipede came out from one side of my bed, sped under the table and back under my bed. I just looked at it thinking, "enjoy your last couple of minutes, cause its over for you". I took my time, went to the restroom, stretched a bit, maybe drank a cup of water. Then I went for my bush knife(cutlass) and went to war.
By the time I was done with that centipede, It was a pulpy mess. It sounds excessive, but you either have to turn a centipede into a bloody smear, or pour boiling water on it. Just cutting them up does not kill them. Its crazy.
I have only been bitten once by a giant centipede. I have a friend who has been bitten so many times that he has declared war on them. His house is infested with them and every night he lays in bed, under his mosquito net, quivering in fear.
I have not slept at my house since that night because I have been in town for a conference. I'm going back tomorrow, so we will see if there will be any more centipede encounters. Maybe that first bite was the vanguard of an invasion of centipedes. I'm not afraid though..I have my bush knife.
