I live in the jungle

The first few nights here alone I would get pretty sketched out by mysterious banging and scratching noises coming from upstairs. After thoroughly checking out the situation (sharp butcher knife in hand) I decided the noises must come from the wind and let the matter rest. 

Tonight I went over to Elmer's house to walk with him and his family by the lake, then I ended up staying for dinner. When I got home after dark the noises upstairs were louder and more pronounced than usual. As I was deciding to go enlist the help of Leonidas (and, consequently, his handgun) I noticed that along with the banging, I could hear squeaking. I then remembered that 2 days ago when I went upstairs there were clusters of small, dark pieces on the floor that I assumed were insects. False. It was guano. Dear world, I share a house with a colony of bats.

Leonidas and Danilo confirmed this, and then spent 5 minutes making not-so-comforting jokes about how the bats are my roommates and how they sleep upside down so they can keep a better eye on me. Danilo, assuming I'd never seen a bat, told me it looked like a rat but with wings, so there was really no reason to worry.  I'm proud to come from the city with the largest urban bat colony in the United States, but that doesn't mean I'm ready and willing to sign a lease with a family of them.

However, interesting bat fact courtesy of Danilo. The Spanish word for bat is "murcielago", making it one of the few words that contain all 5 vowels in Spanish. This knowledge will certainly help me later in life.