traveloehrs

I saw the movement out of the corner of my eye and quickly twisted to get a better look. An enormous iguana was slowly climbing down the mango tree. He must have been 3ft long. After a few calculated jumps between branches of the tree he started methodically descending the tree towards us…

We had spent the morning down at the beach. I got a fun surf session in and Junebug and Lennox had collected treasures and worn down the mama. Now the kiddos and I were dodging the midday heat by swimming in the pool of our Playa Grande rental when the scaly creature made his appearance.

He seemed to be staring us down and was aggressively moving his head up and down the whole time as well. Then he started descending the tree while showing zero fear of us. Lianne asked nervously, “Do you think the iguana will come over to the pool or bother us?” I insinuated that it would not happen and that it was more scared of us then we were of it… blah, blah, blah…you know the typical Dad line.

At that point Junebug interjected and said, “Dada, with nature it’s always a might.”  I laughed more dismissively than I should have. Junebug doubled down, “You always tell me to be careful because you don’t know about nature. I think he could come over by us because he doesn’t seem scared.” I had to smile as my 7-year-old was expertly using my own advice against me to implore that I be more aware of my surroundings.

Right after that the iguana jumped out of the tree and bolted towards us which made us all scatter. However, he ran past us and gave us a close-up view of how big he really was. After the iguana scare ended, I couldn’t help but think of how big Junebug has become and I took the moment to give her a hug.