Invasion of the Jaiba

I go to the little beach behind the statue of Montecinos almost everyday now, Playita Montecinos. My dog Teli likes to take her morning run down there. Most of the times her friends are there to play and run with her. It is a joy just watching the “kids” romp and play and enjoy their little doggie lives.

The last week I have noticed more little crabs running around everywhere. I thought they were roaches at first until I got a closer look. They were all hanging out at the drain area where all the Colonial Zone waste water enters the sea.

Hundreds of tiny crabs dot the cement wall.

The crabs are always making little crab holes in the sand hear to the water line but a few days ago they were way up from the line. They were running around, not hiding in their little hidie holes like usual. For me this was a baffling mystery. The mystery was solved yesterday.

This little guy thought he was hiding from me

I was looking at the crabs running around and there was a man sleeping under a palm tree on a piece of cardboard. I was thinking about how he would have those crabs running all over him very soon when he jumped up grabbing his pant leg and shaking. I wanted to snicker as what I was thinking seemed to have happened but I kept my snicker to myself.

The man finally took off his pants, stripped down to his boxers, and laid back down. I went over to him and asked him if he had crabs. Then I did laugh because I heard my self ask a stranger if he had crabs…

Anyhow he started to explain to me about these little alien looking creatures and why they are all over the beach.

First he said they are not Cangrejo (crab in Spanish) they are called Jaiba. They come up onto the beach way above the water line to lay their eggs so they are not washed away and they have the warm sand to incubate. I kept telling him to repeat the name jaiba so I could remember it because my brain has a hard time remembering stuff.

Finally Fernando was finished jogging around the beach and he came over. Then we were talking about the turtles and this laying on the beach said he was on a beach somewhere on the island and a giant turtle came out of the water. He said it was so big that he sat on it and it walked with him on its back. It was a giant sea turtle and he said that the people protected it and its eggs. I was hoping he would say that so I didn’t have to go on about protected creatures.

So anyhow, I learned something new about the yummy crabs that I love to eat. They lay eggs in herds. They lay eggs far from the shore line. They are called Jaiba here. oh, and do not lay on the beach with baggy clothing when the crabs invade unless you want to get crabs (in your pants). LOL. I do need to remember this.

A Jaiba up close and personal