A life under the tropical sun. Reptiles, damselflies and my perspective on sunscreen.
There’s always a lot of work to do in the garden. At the moment I’m very busy just trimming, clipping and weeding. Weeds grow like crazy here. The same with the grass. In the fields the grasses grow easily 3-4 metres tall. That takes about 5 minutes. Here’s a picture of what came off the garden today and yesterday. It’s definitely time to build that second compost heap. But I haven’t even started yet, I’m ashamed to say.
While I was busy in the garden this beautiful damselfly showed up. It is ever so small, only an inch long. I never saw a damselfly like this before. There are a lot dragonflies here in Suriname but way less damselflies.
It was very difficult to take a good picture. Because it’s so small the camera finds it difficult to focus on it. There was also a lot of wind and that makes it even more difficult.
I think it’s really stunning. The blue is so vibrant.
Speaking of vibrant colours, look at that green lizard. I think it’s an Anole or maybe even an chameleon. Maybe I should ask @papa-pepper, that is more his territory.
The tail is extremely long. With tail this lizard is about 25 cm long. It’s because it was moving over the lawn otherwise I would’ve never seen it. It's that well camouflaged. Whether it’s rare or not I don’t know but this was the first time I saw it.
This lizard we see all the time in the garden. It’s always looking for insects to eat but it must be careful because they are not on top of the food-chain.
The great Kiskadee is probably their biggest threat. This bird catches them and it will smack the poor lizard on a branch, but usually our fence, until it’s dead. It’s then swallowed whole as can been seen in the picture.
Difficult to spot are these little cayman living in the canals. Just his eyes and nose are sticking above the water. It’s only about 0,5 metres long. I saw it a couple of days ago.
Warning! Little rant coming up.
I was working the whole day in the sun and was slightly burned. That’s unusual, it hardly ever happens anymore. We live practically on the equator and the sun can be extremely intense. But I never use any sunscreen. If you use it, please stop using it immediately. Throw it away and never buy it again. It’s full of poison that’s being absorbed by your biggest organ; the human skin. If you get burned in the sun than you’re an idiot like me that didn’t listen to his own body and stayed out to long. The sun doesn’t cause skin cancer, it’s a lie! Sunscreen does.
It’s almost only in the western countries where people get skin cancer. Well that’s weird because everybody there spends a fortune on sunscreen nowadays. Here in Suriname there is almost no skin cancer. Because hardly anybody can afford sunscreen.
The sun is actually very good for you. Vitamin D reduces the risk of cancer. You can read an article from Dr. Mercola about it here.
Much love,
Gardenbsquared
I find lizards scary, but your photographs make them look better than I usually feel about them. Thankfully, someone wrote about the harms of sunscreens. I don't use one either and I think in all the 29 years I have been in this world so far, I just used it once. To protect yourself from the UV rays of the sun, it is best to avoid going out in the sun when the UV rays on their peak. Sunscreens don't do us any good.
Oh, dear @gardenbsquared, I am in love with your birding/garden series. Although I am the one who is missing you gifs I can say that this tipe of posts much more inspiring and always bring smile on my face! Keep up the very useful job. Who knows maybe thanks to your efforts more and more people will look on simple yet so great treasures they have around%) Like me, now every time I see a bird am I so thrilled to know about it more%)) Thank you, dear, and as always much love to you!
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Thank you @sashagenji, I'm glad you like my garden and birding posts. I'm sure there will be a gif in the future, especially with the holiday season coming up. I hope that by sharing the beauty of nature people will appreciate it more and become more conscious about their own relationship with nature. Thank you for all your own beautiful posts as well. I'm often blown away by the artwork and your beautiful presentation.
All of the garden critters look so beautiful. Damselflies have always been a symbol in my life for thoughtful dedication of growth. In regards to the comment about sunscreen the correlation to skin cancer may have more to do with the ozone. The ozone in the North of America where there is more pollution and less forest the ozone has been corrupted. O3 (ozone) has high electron activity which absorbs ultraviolet radiation. This means that in these areas of corrupted ozone there is more harmful ultraviolet radiation. Closer the the equator the ozone later is thicker. Thus while the sun may feel hotter due to direct rays the ozone provides the protection that those is the North desperately try to obtain through sunscreen.
Thank you. I'll look into that. Your argument sounds plausible. I'm well aware that the atmosphere on the equator is thicker and naturally contains more ozone. I was working bear chested in the garden the whole day in full sun. I'm white and I don't burn. It was a gradual process to get used to the sun. Of course I take my brakes in the shade and drink lots of water. Getting so much sunlight in one day also means that I get my fair share of UV. If there is less ozone and one burns quicker than it's much better to stay shorter in the sun and let your skin get used to it. Most sunscreens are full of harmful chemicals which are absorbed by the skin. I don't use them. Why? The sun is good for you.
I agree about the harsh chemicals. When I was living in Israel I was using a blend of mango butter carrot oil and a few other oils I can't recall that have shown to help protect against UV. I believe fully natural products are always the best way to go if you feel you need extra protection.
Indeed, fully natural all the way.