We opened his lagoon.
Gave him a place to hunt and eat meals. A place to snooze in the sun.
And he disappeared.
The way of the young. In this case, young crocodiles.
It had been some time since I saw the crocodile that inhabited our part of the laguna. I could count on seeing him either during the day, basking in the sun, or during the night, when his eye would glow blood red in the beam of my flashlight.
And then he disappeared. Sometime in March.
Even with my broken ankle, I could hobble out to the malecon to look for him. Nothing.
We suspected our activity clearing out the water hyacinth may have scared him away. As much as some of us were leery about wading in crocodile-inhabited (infested is not only a cliché; it is inaccurate) waters, his timidity must have driven him into the tule weeds.
My land lady tells me that he has reappeared -- as of Monday afternoon. Her crew has not done any additional weeding during the past three weeks.
I can only imagine what is going through his pea-brain mind. The threat he perceived is gone. Now, he can get back to the crocodile business of eating fish, frogs, and birds.
It is nice to know he is getting some value out of our hard work.
