I'm on an extended trip round South America and will be visiting Ecuador for a few weeks. in March. Since I'm going to be so close to the Galapagos Islands, it seemed like a good opportunity to visit them relatively cheaply. I spent a few hours researching flights and came within a gnat's whisker of booking, when I suddenly thought I'd better check up on the spider situation.
I am scared of spiders. Point, laugh, tell me it's irrational, that they're more scared of me than I am of them, that they're great as they keep insects down. All true. It doesn't matter. Under normal circumstances my fear isn't crippling, the sort of spiders one encounters in a UK town or city (I hear stories about the country...) are borderline tolerable, though no way am I touching a large one.
But although my web searching turned up mostly tales of encounters in huts in the middle of nowhere - and I usually figure that if I avoid such accommodation, I'll be OK - I found stuff like this:
"Heteropoda venatoria are often seen in hotel rooms on the islands, and occasionally on boats." (Google Books result from "Galapagos Wildlife" by David Horwell and Pete Oxford)
"Heteropoda venatoria... body size: female to 30mm; male to 22mm... At night, it emerges from its hiding place to wander over walls. Adults occur throughout the year." (www.nhm.ac.uk)
Yes, I know they are harmless (unless they cause me to have a heart attack!), it's the prospect of encountering one that worries me.
My Lonely Planet guide book makes no mention whatsoever of this kind of thing. Am I naive in assuming that, given how relatively common a phobia this is, if it was a serious problem it would get a mention?
I am strongly inclined to give the islands a miss now. Yes, this is letting my phobia control my life. No, it's not preventing me from fulfulling a major ambition - I wasn't too fussed about visiting the islands until I came to work out my itinerary for the next few weeks and thought "why not, if I can do it cheaply, since I'm going to be in the vicinity?". But it would be nice to go and it would be a shame to let this scare me off if it's not likely to be a problem in the first place.
So, how much of a risk is there of encountering something like this? Any advice appreciated.
