Rats!

Well, just one actually.

I was the first one to spot it as it scurried across the kitchen / laundry room / entryway to our bach.  It was my first live encounter with such a creature.  Later that evening, he showed up again to help himself to our garbage.  I was not impressed.  

Saturday night was an interesting night.  A pick-up truck with grandiose speakers came and parked itself under our window around 7:00.  We vibrated to the sound of Latin music accompanied by drunken amateurs until 10:00 or so, at which point, the truck, thankfully moved on.  The music in the barrio, however, did not end until 6:20 on Sunday morning.  Not exactly the greatest conditions for getting rest!  Anyway, Jill and I both drifted in and out of sleep all night.  At one point, when I awoke, I quickly realized that the music was not the cause of my awakening.  The garbage can, approximately twelve inches from my head, was rattling.  Yes, I used the word "rattling" on purpose! When I sat up, our furry nemesis decided he'd better hit the road.  He scuttled out of the can, across our bedroom floor and under the door into the darkness beyond.  I didn't exactly pop right back into dreamland after that!  Eventually, however, sleep claimed me again.  Until a second "rattle, rattle, rattle" rudely interrupted my slumbers.  The rat was back.  Same drill.  I sat up; he ran away.  This time, I got brave enough to venture out into the room beyond ours in order to place our bedroom garbage can at a greater distance from my bed, making sure not to block the route to the bathroom, just in case.  Needless to say, after the adventures of the night, neither Jill nor I were extremely anxious to get out of bed on Sunday morning.  

When we left the bach on Tuesday morning, we decided that we would like to rat-proof our bedroom so that we wouldn't have any ugly surprises when we returned.  Our ideal idea was to put wire mesh at the bottom of our door.  However, finding none, we went for the next best thing - dryer sheets.  

We taped them to the door and put them in the closet, in our suitcases and under our mattresses.  While we are sure that the rat was, indeed, in our room while we were away, we are also sure that he wasn't there long.  It must have been a little too fragrant for him!  

At the present moment, we aren't sure if he's dead or alive.  We haven't seen him - dead or alive - so we wait with baited breath!  In a spring meadow scented room.