I was terrified. When I tell you that there were hundreds of these spiders on our trail, I am not exaggerating. Most of these were around the size of a quarter, but some of them looked as big as the palm of my hand. We went through our hike as if it was a haunted house, in a single-file line that tried to stay as far as possible from the trees and bushes around us because this is where the spiders were. Their webs were huge and sometimes difficult to avoid.
There is a chance that you have seen these spiders yourselves without even knowing it. They live on a vast expanse of land, ranging from the United States all the way to Peru. They thrive in all sorts of environments, from medium-sized trees in forests and jungles, to small gardens in backyards.
The coloring on the spider’s back is meant to camouflage it against trees and dead leaves. The reason we were able to see some of them is because they were chilling on their webs between the trees. It is scary to think that there were even more spiders than the ones we saw! Thankfully, these spiders have a very light kind of venom. It is strong enough to help them catch prey, like flies and mosquitoes, but in the unlikely event that a human got bitten (these spiders are not aggressive), it would just feel like a bee sting.
