The glass frogs are a thing of beauty. To see a beating heart, the movement of the internal organs, it is a laboratory dissection without the blood and without the fainting of one's classmates. There is awe and fascination and they rightly deserve a place in nature's pantheon of incredible creatures.

And the glass cockroach? "The what now?" Oh why have you faded into obscurity? Equally fascinating. Equally beautiful. A marvel of nature. You are so amazing in fact that you deserve your own hashtag... see more #CockroachesofSani (It sounds bad, I know. But continuity across groups and all).

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Sanilodge #paulbertner.

This translucent cockroach makes for the perfect model organism to illustrate the movement of food through the digestive tract. No cockroaches were harmed in the making of this photo. Quite the opposite! This guy was a rescue, and got a few free meals to boot.

An excerpt from the cockroach blog which will tantalize you a few days longer, just out of sight .

See more #CockroachesofSani.

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #sanilodge #Paulbertner.

Mark the dates on your calendars people, next Sunday the 5th you will learn to love the cockroach and images like this one will break your heart! A tribute and celebration to beauty, diversity, and complexity. Let's change the paradigm and revolt against revulsion.

A cockroach graveyard surrounds this cryptic owlfly. Cockroaches form a an important dietary staple and supplement for many insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Changing hearts and minds one lowly and unevenly spaced blog entry at a time...

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at #DestinationEcuador #Sanilodge #Paulbertner #projectowlfly #cockroachesofSani.

- “All I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.

You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe, whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." -

“Excellent follow m…wait a minute…God, you took the blue pill didn’t you?! Gah, this is exactly why you need a good publicist”.

From the cockroach blog that might just change your mind on these misunderstood creatures...

See more #CockroachesofSani.

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Paulbertner #Sanilodge.

A beetle-mimicking cockroach the size of a pinhead races across a fallen leaf.

I stop what I am doing. I drop the leaf with the jumping spider, $hi!%$ just got real! I creep slowly through the undergrowth, vines and leaves snagging at my clothes and camera. It's not a cockroach I quickly realize, it's a bullet! It races from leaf to leaf and how something so small can move so fast is beyond me. A litany of curses escape my lips (which my protege and understudy is hurriedly scribbling down, these opportunities for such great English lessons don't come around every day!). I feel the heat and the humidity, the leaves are a moist and putrid caress and I shudder inwardly as they plant their wet kisses on my cheek. The sun arcs through the sky, hours pass. This little cockroach, flitting about, it will break me! My guide has already succumbed, he is nursing a headache in the shade. If it could just...STOP. "Oh my God, it's stopped!!!" I bring up the camera, and fire off a quick round of shots. I eagerly glance at the display. All black. The flash isn't on...of course! My moment has passed, the cockroach, the roadrunner is speeding along once more. I am ready to bow my head in defeat when it stops again. Cheekily or charitably, I'm not sure which one, it turns its head in my direction and grooms an antenna for a brief moment. Enough to get a few shots WITH flash, before it is off again.

The cockroaches are sometimes the most surprising rainforest residents you can come across. They are beautiful, they are deceptive, colourful and god they are FAST! See more #CockroachesofSani.

Sunday, March 5th, begins a journey from the shadows to the light. Eschewing its sensitive, nocturnal habits, the cockroach steps up to the microphone, it has a story to tell...

Join us Sunday for the blog that tells the other side of the story...

See more #CockroachesofSani.

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Sanilodge #Paulbertner.

"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" - 320 million years later and the cockroaches are certainly the perceived villains of many households. However, their roles as decomposers, nutrient cyclers, and one of the links in the food chain of many upstream predators make them hugely important...heroes even. And so perhaps they are the "heroes we deserve, but not the ones we need right now?"

Tomorrow, this dark knight emerges from the shadows.

Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Paulbertner #Sanilodge #Cockroachesofsani.