Heh, I suppose the mantises are common in both of "your" countries Venezuela and Greece :) Well, I´m not really comfortable holding certain animals in my hand, which is weird because as a kid, I used to keep these monsters as pets and had them crawling all over me :D I got squeamish with time I guess :D
(not my photo, it´s from Wikipedia)
Yes, I have been around these insects in both countries :)
Hahaha, hey, I've never seen this one in the photo before! Its image is quite creepy....
It´s the giant prickly stick insect aka the Australian walking stick :) Very interesting animal. Very big too :D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extatosoma_tiaratum
It's impressive!