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30 June, 2009

Damned Mosquitoes

Finally, the little bastards are fading out. The past week or so has been absolutely miserable. So bad that we couldn't even venture out to the pool. Last time we were in the pool, we were getting attacked first by doctor flies, then by mosquitoes.

What was weird was most of the springtime, the 'squitos were small and their bites only itched for a few minutes, with welts not showing at all. The past week, we've had some veritable monsters. They hurt when they bite, they're persistent, and the welts - wow!

So, during the period commonly known as walkies this morning, we were hardly bothered at all by the pesky little critters.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that for the past two or three nights, the girls have been crashing in our pad, that is, sleeping in our living room. The height of luxury for them. Unfortunately for them, that all ended last night. it was their first night outside in a while. Surprisingly, they were quiet all night too. And no porcupines either!

When we've gotten ready for walkies the past few days, we've not only slathered bug juice on ourselves, but we've globbed it on the girls. They seem to think that's really cool. I suspect they think that the pack leader (me) is licking them in some strange way to make all of us smell the same way. Anyway, it's kept the little buggers away from the girls, so walkies is much more enjoyable for all concerned.

And, all morning, it seemed that there were fewer and fewer 'squitos around. So much so, that at our appointed hour (roughly 2:30 PM) - pool time, we had no qualms about traipsing down to the pool in our swim suits, with nary a bite between us. After about 3 hours of pooling it, oh, and downing the required number of beers as well, all felt well. The planets, were, I'm sure, aligned properly and we felt as though life had returned to normal. And, with no major tropical weather things scheduled for the next 48 hours, life is good!

Normally, GOB (Government of Belize), well, specifically, some ministry or other, mostly the Health Ministry, has been fairly diligent about spraying Malathione throughout the area to zap the 'squitos. Rumors have flown than government had no money to continue abatement spraying and it shows. If that rumor is true, someone in the Health Ministry ought to at least be demoted if not outright fired. This is such a big social issue, considering maleria on down to just the inconvenience of mosquitoes, that to run out of money for spraying should at a minimum, be reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). Or, maybe the spray truck broke. Who knows?

5 comments:

Julian in SC said...

I know one thing... we tried to see Cerros Hills back at the turn of the year. No bugs anywhere.. but when we stopped at the parking lot at Cerros and started walking up the path I looked down at my arm and it was black with them. We turned around and ran out of there. Now I have another reason to come back -- so I can see Cerros. But those bugs were there around late December!!


No fun... especially if no spraying going on...

Julian

Dave Rider said...

We had some friends about a month ago who went to Cerros and had a bug-free experience. Probably the one day a year that's allowed.

Finally, they sprayed last night... Well, at least the truck with sprayer running came down and back on our road. Didn't smell any Malathion. They wouldn't just run the rig to placate Gringos without really spraying anything would they? No, of course not. That's probably why we didn't see or hear it in town this morning either. When they really are spraying, we can hear, smell, and see it at least once in the morning on our walkies. Not that I'm of a suspicious nature...

Julian in SC said...

Well, you can't beat experience (and your nose)... nothing smells quite like Malathion, thank goodness. So chances are that your bugs are still flying free - and hungry. Maybe you can set up a "donations" box! *grin*

Dave Rider said...

Julian,
Well, you know, it's the weirdest thing, when they've gone, they are really gone! We spent most of yesterday afternoon and a good bit of today in the pool and wow!, no mosquitos. I even walked over to Dan's place across the road this morning, and no 'squitos bothered me at all. It's a miracle, I tell ya! (Oh, that's right it's Miércoles - Spanish for Wednesday - looks like a miracle to me...)
Cheers

tacogirl said...

I can sympathize with you on skeeteres - they have been real bad here in San pedro too. The other night I had to spray up to hang laundry and they were still on the attack.