Ryan and I are at war.
Every night the battle begins as dozen of army ants descend from the ceiling. With our shoes in hand, we slap away in an ant crunching dance, killing more ants than I ever have or ever wanted to. We clean up, wait for a few minutes for any stragglers then call it a night. Its our nightly routine and one I've unfortunately had to accept.
Oh, Costa Rica. How I love your green jungles, friendly locals, natural beaches and even all of your rain. But your bug situation is unreal.
Costa Rica has been our family's home for 2 weeks now and we have seen some pretty gnarly creatures outside and IN our house. The 1/2 inch size ants are only a nuisance compared to the nasty, and dangerous things we've had to deal with.
Living with ants
This past weekend, Ryan found an army ant pile in one of our large vases downstairs. He sprayed the vase like a crazy man, and once they were killed he dumped the vase outside. Huge mistake. I wish I could explain the utter disgust and nauseating image we were welcomed with. Hundreds of ants, larvae and eggs laid out on the sidewalk. The image still makes my stomach churn and I hope I never have to witness that again. Ryan took a picture, but I'll save you from the horror.
Not so itsy bitsy spider
We are pretty sure the Brazilian wandering spider was the "tarantula" that greeted me at 10pm in our bathroom last week. I walked in with no glasses and just saw something big move across the rug. I screamed for Ryan and we both starred at the spider, unsure of how to get rid of it. A hail mary throw from Ryan hit the spider and it instantly laid flat. Thank goodness.
We did some research to see what kind of spider it was, and we are about 75% sure it was the most venomous spider in the world. Greeattt....
An infestation
Several nights ago, all hell broke lose. Milena, Ryan and I were eating dinner on the porch when we were swarmed with "moths". There were thousands around the casita and on the porch forcing us to move inside. We tried to figure out what was going on as we saw some of them making there way into the house. Thats when we noticed the "moths" were all losing their wings. They weren't moths, they were flying termites!
Panic started to form as we worried about the house and we stomped on the few who made it inside. But that was the least of our worries.
Dozens were popping up on the floor and it took a minute to realize they were literally falling from the ceiling! There must be a crack in the roof and they were getting in, losing their wings and beelining toward our furniture and our floor boards. On our hands and knees we smacked away, in a familiar tune, squashing as many as we could.
This photo shows the beginning of the termites. It only got worse.
They were crawling on our backs, all over our furniture, counters, and even on Dallas. It was horrifying. We sprayed once again and slowed down the termites from entering but we were grossed out to say the least. Since it was Sunday and late, we couldn't get a bug guy to come out so we packed up our stuff and stayed at my parents place until the termites could be dealt with.
And to our surprise, the bug guy wasn't even worried. He said unless its millions inside they won't do any damage. So pretty much his response was, "welcome to the jungle city folk".
A new roommate
Ryan and Milena were rough housing and running around the room one morning when all of a sudden, Ryan sees something move in the corner of his eye. He puts Milena on the bed and looks to find a 3+ inch scorpion hanging out in the corner.
Being from Texas, we are used to the inch size scorpions we find in the hill country, but this sucker was big and aggressive. And it wasn't comforting to know he was hanging out with us all night.
Saying these past two weeks has been an adventure is an understatement, and bug spray is now our best friend. On the positive side, its been a learning experience for Milena and given us something to look back on and laugh a little.