| | Hurricane Season, also known as the Rainy Season, started on June 1st. It came right on schedule this year--almost as if a switch had been flipped to start the rain. After many weeks of no rain, the downpours are quite welcome by all, not least myself and the 4-H kids who planted gardens and are now relieved from the twice daily task of watering. However rain is not the only thing that hurricane season brought. Bugs and critters seem to have moved in the area en mass. The worst of these is the doctor fly (tabano en Espanol). Doctor flies are a little bit bigger than a normal house fly with a yellow body. I imagine they are called doctor flies because when they bite you, that areas swells up, and if you didn't know what it was, you might be tempted to go to the doctor. These flies are relentless in their pursuit of me. About a week ago, I was taking a nap in the hammock, and one bit me on the thumb. Within 5 minutes my whole thumb swelled and I could hardly bend it. The next day, I laid down in the hammock again, and felt one land on my face. I swatted it away in time, then pulled the hammock over me to protect myself from another bite. But the tricky little fella found the part of my hand holding the hammock that was sticking out, and bit my ring finger right on the joint. I quickly took off my ring as I knew the swelling would start any minute, and the result was the same as the day before. Despite their seeming cleverness, they are actually kind of slow, so revenge is possible, and the kids and I killed 5 or 6 each day during class last week. Of course that's after I've been bit about 5 or 6 times a day on the leg during class.
The other noticeable population increases are among the cockroaches (under the toilet seat) and frogs--but the frogs actually add a beautiful new sound to the evening chorus of nature.
The great part of rainy season is the start of some of my favorite fruits--mangoes, avocados, and best of all, kinep (or guaya en Espanol). Guaya has become my favorite food in Belize by far! It is like a grape, but it's about 75% seed and only 25% flesh. It has a green shell-like covering, which you split open, pop the orange fruit into your mouth, suck the fruit off the seed, and spit out the seed. I have spent hours eating guaya under a shady tree with my host family. It even makes up for the doctor flies.
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| | Posted 6/10/2007 1:09 PM - 65 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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