Every four to six months, I call Allen to spray my apartment. He sprays the floors, walls and ceilings, and then sprays the balcony and my entire terrace which is huge. He charges 250 pesos and it takes him two hours. He is a nice kid (who does speak English) and also mops the entire place when he is done spraying, so I started giving him 300 (about $18.00) . This year I waited too long. I think the cat food had something to do with, but I had ants everywhere. The ants come in three sizes. So tiny you can only see them on a white surface, the regular ants, and then huge black and red ants that I really hate. Kitty used to gobble everything I gave her, but now that she learned she has food on demand (by screaming) she will only eat part of it. I guess she plans on coming back, but either her sister (the evil twin) will finish it or the ants get it. I do not know where they come from (maybe I do not want to know) but if a speck of food lands on the floor within minutes they surround it.
The ant guys keeps telling me the stuff is harmless to humans, but then why does he wear a gas mask? For months any bug that ventures across my floor will start to shake then roll over dead. How can it be that harmless? I am sure whatever the stuff is, it is illegal in the U.S. Of course I do not plan on getting down on the floor and licking it. Even if I could get down that low, I would not be able to get up. It kills bugs big and small and unfortunately I will lose a few small geckos after he sprays. We have more than ants here. One day kitty crossed the balcony railing with a cockroach in her mouth (it obviously came from my neighbor) She dropped it in front of me. Did she think I wanted it, or was she just trying to show me she could be useful. The following day after the spraying, not one ant appeared around her food.
Bees come in three varieties also. The regular honey bees, a small skinny black bee and a strange large blue bee. Not really sure what it is, but it acts like a bee around flowers, I had also noticed that I seemed to have more wasps buzzing around my terrace. Then Saul pointed out a wasp next hanging in the back yard on a small tree. For the photo I did not want to get too close, so you have to look hard to see it It looks like a strange fruit right next to the trunk of the tree. I wanted to see if I could get a photo with the sun hitting it, but apparently the wasps built it where it is always in a shadow,
Most evening you will hear the katydids or crickets (especially during the rainy season) They will be joined in song by a tiny frog that sounds like a piccolo. As soon as we get the first rains, the termites swarm. For weeks I will be sweeping up the wings. Where do the bodies go, if all I find are wings? They attack any piece of wood they can find, especially my Mexican equilapli furniture. But the bug man gets them too. We also have what they call "rain flies" It looks like as black termite and swarm just like they do. You will see them clustered around any light burning (another mess to clean up) I mentioned the huge green grasshopper that can devour a whole palm frond in a day. Also there are many other strange creatures that I do not know the name of. Like the tiny ugly brown bug that has eyes that glow in the dark. They look like blue aqua jewels. At night we also have huge black moths. What amazes me is how few flies we have. Southern California has far more flies. I think the iguanas eat them. By the way, I still sometimes spot my green iguana crawling along the wall.
My plants are like my children and I take very good care of them. With all the rain and humidity my big pink plants were invaded with something that looked like tiny aphids. My regular spray did not work. I would wash each leaf, then spray and the following morning they were covered with the bugs, So I called Filipe to take me to El Dragon where all kinds of chemicals are sold. They speak no English so I had Filipe explain the problem and I had brought some leaves with the bugs on them in a sealed plastic bag. The man ruminated about it for a while saying things I did not understand to Filipe who translated some of it. Finally he came up with two bottles. He was explaining how to mix them in the sprayer. One and a half milliliter of one bottle and a cap of the other in a liter of water. What is "one milliliter"? They tried to explain to me and finally Filipe said we would stop at a pharmacy and pick up a syringe. Then the bill came 480 Pesos. I was shocked and sure I did not understand. I have never paid anything like that in Mexico. He explained that he could sell me a cheaper pesticide, but it would kill the plant. (What would be the point in That?) He also said that it would last for four or five years. I saw no need to tell him that I did not have four or five years. We had just bought two blue blooming vines for my wrought iron that cost 30 pesos, so you can understand how astounded I was.
I was sure the druggist would think I was shooting dope so I sent Filipe in to buy it. (cost 18 pesos) Can you even buy a syringe in the U.S.? Of course you can buy almost any drug you want at the pharmacy with no prescription. We also have the farmacia similar stores where they carry all the generic drugs at a fraction of the cost. Prescription drugs (without prescription) are very cheap. I have an insurance policy in The States where any drug will cost me $5 to $15, but I can buy it here for $10 with no insurance. The pharmaceutical lobbyist do not have the control over the government like they do in The State (the drug cartels do). So anything you cannot buy at the local pharmacy, you can buy on the streets.
I carefully measured out the two chemicals and sprayed away. It seems to be working, but I do have to continue the spraying. After about a week and three liters of spray, it seems to be working. To my delight, the butterflies still feast on my flowers every evening, along with humming birds. Some how it has no affect on them. So, my plants are happy; I am happy and my place is almost bug free What a beautiful life it is.
***************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment