October 11th, 2021 by Rachel Somers

Before I go too much farther in this blog, I want to take a moment to discuss something about travel. Traveling to new countries and climates can ask a lot of you, as you adjust and adapt to new situations. Sometimes you find that you need to accept the inevitable, some aspect of life in this new setting that you’re just not going to change. And in this instance, I’m talking about bugs.

Sure, I’ve dealt with bugs before. They’re everywhere, even in New England. We’ve got some nasty ones too. Black-flies and mosquitoes will eat you alive, deer flies will leave you with welts, and ticks will burrow in, suck you dry and give you Lyme’s disease or anaplasmosis. But as a rule, you can keep bugs at bay. Not so here.

I decided on this trip that I just needed to accept that bugs are everywhere. Ants are the most common, but of course there are the mosquitoes and the “no-see-ums.” And the “no-see-ums” in Roatán aren’t like the ones I’ve encountered before! Countless times I’d feel a little painful prick on my arm or leg only to look down and find that the apparent speck of dirt on my skin was in fact a biting insect that has now left its mark and flown off. Dagnabbit! Even DEET only did so much to deter them. I had a recommendation from Susie to get picaridin lotion, which doesn’t have the noxious odor of DEET and can last up to 12 hours. Next time, that’s exactly what I’m bringing.

Less awful are the beetles that come in. Heidy and I took to leaving the door to our balcony open to get a better cross breeze. Since we’re on the second floor, it’s less of a concern, but there isn’t a screen in that door, so you need to decide if you’d rather keep some bugs out or enjoy the breeze. Regardless of doors or screens, some bugs inevitably find a way in, therefore the breeze is usually what wins out. Because of this, there are always a couple small beetles hanging out in the apartment. They’re apparently short lived, or else they make their way in just to die, because I can sweep their carcasses out by the next morning.

Being resigned to the presence of bugs doesn’t mean I let them stay, though. When Heidy spotted the 2 inch long cockroach on the kitchen window curtain, I was delighted that the rod lifts off easily so I could take the whole thing outside and shake the roach off. And when the kitchen floor was covered with maggots one morning because we hadn’t taken out the trash for a couple days, I grabbed the broom and got to work. I would like to point out that the trash was neither full nor that disgusting, and it did have a lid. The flies are just more adept at getting in places that one might expect. And apparently the maggots were bored with staying in one location. Sweeping maggots is about as fun as herding cats. Those guys are fast.

You know, it’s surprising what ER nursing can prepare you for. Having encountered maggots on foot wounds on more than one occasion made dealing with them in the kitchen much easier that it otherwise would’ve been. Even so, you better believe that I changed the trash far more frequently after that incident.