Attack of the killer...

With the start of the rainy season they have returned. They remained blissfully dormant underground for the last 6 months. But within the last few weeks they emerged in mass—eating our avocados, forming rivers across our foot paths, and most importantly biting us! Here they are called akacho. Say it in a scary, serious voice… it sounds way more frightening than our word…ahem…ants. The biting ants here are just plain terrible. First of all, they aren’t like American ants. No, really, they’re not. They’re like ants on steroids with huge pinchers the same size of their swollen bodes. If you unsuspectingly stand in one of their “rivers of death” (my word for their long highways) they’ll swarm up your legs waiting until they reach your waist, crotch, armpits, or neck to bite. Once they bite, they hold on until you dig them out of your skin… leaving you no choice but to strip off all your clothes and pick off the little buggers (in often humiliating circumstances). As their food sources get more scarce, they get more desperate. They have been known to smother and asphyxiate unsuspecting chickens at our children’s home. I have even heard stories about them attacking small babies, but these rumors are thankfully unsubstantiated (it does add to the “scary factor” though, eh?). And so our adventures continue… this time making it that much more treacherous as we walk from our house to the kitchen for breakfast. Wish us luck.