March of the Ants

There are just some things that you cannot mentally prepare for when living in the jungle.  I was ready for bathing in the river, cooking over a kamal, taking malaria pills and sleeping under a net - but I was not prepared for the Marching Ants.  Saturday afternoon my brother Nester came to me and said, "Shella, the ants are blocking my way into the house."  Well Nester, can't you just brush them aside.  "No Shella, there are too many."  Well, this house that he speaks of is also the house that houses me and all of my worldly possessions, so I thought that this ant problem was worth a look.  I glanced over at his entrance, and sure enough there were tons of ants.  I opened my door, but did not see any in my room.  No problem, they didn't come inside.  I went about the afternoon and when I went back in to grab something, my room had been invaded. They were everywhere!  Marching up and down my walls, over my mosquito net, into my backpack - it was a nightmare!  The worst part was that they were chasing roaches all over the place and carrying the bodies of large insects along their line.  Great, not just ants, but killer ones. 

I didn't know what to do, so I grabbed my bike and raced over to Ms. Ophelia's, the women who I work with in Blue Creek and the owner of the "one stop shop."  She must have some ant killer, I thought.  I raced up her steps and started telling her about my problem.  Oh, she said, I have ant spray, but that wont help, they will just stay until they are done cleaning up.  She explained that they just keep going, cleaning up dead insects and chasing out roaches.  So I went back and surveyed.  There they were, in all of my things, going about their business and there was nothing I could do about it.  So I waited.  I went to the main house, went to river and bathed, ate dinner, and waited.  Sure enough, sometime before I went to bed, they disappeared.  Not one to be found.  They had moved on to some other house to do their cleaning, and all I had to show for their visit were two wicked bites on my foot where I had accidentally crossed their path. 

Just a lesson in patience from the bush.