MOSCAS EN LA CASA

I've had kind of a tough past few days. The other morning I went running with Roberto, the teacher at one of my schools who I've gone running with a few times. The problem was that Roberto had to be at work early and could only go out at the ludicrous hour of...5 AM! I knew I should have just said thanks but lets do it another time, but sure enough I found myself running in the nearly pitch black, trying to keep up with Roberto, when what else but a fine mist of cold rain should start coming down. Well, long story short the next day I felt myself starting to get sick, and spent the next 2 days at home with a fever, aches, and stuffy nose. Sitting cooped up in my house feeling like crap wasn't the best thing for my outlook on life, and I had lots of time to mull over things and get myself worked up. What's worse, to my horror I realized I was getting a fly problem...more and more flies had begun invading my room. Apparently, now that rainy season has started, insects have begun invading everywhere. In addition to flies I've also noticed huge beetles crawling (and sometimes flying) around my room. But the flies are the worst. It started getting really annoying when they started landing on my face and waking me up in the morning.

Today I was finally feeling a bit better, and had decided to change things up by inviting Susy and Tony, 2 of my Peace Corps neighbors from (relatively) nearby towns, to brunch. I spent yesterday afternoon making homemade bagels—both sesame and cinnamon raisin—in my Peace Corps oven (it's really cool—a large lidded pot with a water-filled tuna can placed at the bottom and then put on a stovetop—the water in the can boils and the water vapor creates heat!!!) and this morning I baked a large loaf of banana bread—I was very proud! The only problem was that despite my efforts to get the flies to leave, the problem only seemed to be getting worse with more and more flies covering my walls. As hard as I tried, I could not squash even one. I had no idea what to do and was worried of what my friends would think when they arrived.

We had a really great time, and Tony and Susy stayed most of the afternoon. In addition to the bagels and bread, I made hashbrowns and french toast, and was highly complimented on my culinary creativity. The highlight of the afternoon was when the rain started coming down so hard that it created a virtual river outside my front door. Tony and Susy pointed out all the positive aspects of my house—how much natural light I get; how convenient and nice the view is of the wide front entrance; my nice private bathroom; the charming patio out back; and my host family with 4 cute kids. While I'd been becoming critical of my living situation, they're comments made me realize the good things and changed my attitude quite a bit.

The only problem were the flies. The black mass of bodies on my ceiling seemed to keep growing larger and larger, and I was embarrassed when they buzzed by my friends heads. I asked if they had any ideas. Tony recommended “MataMoscas” (literally, “KillsFlies”), basically a strip of really sticky tape which traps the flies when they land on it.

After I walked Susy and Tony back to the bus stop in the center of town, I stopped in a few stores until I found one that had MataMoscas in stock. I bought 4 strips to be sure I had enough for all the little buggers.

Back at my house, I found that the product (which was for some strange reason labeled entirely in German) was not as self explanatory as I'd expected. I asked Juan Fermin, my landlord/host dad to help out, and with his assistance as well as the moral support of the 4 kids who stood and watched, we hung the sticky strips from my ceiling. I didn't feel like waiting around, so I grabbed a broom and started sweeping the flies on the ceiling in the direction of the strips. Sure enough, a fly landed on it, its legs stuck fast and hard. Then another did the same. Then another. As I swung my broom gleefully around the room (anyone looking through the window would probably have thought I was possessed), more and more flies sealed their fate by landing on the strips of death. I could even hear their futile buzzing as they tried in vain to free themselves. I laughed with sadistic pleasure at the little creatures who had until recently seemed to take so much pleasure in tormenting me. Within a few hours nearly all of the flies and the room were stuck, dead or dying.

As an added bonus, Juan's help in hanging the MataMoscas revealed a solution to another problem I've been trying to solve for weeks, that of hanging pictures and posters on my wall. The problem is that however much I try to tape them, they always fall down off the slippery walls. The problem was really starting to irritate me (in the Peace Corps, little things can make you really happy or really piss you off). However, in showing my how to hang the MataMoscas Juan showed me a new technique of taping a large piece to the wall to create a base, and then using a second piece to attach what you want to hang. After I had my fill of sweeping flies to their death, I spent the next hour taping up a bunch of pictures, posters, and maps I've been dying to get up. As I write this, Juan is finally putting up the curtains to block the light on my windows which he's been promising to do for weeks. All my problems are solved!