Insects in Costa Rica

One of the things I wondered about before moving to Costa Rica was the prevalence of insects and how they would impact our life. One hears and reads all sorts of things before arriving here.

Readers of my blog from it's inception know that we had had never travelled to Costa Rica before moving here. Instead, we had done about fifteen years of research on line and talking to people before making the decision to give it a try. Our attitude is: "If not now, when?"

In the almost two years we have lived here, we have had just one scorpion in the house, and it was a small one at that. The ebbs and flows of nature and climate bring the insect world into our lives. Right now, the tiny "no-see-ums" are bothering my husband but not me as much.

This does not mean we cannot sit outside because we can .. all day and all year long. I remember days in the awful humid summers of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, before the advent of air conditioning, and the mosquitoes were unbearable ... and so was the humidity. My husband, Lance, can tell you all about the insect life in Alberta in the summer.

I've been bitten by ants here and that hurts for a bit. We use repellant products and ointments to put on any bites. About once a month, we spray around the perimeter of the house as a precaution. All the mercados carry insect sprays so they are readily available.

We have yet to experience the army ants that apparently will march right through a house and do a thorough job of cleaning up other insects, food crumbs, etc. Maybe we never will. Heck, if a bunch of ants want to clean my house for free, I'll happily go out for a few hours and leave them to it.

So, for us, insects have not been much of a problem but this applies to where we live. It could well be, and probably is, different in other parts of Costa Rica.

One thing for sure, I've seen some absolutely beautiful insects here.

 

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More Good Things About Costa Rica

... the tomatoes! Today,  I picked two fat, red, plump, juicy tomatoes from the plants I have around the outside of the house. The seeds came from either a packet of tomato seeds I bought, or from the seeds of tomatoes I bought at the feria. They are all mixed up now but so what - all are delicious.

Sliced them up, sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper and basil (our own) - bought the basil seeds at a local Atenas feed store.

We also have sweet peppers growing and those seeds came from peppers I bought at the feria. When I cut the peppers up to eat, I throw the seeds and membranes out onto my garden area.

I throw all kinds of vegetable leftovers out there - even stale bread. The wrens and robins go for the bread and I think it also attracts worms so the cycle goes on. This is just outside our back door and there is no smell - everything seems to rot really fast.

The only thing that shocked me was this: yesterday the two ripe tomatoes were perfect, today they had insect damage on the outside of the tomatoes.  How did those insects know my tomatoes were ripe for their eating? I wonder if I can cover the fruit with ..... something  ...... before the insects get to it.

Oh, and I have also planted melon seeds from feria melons, and pineapple tops .... it is January, for goodness sake - unbelievable.