Mosquitos!

Twilight: this is the time that mosquitos come out so doors are closed, windows shut, and small warps in the frames are fret over and stuffed with available objects.  Somehow this doesn’t stop the tiny blood-sucking insects getting in.  Every day I have awoken with a new bite.  15 seems to be the total by day 5, which is 3 a night.  As each bite lasts about 5 days and itches like undiluted mad, the doers of this have become the enemy.  2 nights ago I was awoken by the itch at around 3am and I started scratching myself like a cartoon character: fingers splayed and clawed, with pure fury and determination etched on my face; a sort of non-blinking madness.  The problem is that giving the bites a good scratch only makes them worse and the more you want to scratch; a vicious circle.  The internet told me of various soothing aids for mozzie bites at 3:30am, and I went all out in experimentation: vinegar, salt paste, mint toothpaste and dry soap.  The toothpaste worked the best, and soon I was plastered in the blue-green stuff.

My unfortunate arm with bites highlighted.

With forms of relief discovered, yesterday I looked into preventative measures.  One is DEET, a truly vile chemical spray that must be sprayed over the entire body at night.  After a liberal applying of it last night I felt that I was both living inside an oil tanker’s exhaust funnel, and highly flammable.  It worked, but I felt it was the extreme option.  Today I went in search of the natural alternative: Lemongrass Oil (or aceite hierba de limon) as I had to say to the pharmacist.  She gave me an alternative, Eucalyptus Oil.  It smells nice.  I put it on my arms, neck, and lower legs and promptly got bitten further up my shorts in Untreated Leg Territory which suggests it is good at driving them into different realms.

Countries that don’t have the flying peril are truly blessed.