Crazy creatures in the "bathroom"

Living in the village in Malawi, I actually don't have a bathroom. I have an outdoor latrine and an outdoor bathing area. They are on different sides of the yard from each other. Both structures are made of brick with a tin roof.

Everytime I go to use the bafa (that's Chichewa for bathing area), I do a quick snake check now. That's because a few months ago when I went to go take my bucket bath, I heard a weird noise. But I hear lots of weird noises in there, so I wasn't too worried. Until I saw something kinda big moving in the corner. After retrieving my flashlight and shining it into the corner, I found the source of the noise-- a snake, weaving back and forth, with it's hood out like a cobra! I told my neighbors, and they promptly assembled a crowd of 20 and got their machetes to kill it. They're good like that. The kids had a grand old time putting it's body on a stick and scaring each other with it.

And that's not the only thing I have seen in the bafa. Over these past two years, I have seen all all of the following in the chim (latrine), bafa or both, at one time or another:

cobra-looking snake
cave cricket

army ants
flat spiders
blister beetles
giant snails
large black millipedes
probably over a dozen different species of ants
giant cockroaches

carpenter beetles
wasps
lizards
at least five different species of flies
toads

the face of one of the little neighbor boys, through the needlessly large window in the bafa, once he realized I was in there (this only happened once, right after I moved in)

Try peeing with this thing staring at you. It's a blister beetle. Locally they call it something in Chichewa that translates as "The Urinator" because it pees on you and causes blisters to form on the skin

I am not going to miss sharing my "bathroom" with flora and fauna, that's for sure. Indoor plumbing was definitely one of humanity's more convenient inventions. But a latrine is pretty nice to have in a drought.

Two Years, All Seasons in Malawi

Having experienced two complete cycles of the seasons in Malawi, I'm ready to make a comparison between them.

Hot Season
Pros - laundry dries quickly, less bugs, house smells better (no musty smell), don't have to pee as much so less time in the chim, mangos at the end of the season, floor and dishes dry quickly, cleaner walk to school (no mud), vegetables are cheap and plentiful, bananas too, lots of daylight, easy to solar charge when the power goes out

Cons - it's ridiculously hot, I get very thirsty so I have to fill up my water filter a lot more, too hot to boil water or make porridge or drink tea, long sweaty nights so it is difficult to sleep, wind is very loud this time of year which is also difficult to sleep through, need to water garden everyday, so much sun

Rainy Season

Pros - very green and pretty everywhere, pineapples are cheap and plentiful, showers on tin roof sound nice, more frogs and toads and butterflies and flowers, can collect rainwater for cooking and bathing and drinking, thunder and lightning are pretty exciting, cool spiders (or is that a con?)

Cons - vegetables are expensive and mould quicker, water shortages (since mud blocks the pipes upstream), higher risk of cholera, hot and muggy when not raining so it can be difficult to sleep, mosquitos and biting bugs aplenty, cockroaches get up earlier and stay out later, risk of snakes in the grass, flood/storm damage, more power outages, house smells musty, everything takes forever to dry, muddy feet walking to school, mud everywhere, rain on tin roof at school makes it impossible to teach (or is that a pro?), rain on tin roof sounds incredibly loud and makes it impossible to do anything indoors, slipping in the mud as I go outside to use the chim, using chim with an umbrella, leaking roof, condensation with heat so roof drips on me while I sleep, pretty much impossible to solar charge when the power goes out

Cold Season
Pros - I get to wear layers and drink tea and eat porridge and the warmth is wonderful, I sleep really well all bundled up in my layers and blankets and sleeping bag, less wildlife and bug activity this time of year, cool season crops like onions and kale do well in my garden, sweet potatoes are in season, lots of time to read, the sky is often overcast and looks really pretty, nandolo (pigeon peas) are blooming and in season

Cons - it's dark about 12 hours every night, so I have less time to lesson plan and do chores, lots of colds and coughs this time of year, laundry and dishes take longer to dry, more difficult to solar charge when the power goes out, hard to get out of bed in the morning to go to school because it is so cold and dark

The Verdict
After two years, I can definitely say my favorite season is Cold Season. Except for early in the mornings, it is really more Cool than Cold, so it is the perfect weather. And I love wearing layers and drinking tea and having an excuse to go to bed early and read. As an Education Volunteer I get to experience three Cold Seasons during my service since we arrive in June, so I feel very blessed for that.

Mmmm, bugs

I'm in the last seven months of my service now, and I still have a few things on my PC Malawi bucket list to do. One of them was to try nsima made from cassava flour instead of the usual maize flour. Another was to try the flying ants that people eat here. I got to do both last week.

Good old nsima. It was served with a tomato and egg relish as well as cooked cassava leaves. A classic Northern Malawian meal, and pretty tasty.

Afterwards the owner of the restaurant showed is where they were drying the flying ants in the sun.

Here is a closer look. They are about an inch long and have about two inch wings.

Just remove the wings and eat. Here is me about to eat one.

And here is me after. Really, it didn't taste bad. Kinda flaky, crunchy and salty. But the legs got stuck in my teeth and that freaked me out a little bit.

I'm glad I tried them, and I would eat them again. Especially if they were prepared in some dish. Maybe a flying ant burger?

Hello Rainy Season

It's Rainy Season in Malawi! The soil here has been eagerly awaiting a little moisture, and now it's green and lovely out. The maize is growing well too. It's knee high in a lot of places after just about a month of rain.

Rainy Season is a mix of bright sunshine and heat alternating with cool, overcast, wet weather. In Mulanje where I live there is also a fair bit of mugginess thrown in as well. Often all of these occur in the same day, which is why I try to always carry my umbrella with me this time of year. You never know when a downpour will sneak up on you!

Rainy Season brings out the big bugs. I caught a big black millipede in my bedroom a couple days ago, and there is another giant snail next to the chim. They have the coolest shells. I posted a pic of these last year if you want to see them.

About a week ago I saw this huge caterpillar next to the bafa. That is a matchbox next to it for scale. I like how it looks like it has a dark halo around it.

Well, I did it-- I survived my last Hot Season in Malawi! Without a refrigerator or ice or air-conditioning or a shower. So the next time there is a Summer Brown-Out in America I should be well-prepared. 

Attack of the Army Ants, Part 2: The Return

Last week I woke up early, with plans to make a cup of tea and enjoy a quiet morning where I didn’t have to rush off to school first thing. Malawi had other plans for me though. The linthumbu, the army ants, were back. They had a trail near my bafa (outdoor bathing area) and garden. So fires were made at key locations where they were coming out of the ground, and I put poison around the perimeter of my house where I remembered seeing them last time, and I sprayed much Doom bug spray in my bedroom, kitchen and guest room where they had invaded last time. And I prayed. And texted Colii, of course.

All that day I kept checking for more signs of them, but the coast was clear… until that evening. Which seems to be their way. They like to go on the move at night. I set this fire in my garden over several of their holes. And then had to set a few more. My poor garden is really taking a hit from these things.

The problem with army ants is that they can tunnel under the ground, so you chase them away in one place and they just make a new tunnel and come up somewhere else.  Here is a photo of one of their tunnel entrances in my yard. I still have these all over my yard from the last invasion, and everytime I see them they give me the shivers.

They ended up coming back the next day, making a thick trail along my gate in my garden and into the grass near my fence. I set more fires, put out more poison, and prayed for the best. It has been over a week now, and I haven't seen them back yet. I inspected my garden  and I saw three different kinds of ants hanging out there, which is a good sign. They would not be there if the linthumbu were anywhere nearby.

So here's hoping that will be my last brush with the red driver ants of Malawi. I've still got my can of Doom next to my bed though, just in case.

Attack of the Army Ants, Part I: Initial Invasion

Did I ever mention that back in July my house was invaded by ants? And not just any ants—army ants. I guess I was trying to block it out.

It started late at night. I was texting Colii and I heard all this rustling in my bedroom, much more than the normal lizards and birds and mice crawling around. When I turned on the flashlight I saw hundreds of ants in a thick trail crawling down my wall and under my bed. Also huge ants were dropping from the roof into my room, which is when I started really freaking out (I was so naïve back then). I bolted out of my mosquito net, grabbed a can of Doom bug spray and sprayed a ton of it around my bed. Then I picked a few ants out of my hair(!), crawled back into my mosquito net and prayed. At that point, I just knew that ants were in my house. I figured they might be going after my food, but most of it is in Ziploc bags anyway, so I wasn’t too worried. I actually tried to go to sleep after that (see, ignorance really is bliss).

The next morning when I woke up, the ants had left my room. However, they had just relocated to two other rooms in my house. More terror and Doom spraying ensued. Then I heard someone knocking at my gate, and when I went to answer it, I felt something painful on my foot. And then another. When I looked down, I saw I was standing in a trail of the ants. Many expletives were said as I jumped back and tried to knock them off my feet. (They are tenacious. They grab ahold of skin and just won’t let go. And it really hurts.)

It was my landlord at the gate, and as soon as he saw them, he recognized them and prescribed fire. He starting setting fire to all the ant trails that were visible, and created fires over all their little holes in the ground. It caused most of the ants to move away. (And burned up a good chunk of my garden. Oh well.)

Here is a photo of the ants in my garden. Sorry the photos aren’t very good, but it was hard to stay in one place for more than a few seconds because they kept biting me. And as I said, it really hurt.

This photo shows these bigger ants that seem to travel alongside the thick trail of the army ants. I'm not sure if they are queens or what. These were the ones that were dropping from the ceiling onto my bedroom.

For the next two days my neighbors and I continued battling the ants with fire and bug spray and an insecticide powder I bought in the market. After all that my house was mostly ant-free, my compost piles had been torched and there were charred spots all over my yard. But the ants were still coming up in different places in my yard. And then it was time for me to go to a PC training in Blantyre. So I took one last look at my ant-infested yard and departed, leaving it in the hands of my neighbors.

While I was away I did a little research on the ants. I discovered that there are many different species of army ants. I think these are red driver ants. Locally they are known as linthumbu. They travel in large colonies consisting of millions of predatory ants, killing almost everything in their path. My Deputy Head Teacher said they have been known to swarm and take down a live chicken. (And these things were in my bedroom!) Once they have wiped out all the food sources in an area, they move on to another spot. After they left my house I noticed a suspicious lack of lizards and spiders, so I was wondering if they chased them away and/or killed them.

When Colii and I arrived at my house in mid-July, it was the first time I had been back since the army ant invasion. I really didn’t know what to expect. I cautiously checked everything out, and the coast appeared clear. There was some kind of ant infestation on the guest mattress, but we Doomed it and they went away. Luckily they weren’t army ants. So we enjoyed our time at my site, as you can see in her blog posts about our vacation in Malawi together. I hoped that would be the last time I would ever see linthumbu. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Look what the rain brought in

We've been getting more rain in Malawi. The farmers finally planted their maize a couple weeks ago, and the maize is about 4-6" tall on the farms in my area.

Besides the good planting conditions, the rain has also brought about some new creatures. I put a pencil in for scale because that is one giant snail!

This millipede is pretty big too. He liked my new garbage pit and decided to head down to check it out. I really hope he stays out of my house.

Also, look what I found on my papaya tree yesterday morning!

Kuchapa Zovala

Doing laundry by hand in Malawi requires a few necessary items, not much water, and a lot of elbow grease.

You will need:

1 large bucket, for soaking

1 smaller bucket, for rinsing

Laundry powder

Laundry bar soap

Clothespins

Clothesline

Scrub brush

Bug spray (optional)

Directions:

1) Bring everything outside

2) Fill the larger bucket about 1/3 full of water. Fill the smaller bucket about 1/4 full of water

3) Put in a handful of laundry powder and mix with your hands

4) Put dirty clothes into the bucket. If the water does not cover them, add more

5) Allow to soak for an hour

6) Put up clothesline

7) Spray end of line with bug spray to keep red ants off laundry

8) Inhale bug spray (not required, but difficult to avoid)

9) Remove first clothing item from bucket, and scrub as needed

10) If there is a tough stain, use the bar of laundry soap and/or scrub brush

11) Wring out soapy water into bucket

12) Immerse in rinse water bucket, then wring out

13) Repeat step 12

14) Accept the fact that you are never going to get all the soap out without using way more water

15) Hang on clothesline with clothespins to dry

16) Repeat steps 9-15 for remaining clothing items. Will need to change rinse water as it becomes cloudy/soapy

17) After last item is hung, water plants with remaining water

While I do miss the ease of a washing machine, hand washing with laundry powder is much easier than hand washing with only bar soap, which is what I did during homestay. I never quite got the hang of that. And I do love the smell of laundry that has just come off the line. It's like you can smell the sun on the fabric.

Missing: One Egg Sac

A week ago this praying mantis was hanging out on my fence. A couple days later I noticed an egg sac in the same spot.

Then yesterday one of the neighbor kids was playing and got a bunch of dust in his eyes. He was crying so I brought him in my yard and washed his face and hands.

Afterwards a whole group of the neighbor kids came into my yard to check it out. And since it is Malawi, they immediately fell upon some leaves and tree debris that were laying on my porch and started sweeping it with their hands. I tried to stop them, but they were laughing and then it was done so quickly. Kusesa (sweeping) is very important here. For me though, I don't get too fussed about it since it is in my enclosed yard so nobody can see it anyways. Until now... : )

On the way out, one of the boys took the egg sac off the fence and carried it away before I could stop him. He called it an mbodzi, which means caterpillar.

Poor Mama Mantis.

Cleaning Day in Malawi

It's Sunday so it is a good time to do a little house-cleaning. I'm mopping my cement floors this morning. I don't see much difference before and after, but it feels good anyways.

While cleaning my living room I found a few things this morning:

- lizard skin that had been shed

- a dead cricket

- a tiny poop (lizard poop?)

Oh, and this little guy:

Isn't this the hairiest little caterpillar you have ever seen? He is now happily roaming outside in my yard. Ah, nature.

Okay, back to laundry. Let's see if the red ants are back yet...