A Little Rain and A Lot of Sand Flies

After a week or more of perfect, GORGEOUS weather, the clouds have moved in bringing with them very heavy night time rains.  Pools are back at their rims and cisterns are over flowing.Yesterday afternoon was very pretty but you could see those dark clouds lurking all day.

Here is the view this morning…from the other side.  I’m still thinking sun later this morning.

I have no problem with the weather.  In fact, I am loving it.  Cool at night, it dipped into the mid-70s last night and I was double wrapped in blankets.  “Baby making weather” some Belizeans like to call it.

What I am not enjoying is the sand flies.  Tiny little insects about the size of a pin head, these miniature flies live to annoy.  Mosquitoes, I can respect for a few reasons.  1.  They respect my bug repellent.  If you don’t forget to spritz yourself thoroughly before leaving the house in the evening, you can return bite free.  I enjoy a bug that plays by the rules.  2.  They are biting you for a reason.  A poor mosquito mama is just trying to nurse her mosquitolings on your blood (or something like that).  3.  They are pretty easy and satisfying to kill.  They warn you that they are coming by buzzing, they linger a bit too long while biting.  They give you a shot.

Sand flies, no-see-ums, midges, sand fleas don’t play by any of these rules.  They could care less about my Off! Spray and you can hardly see them.  There is a long list of remedies that people swear by…baby oil being top of the list.  But it  doesn’t seem to work for me.  All you feel is a pinprick little bite on your ankles.  Always the ankles…

But it is certainly not the end of the world.  They only bother me a few days out of the year.  Most hotels rake their sand daily and that cuts the number down seriously.  And they leave no lasting bump on me.  If this is the worst the tropics have to offer bug-wise, it’s not that bad at all.  A week by the lake in upstate NY leaves me much more itchy.

I’m sure many have had different experiences.  If you have a great remedy/repellent or even a horror story, definitely let me know.  I’m sure many people would like to hear…