Thursday, January 29, 2009

"La Cucaracha"

You know the song "La Cucaracha?" I did some research, and evidently the original version is believed to go like this:
"La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
Ya no puede caminar;
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
Marihuana que fumar."

English
"The cockroach, the cockroach,
Can't walk anymore
Because it doesn't have, because it's lacking
Marijuana to smoke."


I wish this song were true. If marijuana really kept the roaches from walking (and therefore NOT entering my apartment) I would go out and buy a few KILOS of it. (Haha, I'm only kidding mom!)

Victim #2

(and that isn't dirt on the floor...it's a stain that won't come up! haha, I promise my house is clean!) :)

This is the second roach I've found in our apartment. And you know what they say...for every roach you see there are 100's more hiding in your walls. AHHH!

You should have seen me killing it. Around 6:30 pm (it was already dark by then) I went into the kitchen. The light was already on, and I was shocked to see a roach right in the middle of the floor. (Roaches don't usually like light, and stay hidden until late at night when it's nice and dark.) I screamed, and it didn't move. Then I realized that my bug spray was in the utility room. The roach was blocking my entrance. I went into the bedroom and picked out a pair of Jose's nice heavy boots. (Jose asked me later why I needed a pair of shoes and not just one, haha. I'm not sure, I guess one could have worked just as well.) Anyway. I go into the kitchen with the two boots, and stand over the roach trying to get up the courage to smash it. I stood there for about 5 minutes trying to do it. Finally, I was about to do it, when the edge of the boot hit the box next to the roach and the roach ran towards me. I screamed. And started crying. I tried to call Jose. He didn't answer. And if he had answered, he probably would have told me I was being ridiculous and just kill the darn thing. So anyway. The roach eventually ran into the box. I saw my opening, and ran into the utility room for the spray. As I was coming out, I saw the roach crawling on the outside of the box. I sprayed like crazy. (Just so you can picture this...the spray is not in a can. It's in a bottle with a pump, so you have to push in the pump for the spray to come out.) So I'm pumping the spray like crazy, and it kept running! I ran into the living room, and it ran into the utility room. I followed it, still spraying like crazy. We went on like this for about 10 minutes. It would run and hide, and I would wait. When it came out again, I would spray it like crazy. Finally, I realized it was starting to die. It was trying to run around, but wasn't doing too well. I stood there and watched it twitch until it died. (A little morbid, I know. But I had to make sure it died!)

I left it in the floor to send a message to its friends and family. If you come into my apartment, you will die bitches! Hahaha.

Seriously though, I don't understand why we have roaches! I've done my best to keep them away. I clean all of the surfaces in the kitchen with bleach almost daily, and take great care to keep everything dry (they like moist areas) and crumb free. We keep almost all of our dry pantry goods in plastic containers or baggies to discourage them too. I have boric acid sprinkled in all the right places too (i.e., under the sink, around the appliances, in cracks/holes).

The only advice I can find online for preventing/controlling roaches come from companies/organizations in the US. I need some advice on how to combat these catracho roaches. So, Honduras, I need your help. Tell me what to do to keep these nasty creatures away!!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Hannah you´re in trouble cause you are living in a construction sight, there´s no way you´re gonna get rid of them right now, the good thing about all those cats in the buildin is that u won´t be getting any rats. :( good luck

Cubamericana said...

Love your blog - I was Googling something the other day and came across it and have been reading ever since! I am from Lexington and went to WKU (go Hilltoppers!)My husband is from Comayagua. It's so fun to read about the experiences that us as Americanas have in other countries, please continue keep us informed; it's so fun to read!

Hannah said...

Patty, thanks for the post. You're right about the cats...maybe they'll scare away the roaches too, haha! :)

Cubamericana, I'm flattered that you are reading my blog! :) And I'm glad you enjoy it. Are you currently living in Honduras? If so, we should start an alum chapter haha! :)

Brenton Hippler said...

Hannah, based on my experience in Latin America, cleanliness has NOTHING to do with the presence of cockroaches in your house. It's a fact of life. Learn to deal (and to kill them in a more time efficient manner) and life will be much more stress free.

Hannah said...

brent, im learning that they are very common here, but am still refusing to accept that they are a fact of life. they are nasty, disease carrying insects...trust me, i WILL win this battle. ;)

Honduras Sprout said...

It's the drains, I found to be the entry point. We mostly have had trouble in the bathroom. We don't use our bathtub so the drain openings have tape over them. For a while there when I was pregnant and making lots of bathroom trips in the middle of the night I would wake to find a big huge roach staring me down. I started to feel like he was my friend...like the roach in the movie Wall-e. That is until one time he climbed up my arm because he was hiding in the toilet paper roll. He was not my friend after that.

My idea would be to get drain covers of some sorts and see if you see a reduction in creepy visitors.

Honduras Sprout said...

I just heard about this and I thought of your post about your uninvited friends. Bay leaves. I guess roaches don't like 'em.

Hannah said...

HS - We do use drain covers...and maybe that's why I've only seen 2-3 in the month that I've been back from the US. I'll try the bay leaves thing...thanks! :)

The Beck Family said...

Hannah, I've been living in Teguc. for about 8 years now. Boy to we have the cockroach stories. When I first came our yard had a bed of roaches that I won't even begin to describe other than to say it was GROSS!
Now my resolution was to have the exterminators out and do away with them! However my husband is a biologist and loves the fact that we have a complete ECO system living in our backyard. He solution was to capture as many bullfrogs as he could find and turn them loose. They burry under the ground and apart from a rainstorm you don't know they are there. The love to feast on the cockroach! We did notice a big difference and soon didn't see them in the house. Our current home has had no problem with them nor spiders, nor ants, because the Land Lord fumigates the home once a year! We still manage to have our lizards and geckos running around on the back fence so my hubby is fine with it. Check with your Land Lord and see why they haven't taken care of the problem for you. Good Luck!