What was that?

While living in the tropics can be enchanting, mysterious, and very captivating, the creatures that linger are down-right spooky! I have never seen so many insects, reptiles, birds, and other things that I couldn't even tell you what species they belong in my life.

We have an outdoor kitchen, and although that could seem somewhat exciting, cooking in it is a whole different story. The summer heat pounds down on you and makes you sweat in places you didn't realize you could possibly sweat, and the creatures that come out of no where are repulsive. The minute you pull anything out of the refrigerator the flies, ants, and mosquitoes start to swarm. And no matter how fast you cook or clean up it doesn't matter; they can still smell the food from a mile away.

But the best part, we have rats! And they are ripping off the labels of the canned goods trying desperately to get inside. At this point, pretty much everything is in our refrigerator or freezer staying safe from the heat, humidity, rats, and insects.

So, we were bound and determined to de-bug (literally) our kitchen today--which meant a trip into Puerto Vallarta to Home Depot. We bought everything from rat killer to mosquito burners to ant repellent to mosquito nets and hurried home as fast as we could to get rid of them.

First, we hung the mosquito net across the kitchen entryway and put a small fan in the kitchen for air circulation and we were in business. But, while doing that we started to get eaten alive by mosquitoes, so we started to burn the mosquito burners--which literally look like a stove burner--and they solved that issue. Then, I mixed up the fly repellent and sprayed it all over the trash can. But that only brought out all the maggots that were in the trash can, which then brought out the gecko's to eat all the maggots--trust me, we see the whole circle of life here. Then, Jeremy laid the rat traps, so who knows what we'll walk out to tomorrow morning in the kitchen.

We are bound and determined to win this war against insects and rodents, but we are certain it's going to take some time. I wish I could post pictures of all the excitement, but I left my camera in the truck for two days and it got so hot it won't work anymore. You gotta love it here!