A Taste of Malawi

A Bug's Life

Yesterday morning began with a jolt of excitement. Before coming to Malawi we had heard great things about all of the bugs, but the bugs have been staying clear of us for the most part. Not yesterday, bug after bug seemed to find its way to us. I awoke to Samantha shrieking. A big gross cockroach had decided to take up residence in our shower. It was sprawled on its back just chilling out, appearing to be very dead. She reached down to move it out when it became very alive and struggling to go after whatever had just touched its stomach. I woke from my grogginess of sleep and ask if everything was okay and all she said was "its looking at me". The nasty cockroach was staring her down with its beady little eyes. I jumped up and grabbed a toilet paper roll and our little blue pot for bucket showers. I trapped him and scooped him up. As soon as he was flipped back over, his legs began to violently move, clawing for an escape. I ran to the door and threw him out, as he had decided that my hand would be a better place to explore. As soon as that disgusting roach hit the ground it turned and ran between my feet, through the open door and back into the house. I tried once again trapping him against the wall, but yet again he escaped. We figured he had disappeared forever, since he was nowhere to be seen. I moved back our curtain and there he was, staring me down with his beady eyes, laughing at my inability to catch him. Roaches are extremely quick insects, with long stringy legs and before I could even dump him back in the pot he had launched himself out and onto my mosquito net(still hanging over my bed). Finally I was able to successfully catch him and I ran to the door and threw everything in my hands. The pot went flying, the toilet paper roll went flying, and that disgusting determined roach flew through the air. Until gravity kicked in and he hit the windshield of the Guarino's car. It landed on its back, legs flying everywhere. He quickly flipped himself over and scampered on down the car, hopefully never to be seen again. Our house was full of shrieks and laughter. In the past 24 hours we've found 2 cockroaches, 1 millipede, and 2 geckos inside our house. How they get inside we have no idea, but it sure is an adventure making them leave.