Bugs

Either I have an overactive imagination or I saw one too many missionary slide presentations as a child. Brazil was a popular Baptist missions destination during my youth and having at least one picture of a gigantic insect seemed to be compulsory in these presentations. You know, something like this:

And so, as I thought about moving to Honduras I thought, "Semi-tropical climate equals big/lotsa bugs." I wouldn't say that I was worried about this. No one talked about needing mosquito netting in our bedrooms or anything, but I know it was at the back of my mind.

Now, understand, we live in the capitol city of more than 1 million people. I am sure that the insect situation is different/worse in other parts of the country. There's a region of the country called La Mosquitia for crying out loud (though I believe that was named after a people group, not the insect). But our insect experience has been generally positive. We have our windows open all the time and the screens aren't especially bug-tight. We do get insects in the house but they have not been any worse than during the summer in the states. We have cockroaches at the church but they are pretty harmless (thought Ellyn wasn't too impressed when there was one barring her exit from the bathroom). We have seen one scorpion and several common spiders. Termites are common. We occasionally have large (5-6" across) moths in the church. And we have seen a  lizard or two scurrying around the church and the house.

So, if you were thinking of visiting but were scared off by images of tarantulas and swarms of dengue bearing mosquitoes, I can lay your fears to rest.

(For the linguistically curious: The Spanish word for fly is mosca making the word mosquito a diminutive--little fly. However, mosquitoes are called zancudos. According to Wikipedia, the region of Honduras and Nicaragua called the Mosquito Coast was named for an indigenous group called the Miskito Indians).