USA Expatriate .com

Let’s talk about bugs, shall we?

One of the first things people want to know about our new life down here is, “How are the bugs?!” The truth is, they’re not that bad.

I think we got lucky—we’re on a lower elevation near the beach where the biggest issues are mosquitoes and ants. Up in the mountains is where you get the big and scaries…tarantulas and scorpions.

Now, as many of you know, I have an irrational fear of spiders. I can honestly handle any other bug (and have since our arrival in the tropics), but spiders just scare the bajeezus out of me! However, our spider encounters have been of average frequency and size and I even managed to kill one myself. The real adjustment has been living the open-air lifestyle.

For the past 4 years, we’ve been living in concrete, high-rises in Chicago, where I rarely had to deal with a gnat. Adjusting to insects flying and marching in and out of our little house at will has taken some getting used to, but we’re learning. We are lucky enough to have screens on 3 of our 6 windows (and trust me, this is uncommon), which means we can have half of our windows open at night without inviting every bug in the neighborhood indoors.

We were briefly dealing with an ant problem where we would hang some article of clothing on the line to dry and we’d come back to that item COVERED in black ants. I’ve learned that they especially love my sweaty running shoes and socks, and our ocean water-filled swimsuits. So, we broke down and bought bug killer.   

Despite a few freak outs—by both Chris and myself—I think we’ve handled the bugs rather well. The locals here don’t seem to be bothered, so we’re trying to embrace the Tico way of life and adapt.