¡Hormigas!

Ants are a regular part of life here. They are just about everywhere. They really caught my attention when my roomate, Kris, pointed out that there are a long line of them carrying pieces of leaves a long way down our street (most likely leafcutter ants). I often check them and they are always carrying leaves. I wonder do they always work? Does an ant ever say, "Hey guys, I'm gonna take five, my thorax is killing me!" Do they take long weekends off? Celebrate birthdays? Somehow I doubt it. Their life is endless toil from morning until night. So next time you complain, think of the ants.

Two days ago, I saw a beautiful, but massive beetle with irridescent green armour plating turned upside down and being attacked by a platoon of ants. The beetle seemed to be without a friend and so I held my shoe over him. The beetle immediately grabbed on and was rescued from the vicious attack. In fact, I was hard pressed to get him to let go when I was trying to deposit him on the ground a good distance away.

Ants constantly search our apartment for food. They check all the rooms without seeming to notice that the kitchen has the highest chance of having food scraps. Fortunately Kris and I are very tidy, so the ants have very little luck finding food. We even keep our cereal, sugar and other non-perishables in the fridge to keep our persistent friends from sharing our food.

There are also very tiny little ants that are so small I am not sure they are ants. But they move like ants, so I am assuming that's what they are. These ants are so small they can get in jars and ziploc bags that are closed.

The proliferation of ants is one of the perks of living in a foreign country. Sometime I will discuss millipedes which I like even more.