No me gusta la cucaracha
Do you like cockroaches? My guess is No and neither do we of course. Both Rebecca and I, during our time living in Toronto, were forced to reside in houses where the nasty little creatures were commonplace. Not cool!
We have heard that a common method for roaches to get onboard boats is via cardboard boxes and packaging. They may be referring to corrugated cardboard when they say this but given our past experiences, we’re not taking any chances. We remove ALL cardboard packaging when we go shopping, either at the dock, before we get in the dinghy or if that’s not convenient, immediately after getting back to the boat. The packaging is then sealed in a plastic bag and disposed of ASAP. As I said, we’re not taking any chances. When it comes to roaches… this boat ain’t big enough for the both of us (said in the best Cowboy accent that I could muster).
Ready to be sealed in a plastic bag for later disposal on shore.
Humans can eat cockroaches. If this sounds disgusting then I have some bad news for you. If you eat out at restaurants, then you have probably already eaten roaches, roach excrement, roach residue, and roach eggs. The little rascals are in almost every restaurant in business.
Bon Appetite!
Mmmmm!
I’ve read that before about the cardboard boxes but thanks for the reminder. And John….uggggh. More information than I needed. I think bugs are going to be the biggest thing to get used to for me because we don’t really have many here in the mountains and no cockroaches at all.
To be honest, we have had no more bugs on our boat than we did in our house. Perhaps even less. The worst culprits are house flies which, depending on the anchorage or the time of year, can be a pest. Right now, for example, there are none. During the summer months in Grenada they drove us crazy.
I have a friend who works for Able Pest control in Hamilton Ontario Canada . He has on his desk a couple of roaches that have been in a jar for more than a year with no food or water. Just the paper under the lid and they do just fine. He tells me they like the glue in cardboard.
Yes, I have heard about the glue too. That’s crazy though!
OMG John!!! As someone who loves to eat out – you just ruined my life.
🙁
If only we were as adaptable as they are! I need beer and rum to survive in a jar! By the way Mike I read the Multihull article and it was very well done. Like all your writings facts with fun added.
Ken
Thank you, Ken. And I agree, I’d need at least some beer to wash down the glue from the jar.
Interestingly, in the current blog from It’s Irie, Liesbet explains about waste disposal when there are no ‘facilities’ and it is the cardboard that they keep! This is to light fires on the beach to burn the plastic waste.
I have spent many hours trying to kill cockroaches in Africa. Always failed – as soon as I got a good chance the thing just took off and flew away. Only to come back as soon as I stopped!
It amused everyone who saw my demented efforts however.
Mike
Interesting. I bet they have the cardboard sealed in plastic bags.
As for killing cockroaches, I have a scar on one hand from the time I smashed a ceramic hotplate down on top of one to put it away. I got cut… the roach may have laughed at me and walked away!
Many years ago, we used to dance to a tune called ‘La Cucaracha’. It was very enjoyable, though I have forgotten what the dance was.
I never realised at the time what the name meant, or the significance of the noise of the maracas that were a key part of the music.
Mike
When I googled cucaracha to check the spelling, I think the song was the first hit.
la Cucaracha, la Cucaracha ,ya no puede caminar
porque no tiene ,por que le falta,la patita de atras
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ranslation: la cucaracha, la cucaracha ,cant walk ,because it hasn,t,because its missing,its hind leg!
WORDS TO LA CUCARACHA SONG WITH TRANSLATION
Nice. Now it’s a battle between which song is stuck in my head, that one or the theme song from the TV show Weeds which we have been watching lately.