While we love the rain, it unfortunately brings more than just water! We have a certain kind of biting ant that lives underground and comes out in force when it rains. Our yard is full of them and during the rainy season you can’t even walk around without being bit numerous times. Normally we wear flip-flops but on days like these you rethink that strategy. These ants are pretty big, and when they bite you they hang on for dear life. You have to physically knock them off to make them lose their grip. They don’t have a venomous sting per se, just a bad bite. If you happen to step on one it seems to set off a chain-reaction and they all start swarming and biting. If you can bare to stand still then they don’t usually bite. It just takes a little getting used to and a lot of mental effort to stand there while lots of big ants are walking all over your feet. The last few days have been miserable on account of these ants. With the rains they all seem to go into biting mode. They get into everything. Normally they don’t come in the house but lately they are everywhere. I included a picture of what our doorstep looks like. My sandal helps provide an idea of what size they are. They are crawling everywhere, including up your pant legs. That is an unnerving feeling! Guests cannot sit outside and visit because of the ants. Most of the baby chickens in the village will not survive this week, they will all be killed by the ants unless the owner goes to drastic measures to protect them. These ants are not everywhere in our area. In fact I have not seen them anywhere else in Mozambique. We are told they were introduced to our side of the river only recently. They have been spreading slowly. They overtook our part of the village about the time we arrived in this area. They are slowly working their way out to new areas. Interestingly, I ran into a swarm of these same ants when we were at a small water park in South Africa a few weeks ago. It made me feel at home. Ok, enough about ants.