Hormigas

In all my blogginess, I don’t believe I’ve ever paid due respect to the hormigas that populate our land and home in all their invasive glory. Hormigas = ants. And lots of ‘em. I believe I read once that in one square mile of Central American jungle, there are over 100 different species of ants – leaf cutters, fire ants, bullet ants, army ants . . . and they are finding new ones all the time. . .. Their populace, general nuisance, and (ok, I’ll give them this one) usefulness trumps just about every other insect by a long shot. Anyone who has seen Antz or Ant Bully or A Bug’s Life is aware of the intricate and intelligent social structure maintained by ants – established and upheld in honor of the queen, of course. Well, these matriarch-worshipping creatures are pervasive in Costa Rica. Some are big, some are small, some are black, some are red, some bite, some do not, some meander, some scurry, some invade then leave, some invade then stay waiting for something else to invade, some live in anthills, some live in trees, some live in our walls, others live in our computer monitors, and . . . ALL of them have two purposes – 1) to protect their nest (often to the detriment of your unshod feet); and 2) to find FOOD. Hunt, hunt, gather, gather, single file line, march, march, march, left, left, left, right, left, and again . . .Whether a leaf, a muffin crumb, a piece of cat food, a dead moth, or an empty, sugary-bottomed coffee mug, a scout is sure to find it and sooner rather than later a battalion of ants will be swarming all over it until every little piece has been torn off, fragmented, dismembered, and carried back to the colony in a single file line, march, march, march, left, left, left, right, left, and again . . .They are nature’s best decomposition contrivance by far, offering the ultimate in ecological housekeeping. And you know all those newfangled burial packages where you can be wrapped in biodegradable linen and buried underneath a tree on some sprawling acreage set aside by some old rich lady who didn’t know what else to do with her land? Well, shoot, if you really want to ease Mother Nature’s burden, have your body dumped in the jungle – within 24 hours you’ll be part of life’s great cycle once more, leaving only bones behind for the monkeys to use as tools. Ah, ants. Can’t live with ‘em . . . you know the rest.