Bugs

The children in the villages love catching termites and eating them. A few days after a heavy rain, they come out in force, and the kids are up early in the morning scouting them. The first evidence that I saw of the termites (besides the damaged buildings) was their wings. There were wings all over the ground one morning, and the kids were having a hay-day. After they catch them, they fry them up in a pan and eat them. They're kind of crunchy, and they do have some protein, but I didn't care for them. They left a scratchy feeling in my throat. I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat them. The kids enjoyed them, though. They also eat them raw, which may not be such a good idea. The termite mounds are impressive. I have a photo here of Bekki and Stan in front of one. The black box in the photos is a video - take a look at it.

Another disgusting delicacy is the bamboo worm. It's about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch in diameter. They say it's real sweet, but I didn't have the guts to try it. For something sweet, I'll take sugar cane. We chewed some of that, and it's good.

Have I mentioned that Bekki doesn't like grasshoppers? There were plenty of them around.

There were also a lot of butterflies. They seem to come out more in the afternoon. Beautiful colors - blue, green, black & white, yellow.