¡La Cucaracha!

Apparently the heat of Spain brings bugs of different types to our neighborhood, the historic Albayzin.  I don’t mind the ants but what threw me for a loop was the cockroach or la cucaracha.  We only found two of them, plus some eggs but I was pretty horrified.   I won’t lie, I was ready to move out.  I had fired up my AirBnB account and moved into a hotel for a night until the coast was clear.   I was told that because the buildings and pipes are so old, certain creatures can appear, particularly with the heat.  It seemed as though I was MUCH more disgusted than any of the locals.  Am I a wimp?  I don’t think so.  Maybe it was just me, but I feel like as an American the cockroach is a symbol of filth and that really made my skin crawl.  I suppose it’s not the international symbol because many people shrugged their shoulders as if “it happens”.  Do cockroaches get a bad rap?  There is that cute little song, La Cucaracha.  I did some research and learned that one of the verses was written during the Spanish takeover of the Alhambra in 1492, right here in Granada!

I don’t care if that little song stays in my head for weeks, you can’t make me like them.  This American wasn’t going to stand for those cockroaches.  This meant war.   I wasn’t satisfied with just getting traps and spraying, so my husband and I called in the big dogs, the best exterminator in town.  We weren’t going to let those nasty things ruin our experience here in Spain!  The company came right away and gave us a year warranty for about 500 Euro.  It was well worth paying that price to sleep at night.  They are nocturnal you know!

It took me a few days, but I’m finally able to sleep at night. Onward!

 

View of Albayzín, the oldest district of Granada, in the background the Church of San Nicolás, Andalusia, Spain