Off the Map

The Latvian Pestilence

And God called down The pestilence on Riga...

The sun is shining beautifully as we enjoy a Zelta beer alongside one of Latvia's prettiest squares, waiting for our Shrimp/Avocado Salad and Baltic Herring. We'd received professional massages earlier that afternoon, and still smelt of the soothing oils and incense. When the first few bugs came we naively attributed it to our fragrance. 10 small, flying, bulbous bugs quickly turned into 100 - and before we knew it they were in our beer, in our food, and in our hair.

Without a second thought we ran inside the Brassiere with all the other patrons. After reaching safety, we turned around and peered thru the large windows, only to discover that the air was thick with the insects. There were billions of black, tic-tac sized bodies spinning madly thru the air, getting lost in clothing, stuck in hair, and landing in open mouths.

The pestilence lasted about 2 hours. 2 hours of wild flying and mating that make up the entire existance of this 1-day bug. They all hatch on one particular day of the year, mate, die, and their kids all hatch the same day next year. This is their natural defense against extinction, as there are too many of them for predators to successfully decimate their numbers. As the pestilent frenzy closes, their spent corpses litter the streets like scattered soil.

posted by Jason @ 1:12 pm