3 tips to keep mosquitoes away

It is the height of mosquito season (if there is a season) thanks to the intermittent rainy days and sweltering heat. Besides mosquitoes being really annoying and making it impossible to sleep, dengue is a huge risk this time of year, so we have to combat them.

Here are 3 tips I've discovered and used this year, none of which include spraying chemicals all over my body, although I've done that on occasion too.

1. Make your own mosquito repellent.
This tip comes courtesy of a local radio station. You'll need a small handful of cloves (the amount you'd use to make clove tea), some rubbing alcohol and baby oil. Use 1 part rubbing alcohol to 10 parts baby oil.

Directions: soak cloves overnight in the rubbing alcohol. Discard cloves, and mix alcohol with baby oil and apply to skin. Obviously the solution won't "mix," so whenever you're going to use it, shake well and apply quickly.

Results are mixed. You will smell like gingerbread (a plus, in my book), but I don't like feeling oily so I haven't used it much. Seems to keep away mosquitoes for a while but you'll need to reapply often.

2. Burn smelly oils and incenses.
We have burned a lot of citronella incense in our household this rainy season, usually in the late afternoon, and it seems to have had the best effect against mosquitoes. Recently we bought a small oil burner at a tianguis to burn citronella essential oil. Basil (albahaca) essential oil works too. Dilute the essential oils in baby oil to make it last longer.

Everything mentioned above (essential oils, incense, oil burners) can be found at most outdoor tianguis as well as natural stores.

3. Buy an electric tennis racket.
This is by far the most ridiculous solution, and won't help with a larger mosquito problem, but it certainly is fun! If you're out in the street a lot you've probably seen these being sold at intersections. I was kind of against getting one but Gustavo is obsessed with all kinds of odd gadgets and couldn't resist.

A minimal static current runs through the inner layer of the racket, and "explodes" any small insects upon contact. It makes a loud spark, audibly and visibly, which always makes me jump. If you drive by our street around dusk you'll probably find Gustavo blindly swinging the racket in our front garden, just to hear the satisfying "zzsstt! zzsstt!" every few seconds.


Additional advice: This is common sense more than a "tip," but using a fan at night not only helps with the heat, but is the only thing apart from mosquito netting that will keep bugs from buzzing around your ears. We lost electricity for just one night and I woke up covered in bites.

Good luck!

Solutions for the summer heat

The heat isn't too bad now because of the rain. But a few months ago it was more than insufferable. In the middle of the heat wave up to July, our house would heat up during the day and by dusk was at least 10 degrees hotter inside than outside.

Our first summer investment was an oscillating fan. Then when that didn't cut it, our second investment was a bad of ice we'd grab from the 7-Eleven and place on a giant plate in front of the fan. (Gustavo likes to call this "Mexican technology.") If the room got any cooler with the ice, I didn't notice.

The third investment was two plastic garden chairs for our front yard. That worked much better than a fan and a bag of ice. Add a couple of beers from the corner store and it was almost as good as air conditioning.

The fourth and current investment is a more permanent solution. Not an air conditioner, but a solid wood bench. We might save up for air conditioning for next year, but for now, this is the spot.

Rainy days

It's been raining for weeks. It's raining right now. Once it stops later this fall, October maybe, we'll all be so delirious from the humidity and gray skies that we won't even remember what a relief it was from the months of dry heat that preceded it.

Guadalajara's rainy season starts on June 13, every year. That sounds precise, but according to Gustavo's family lore the rainy season starts on San Antonio day, which they're experts on since they grew up in Guadalajara's San Antonio neighborhood. And amazingly, after a tortuous stretch of heat and sun so harsh it burned our petunias (which could also have been poisoned by an envious neighbor), the first hard rain came down this year on June 13.

I don't mind the rain, but I could have planned for it better. Like, not have started a planter-based vegetable garden in my back patio in the middle of June, or not have hung upside-down tomato plants out of holes with the circumference of an espresso cup. Here are some tips, from my poorly planned rainy season to yours:

• If you plant anything in plastic macetas, make sure they have holes in the bottom. If they don't, drill holes! (Small ones for an upside-down garden.)
• Get rid of all sitting water. The result of holeless macetas is a lot of water collection hanging around near your house in plain dengue season.
• I barely know how to garden as it is and probably shouldn't be giving tips on it, but if you want to grow veggies here it's best to start WAY early, like February. A pleasantly warm climate year-round allows for year-round gardening, but timing is key.
• Go to a natural store and buy citronella incense. Grow basil, or buy basil (albahaca) extract at the natural store and dip your light bulbs in it. Keeps away the zancudos! (Click here to read more tips for mosquitoes.)
• Learn to play backgammon, and teach your boyfriend how to play so you can make him play and beat him at it. Did you know you can play backgammon on Skype?

There's a tienda naturista in Col. Santa Tere called La Manzana, at Manuel Acuña #1516 (Tel. 38.25.36.30). Santa Tere is filled with other farmacias homeopaticas that sell citronella products, and there are a bunch in downtown Guadalajara too.