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Published: February 6th 2012
Sunday (Domingo) was our 13th day here, and it was a banner day. Hot, sunny but with a light breeze - the ultimate tropical day. We all had an extra bounce in our step and it just might have been our best day here weather wise.
After taking a walk with the kids to an off-the-beaten-track bakery (excellent raspberry jam stuffed croissants) we stopped to have a smoothie. They made nanna an "engery" smoothie, with yogurt, bananas, mango and granola. After that smoothie, nanna was lifting small cars over her head on the way home!!
Once back at the condo, our loungers & umbrellas were set up and ready to go! It was hot so I high-tailed it off to Yan's next door for those 2 for 1 drinks we've been enjoying. While I was waiting for our drinks, a firetruck shows up, lights flashing, horn blaring, and then these firefighters hop out in full gear and it was HOT HOT HOT. (NO ladies I meant the weather was hot; but the firefighters were HOT too!!!)
So I see them hooking up the hoses and then aiming it at a coconut tree. What the heck? So I ask
the waiter and he says there are bugs in the tree. So I reply, "Have those dang sand fleas learned to jump that high into the coconut trees and are now taking over the world???" (I have sand flea trauma after my bites; see previous blogs!!)
So I run back to my lounger to get my camera (with margaritas splashing everywhere!) It's 100 degrees out and these firefighters are in full gear taking on a coconut tree so there must be a story right? SO I ask a waiter what was going on and in broken English he says the bees are in the tree with a nest & they're going to spray them out. So I shake my head in disbelief and said "they are going to hurt the bees? Are you sure they aren't wasps?" So he says, "bees make the honey right"? And I reply yes, so he pulls out a piece of paper with a pen and I draw a bee and a wasp, with a happy face next to the bee. So he says OK not bees but wasps like you said. He'd never heard the term 'wasp' before. (Be sure to check out
the pic Al took of the horde of wasps in the tree. Click on the picture to make it bigger!)
I was astounded they might be destroying the bees because our bees are disappearing and it's a real puzzle/phenomenon that researchers are studying called Colonly Collapse Disorder. (I'm sure I needn't be telling you all this because you are all so smart). Not long ago bees suddenly just up & left their hives and their broods of babies which is unheard of. Pesticides seem to be the major factor.
Bees are free workers; they have a short time to pollinate to do an amazing job of pollinating crops all over the world. Honey aside, bees pollinate fruits (apples, strawberries, blueberries, peaches) & vegetables (broccoli, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers) all to name a few but also nuts, sunflowers, coffee, oilseed and even cotton. US farmers alone they estimate have lost a devastating billion dollars with the loss of bees. And no human activity can replace what bees do.
Without bees we're going to be living in a very colorless world food-wise. Then add in that cows eat plants which bees pollinate, so no plants could mean no meat. Hopefully
beekeepers, researchers etc can keep the bees that exist healthy & moving around the country to pollinate when different crops are in season.
SO in the end, I was so happy to see it was wasps and not bees they were trying to get rid of. It wouldn't have been a nice sight with me tackling the firefighers to stop hurting the bees. (Cindy, what do you think, should I go look for a "I LOVE BEES T-SHIRT TODAY" in Playa?) They have every type of t-shirt you can imagine here and ones that should not be on display where kids are concerned!
Well off to drop off our laundry down the street. For less than a $1 CDN per kilogram you can get your laundry washed and folded, then sealed in a bag for carrying home. Nice to go home with fresh laundry.
PS look for the picture of Al with what looks like a whip mark on his back. It wasn't from me hitting him cause he was looking at the pretty girls on the beach. He was swimming through a big wave and another came and caught him off-guard, and he was butt kicked
right onto the sandy shore. Yee-ouch.
Oh and like usual, lots of pics the bottom!
Signing off for now,
The Worker Bee (Queen Bee in my little mind 😉
Sal
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Kaity
non-member comment
Bees!
I too have a deep love for the bees. I probably would have had the same reaction. We need to protect them!! Hope you all are having a great trip!