The Night(mare) of the Borrachudos

Date: 5 April 2010

<>Position: Bracuhy Marina - 22:56.952S 044:23.766W

We were snugly berthed in Mina2’s new home in Bracuhy Marina where I would be living for 10 days before returning to the UK, leaving the boat here until my return in October.

We were lucky to find the place. It is a very tranquil small marina tucked in the entrance to a river. Well protected from wind and waves, Mina2 would be very secure. With pretty trees at the waters edge, hiding a selection of nice bars and restaurants, it would be difficult to find the time to work on the boat. We quickly befriended a couple of people who live on their boats here, speak English, and who said they would keep an eye on Mina in my absence. The place was perfect – until nightfall.

During the night both of us woke up in the stifling heat, itching like mad. It’s quite normal to wake with the occasional bite and we sleep with a tube of antihistamine cream by the bed. A quick smear and back to sleep again. This time it was different. We would have used the entire tube and covered our entire bodies. I turned on the light and looked in the mirror. My body was absolutely covered with bites. Given that neither of us had neither seen nor heard any insect at all, for a moment I wondered whether or not we had both contracted measles – it was that bad. Because the aft cabin was so hot and clearly infested with the unknown insects, we decamped into the saloon which was a bit better, but we didn’t get much sleep after that. The itching was insufferable.

Actually, I don’t think they were the dreaded Borrachudos. I’ve been doing a bit of research on them. It is the females that are the bloodsuckers, depositing a bit of venom whilst they’re at it. Typical. The bites don’t normally start itching for a while and the itching lasts for days. In this case, however, the itching was intense from the outset but, thankfully, by the morning there was no sign of the bites at all. Odd.