Comedy du weekend and creepy crawlies

I attempted to do laundry for the first time since I've been here on Sunday afternoon. There is a laundry room on the back of the front house at my compound, and Kenneth the awesome facilities guy gave me a key so I could use it. I put in laundry, did a 5-min test run of the washer to make sure it was working, and then started my first load.

When I came to switch loads, there was about an inch and a half of soapy water on the floor, so apparently the washer wasn't working properly. I couldn't use the dryer because the cord was hanging in the water, so I hauled in my wet load to hang dry around my house (you can see a bunch of hanging laundry in the photos below).

Well, unfortunately I have a larger issue on my hands: here in Zambia there are, of course, many creepy crawly little beasties that we don't have in the U.S. of A. Common in-and-around my place are cute little geckos, less-cute flat spiders with leg-spans of about 2 inches, and numerous other bugs I don't recognize. Most of these buggers don't bother me much, but my wet-laundry ordeal reminded me of something I'd heard about the dreaded putsi fly. After asking a colleague and being sent this story, I discovered that:

"Putsi flies are active during the rainy season, they favour the dampened atmosphere, laying eggs on clothes, shirts, underwear, bras, trousers, napkins, shorts and socks, table clothes and whatever is made of cloth. The eggs have the mechanism to stay hooked or attached to the cloth when you wear something that has not been ironed. The egg will cling onto your body, hatch and the larvae will bore under your skin. Once under your skin, it begins to eat you alive, feeding off tissue and other body nutrients that you supply it with. This is when you begin to feel like it’s a boil. When the larvae is busy devouring your flesh, there is a burning sensation you feel."

If you have putsi larva, apparently you can suffocate it by covering it with Vaseline, and then squeeze it out a bit later. It's not threatening to health unless let go for too long, and is always noticed by the pain and burning. However, I have no interest in feeling any sort of burning sensation or having my flesh devoured, so now I have to iron everything from that load, at least for my peace of mind. We are not currently in the rainy season here in Zambia, but I'd rather not take my chances.

Oh Zambia, how I love thee.