May sompopos/huge ants
The rainy season in Guatemala begins in May and after the first few rains, Huge ants start to come out of nowhere. These ants are known locally in Central America as Sompopos. I found a better photo which puts the sompopo in perspective in one newspaper from El Salvador, but I can’t seem to find now. I will update this note as soon as I come across the photo.
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May 18th, 2006
Great focus! Looks quite different from the ant we have around here.
May 18th, 2006
I believe you visited my site “Sompopo’s Revenge” this morning. Wonder where I came up with that name? My wifes mother gave me that name many years ago because of my red hair. My wife and her family are from the city of Huehuetenago in the small town of Michocoy. They have a coffee farm there. As a matter of fact her sister and family are there right now as we speak. She is bringing me some clothes from Antigua. Small world isn’t it?
May 18th, 2006
Woo hoo! It’s Bug Day! (Check out Wellington Daily Photo.) Excellent shot! It’s not easy capturing insects. Great job.
May 19th, 2006
we have similar thing here, just last night there was a bunch in the bathroom because I left the light on. Good shot that you got, I didn’t even think about photographing them
May 19th, 2006
Two things I forgot to mentioned, sompopoes only come out in May. They fly.
May 20th, 2006
You might also see a caterpillar photo at Saarbrucken DP.- I have linked this photo to the Weta one at Wellington DP.
November 29th, 2006
Sompopos de Mayo taste great browned in lemon juice and salt. I wish I could get some here…
December 1st, 2006
Summer of ‘06, I ‘visited’ an orphanage and also traveled to a school of Child sponsored! For six weeks I was welcomed as ‘Familia’, both by the Orphanage and the Mayans local. The Wonders of God’s Creation/s were graciously shared! It surprised the Mayan Family that I indeed wanted to ’sample’ the Sompopoes. What surprised, a bit, me, was their sweetness, ‘roasted’… because of the honeydew of aphids!?! As I understand, they emerge near April!?!? I hope to return - withOUT missing the ants emergence - in ‘07… so need to more closely approximate timing; about the time of third rain? Timing different… maybe later, in Altitudes like Salama? Thank you for sharing. Sincerely, David
P.S. Hmmm… lemon juice and salt?!? : )
P.P.S. Strgazr… a Star Trek reference.
May 15th, 2008
[...] the first rains comes the sompopo de mayo (May’s giant flying ant), and the sweet atoles become available at your nearest Guatemalan [...]
May 30th, 2008
[...] will sompopos de mayo [...]