Grasshopper Apocalypse! (Part 1 of many...)

Kisoro natives would probably find the title "Grasshopper Heaven" more appropriate since these bugs are serious cash cows. We've been hearing about the impending descent of "the grasshoppers" for weeks now and it seems like today is finally the day. They fill the sky like the snow flurries that are probably starting to stir up in New England.

We both leap away in a barely concealed panic when one lands on us but locals are diving after these things, filling up enormous plastic bags, and then selling them by the side of the road, sometimes de-winged and de-legged for the consumer's convenience. On the way into the hospital today I saw a group of girls poised over a bush; while one of them shook it the others made mad-grabs for the 'hoppers that erupted forth.

We've also been hearing that they make a delicious fried snack. Hence the frenzy about capturing and selling these little guys. One of us is ready to chow down but unwilling to approach a live one, and the other of us is just unwilling, on both fronts. (Two guesses...)

Future posts will probably deal with our sordid attempts to seek out and eat this seasonal snack, but for now we have to just focus on surviving this very Old Testament massive swarm of insects.