Ilhabela, borrachudos (black flies), my gringo boyfriend and me

Ilhabela is, as its name says in Portuguese, a gorgeous island. It is wonderful in fact! I am just back from the most romantic week possible…Still dreaming about that place! But before I write a post about the wonders of Ilhabela, I feel it is my duty to alert you about the worst enemy I have faced there…

Whenever people “google” for Ilhabela one of the first results says: “borrachudos” or “black flies”. These little demons in wings look like to have been forged in Mordor, by the hands of a very powerful enemy. Their only task in life seems to bite and annoy human beings.

These evil creatures inhabit clear water whereabouts and Ilhabela has plenty of both! When they bite, if you are very reactive and allergic, the reaction can be 15 cm wide and 2 cm high, no exageration. The bumps hurt a lot, are itchy and get real inflamed. If you dare scratching them, situation gets worse!

Are you scared? Great! This is why I wrote this post! I will help you to get the best time without borrachudo annoyance!

1. Borrachudos x Mosquitoes

There are some interesting facts about black flies and mosquitoes and you can read more here (just found that in Canada black flies are also a problem!)

http://www.routebaiejames.com/travel/insects.html

http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/park_management/mosquitoes-and-blackflies-(biting-insects).php

Black flies are completely different from mosquitoes. While “borrachudos” live most of the time in the woods close to clear water, mosquitos preffer getting closer to human beings, inside the houses. Course you can find mosquitoes also in the woods, so you still need to be careful about them. Black flies are from the so called Simulidae family and mosquitoes are from Culicidae family. The most “famous” mosquitoes here in Brazil are Aedes aegypti (transmiting dengue fever),  Anopheles sp. (malaria)  and  Culex sp. (known in Brazil as “pernilongo caseiro”). Black flies can also transmit a disease called oncocercosis. So, even if you are not very allergic it is worth taking precautions againts their bites.

Another remarkable difference between mosquitoes and black flies is the way they “bite”: mosquitoes “needle” the victim to suck blood, while black flies actually “bite” before sucking blood. It is  a protein found in the female salive (females suck blood!) that causes the reactions .

2. Repellents

Sometime ago I read about DEET repellents in this BBC report:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21519998

Here it is reported how mosquitoes causing dengue and yellow fever are repelled in a first contact with the DEET but how they ignore its effects in a second attempt. This means that DEET is not so effective against some mosquitoes. Since then I was rejecting DEET repellents and preferring picaridin instead. It looked so much more efficient to me! What I was ignoring, though, was the fact that borrachudos are not mosquitoes!

So…before going to Ilhabela, I bought lots of picaridin repellents, thinking I would be very safe. Still on the boat I started spreading the lotion and spraying. Soooo safe…but not! Even though I was all covered in repellent I was bitten all the time. My elbow got so swalled and hot! I couldn´t see what I was doing wrong. Anyone seeing my bites would say I have never sprayed any repellent! There was something obviously wrong…

Finally I decided to listen to the island people´s advice…Use “OFF!” they said…Ok, I give up…OFF! will be. And I also listened to my boyfriend “use the most concentrated one” . So I bought OFF! Deep woods, and I can thoroughtly say: it saved my skin!!!

The special thing about the deep woods version is the DEET concentration. It is 25% against 10% or even less for other brands. I have seen other versions of OFF! with less…if you can find a repellent with at least 15% DEET concentration you will be fine. Just remember to wear it at least each 4 hours or whenever you go to swim.

A special girlish hint: DEET dissolves nail polish. If you want to saty protected and still look great, give up painting your nails 😉

3. Body hair helps!

Hey, I am not saying  that if you are a girl you should not shave…this is all up to you, course! But from our “homemaid” experiment, my gringo boyfriend let the fly try to bite his leg. We have observed that it is much more difficult to get to the skin through the hair. It means that at least you can feel the fly through the hair and you will have time to kill it before. But hair doesn´t stop borrachudos at all. Just helps a bit 😉

4. Women seem to be more likely to  allergic reactions

This is again only an observation and I have no scientific proof to maintain my point. But from what I have observed in the island, men and women suffer from borrachudo attack, but the bumps in women look awful compared to the ones in men. They seem to have the worst reactions ever! I can take my experience compared to my bae one. Whenever I got a bite the bump got very big, more than 10 cm in diameter. To  him it was a little itchy bump. The were all inflamed and hot on me. On him, it was a small redish reaction. However, no idea of why this happens!

5. I got bitten! What to do?

“Our enemy´s”  bite is so awful that it causes allergy and inflamatory reaction at the same time. The bites are hot, they hurt, they itch. To treat them it is necessary to have medicines acting as anti-allergic and anti-inflamatory at the same time. It is relatively easy to by the medicine lotions. However, if you need to take a medicine, better talking to your doctor about the best options. Another helpful hint is: whenever these little monsters bite, they leave a small blood stain. If you see if there, it is at least good news: time enough to avoid a reaction. Have you medicine lotion with you , apply it immediately. It will save you lots of scratching!!

*In the case you have a very strong reaction, other than only itching or hot bumps, go immediately to the hospital. Fever, swelling or things like these may not be normal and only a doctor can tell you for sure. The public hospital is very close to the  main  ferries*

I hope my hints help to give you a great time in Ilhabela. I have joked a lot here about the black flies, but as it seems they are important to keep the life balance in the island and they are there before human beings. So, the only way is for us to adapt!

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