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625 points zdw | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.929s | source
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ryangibb ◴[] No.45397542[source]
> The second I stepped outside I was set upon by a flood of mosquitos like I have never experienced before. I have been to the jungles of Vietnam, the swamps of Florida and the Canadian countryside. This was beyond anything I've ever experienced.

> There are bugs in my mouth, ears, eyes and nose almost immediately. The photo below is not me being dramatic, it is actually what is required to keep them off of me.

> In fact what you need to purchase in order to walk around this area at all are basically bug nets for your face. They're effectively plastic mesh bags that you put on.

This is pretty standard for Scotland in the summer too.

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FridayoLeary ◴[] No.45397779[source]
The midges are horrific. It's amazing how something so tiny can make your life so miserable. I don't know how people in the olden days survived. I wonder what kind of social and political effects the midges had. I can imagine Scots with all their gifts of the mind and body fleeing and surrendering to the English just to get away from them.
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WalterBright ◴[] No.45397999[source]
> I don't know how people in the olden days survived.

Maybe they found a material they could smear on their body.

For a similar example, I have a friend who spends a lot of time hiking and camping. He tells me that the first day, he needs to apply sunscreen. The next day onward, he doesn't need to anymore, as his body oil and sweat seems to do the job.

It makes sense that our skin has not evolved to be cleaned every day.

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1. majormajor ◴[] No.45398475[source]
Most people don't have nearly that good luck.

I'm fortunate that they just don't like me as much as some of the people I've done week+ hiking/camping trips with. I was ok with deet. Some folks still got dozens of bites even after it.

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2. WalterBright ◴[] No.45398962[source]
I think you overlooked the mention of sunscreen.
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3. majormajor ◴[] No.45399603[source]
No? We all wore that too... but unless we're all just weirdos and sunscreen == bug repellant for the whole rest of the world in a way it never has for us (and is not advertised as), it just seemed irrelevant.

The sunscreen kept us from being bright red and in pain for the last 6 days of the trip. The mosquitos gave zero fucks about it.

I would bet that the lucky person whose "body oil and sweat seems to do the job" isn't the representative person here...

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4. WalterBright ◴[] No.45400338{3}[source]
He never said it was a mosquito repellent. Just that he wouldn't burn the second day of sweating while hiking, and only needed the sunscreen for the first.