The Bad and The Good, Snake Observations

blue sky
Lately, I have had a few unusual snake encounters. The first was at the river with Spencer clipped to my side. I needed to fill a bottle to water a plant. Bottle in hand I evaluate potential filling sites. I choose one and stepped towards it. Just as the arch of the step began to fall I see a snake, who I think at the same time saw me. I pulled my foot back as the snake swam partway into the river. The serpent froze, head above water, body part on shore and part in the river, eyes positioned to look at me. I stepped back and slowly moved away. That was the first time I almost stepped on a snake.

I don't know what kind of snake it was. I do know it was not the dreaded Fer-de-Lance. This one was solid reddish brown. Finger width and about two feet long. It didn't have a threatening head or demon like eyes. He didn't look too dangerous, but I treat all snakes as if they are.

The next morning I checked the snake spot and there he was but this time his head and front part of body was underneath a rock. The rest of the body dangled out. I walked slowly by and haven't seen him since.

A few days later the neighbor's dog was bitten by a snake. Edward, the dog, is elderly but he made it through the ordeal. He spent a few days in the hospital receiving the antivenom and now looks fine. He's lucky. The vet thinks he was just grazed by the fangs and didn't receive a full bite.

A few mornings ago, Spencer and I were on one of my favorite trails. We were about half way through the walk when I spotted, a few meters ahead of me, a snake filling the pathway. Its head and front end of body was obscured under leaves. The rest of its slender, brown body was laying straight out in plane sight. Maybe he heard me coming and hid, not realizing the majority of its meter length body was in plain sight. Bummer, I thought, I was looking forward to walking through the big spring area. We retreated and traced our steps back home. The snake looked like the same kind as the one at the river. I find it so odd that both snakes didn't flee and hid there heads but not bodies.

You might be wondering why I chose a picture of the sky for this blog post. One reason is that I know there are several readers of this blog that do not like snakes, not even looking at pictures of them. I also wanted to balance out this post with something I really like about Costa Rica, that is the color of the sky. At certain times in the morning, under the right conditions, the sky is a shade of blue I have only ever seen here. I'm sure the blue has everything to do with my vantage on earth. The sky is something I love about living here. The snakes I am learning how to deal with but that pales in comparison with the joy I feel when seeing the blue, blue sky.