Who says you have to book a trip to go on a safari? You can have one at home, if you are living in the tropics!
All my life I had this snake phobia, that I wasn't able to get rid of. It’s a mixture of fear, anxiety and disgust. I am aware that snakes have their role in the ecosystem, and they should not be extinct, but when they trespass and show up on my doorsteps, I really want them dead, or at least as far away as possible from me.
Below there's a real story that happened to me while I was living in Boquete, Panama.
Today I had quite a day. I started my safari experience early morning, around 5 A.M., when I was suddenly awaken by the loud sound of something landing on my roof. It couldn't have been a squirrel or a branch fallen from the tree. Definitely not!
Half an hour later, while in was having my coffee outside, on the deck, waiting to see the hummingbirds feed on the orange trees' flowers or the angel's trumpet flowers, I heard a similar noise coming from my neighbour's roof. When I looked through my camera's long lens, I saw a possum. I had never seen one before, except in the books.
I happily touched the button of my camera, thinking I was going to take some great shots of this creature. Unfortunately, I had no memory card inserted in, and the camera's internal memory was already full. For a few seconds I debated if I should rush inside and grab my 32GB card. When I remembered it was on my desk, I dropped the idea. My son was still asleep, and didn't want to wake him up.
Later on, after breakfast, we discovered a scorpion inside the house, a foot away from the main entrance door, right next to my kid’s stroller. I am not sure if it came in by himself, or I brought him in with the stroller the previous day. As far as I know, he could have been having a free ride inside the stroller’s pocket, under the baby’s seat.
It’s actually my child who showed it to me, pointing at it, and saying “bug”. From far, it looked like a dead bug. He was around four centimetres long, and its tail was up. When I got closer, I froze. It was a scorpion. The first one I ever laid my eyes on so up close.
I rushed for the insecticide spray I had recently bought, and sprayed him. Next, I grabbed one of my sneakers and squashed it right away. While I was performing this operation, I congratulated myself for having taught to my son not to touch any bugs, crawlers or any other animal he would cross paths with. I have preached this like an old broken record, from the first day we set foot on Panamanian soil.
After I threw in the toilet the remains of my uninvited visitor, I took a moment with my son and praised him for showing me the so called “bug”. I insisted on telling him he did a great job on calling me, and showing me the intruder.
A few hours later, I had some friends over for lunch. While we were chatting inside, my kid opened the screen door, went on the deck to bring one of the toys he had left there. Within two seconds, I heard him calling me. His voice sounded normal, and I thought he might have dropped the chips he was holding in his hand.
I stepped outside and I saw him staying on the left side of the deck, pointing down at something. Being convinced his bag of chips fell off the deck, on the cement path, I told him not to worry, that I would pick it up for him. Instantly he screamed: “No go, mama! Look!”
His scream really got my attention. Instead of heading towards the stairs, I made two more steps in his direction and picked him up into my arms. Only then I realized how incredibly lucky I was, or he was. We both were lucky.
Down, on the cement path, there was a brownish snake, over one meter long, holding its head up in the air. There were only ten centimetres from its head to the place where my son’s feet were, before I picked him up. For a second I froze again, then I realized I had to act quickly. I had to do something to chase him away.
Image source: here
I turned around, placed my son inside the house, and shouted at my friends there was a snake on the deck’s steps. I can't describe the way I felt my heart pounding as the adrenaline kicked in.
By the time C. came out, the snake advanced a bit more towards the other three steps. Although I was freaking out, I had the inspiration to reach for the broom. I grabbed it and I started to bang it against the wall with all my strength, hoping the noise and vibration would scare the snake, and make it change direction. The noise made the snake stop for a second, lift its head up trying to identify the source of the noise, then he continued to advance.
Seeing that my plan was not working, I thought of banging the broom, my only weapon in this fight, against the metal poles of the deck. That was an inspired move. It worked! It prevented the snake from getting closer to me, to the house, but not before lifting its head higher once more for a few seconds and hissing at me. I had cold chills on my back on that moment.
Image source: here
I wished I could have been braver and acted more like Indiana Jones. Within that fraction of a second, I thought of hitting the snake with the broom, but I feared that he might get more aggressive or that it might end up being coiled on my broom and I'd have to run inside the inside the house, looking for shelter.
Luckily, my strategy worked and he headed towards my neighbours` garden, slithering between the two huge painted rocks delimiting the properties. When C. arrived at the scene, he saw the snake moving away. He had a look at it, and said that it didn't look like a venomous one. Like I cared! Honestly, it didn't make any difference to me, if it was or not. It made my adrenalin kick in.
I was extremely thankful my child was safe, that we all were. It paid out talking to him daily about snakes, showing him books with snakes, teaching him to react in case he would encounter one. It was the second time that day that I felt grateful for not having him harmed.
Being all worked up by possible scenarios, I didn't think I had to let my neighbour know about the snake. It totally slipped my mind. My brain refused to process more information concerning snakes. It was my friend L. who told me I should talk to my neighbour right away.
Thus I took my phone and called Mrs. T. When I mentioned the snake, her voice shook with fear. I heard her calling her dogs inside of the house. She mumbled something about the owner of the property behind our houses’ and then she said same had to call someone.
Ten minutes later, my other two neighbours, the E.'s were walking into Mrs. T.’s garden, armed with rakes. Both of them were wearing rubber boots, and seemed to know what they were doing. They raked her entire yard, searching for snakes in any possible hiding spot.
Apparently, just before their arrival, Mrs. T. saw the snake crossing her garden. She said it headed toward the coffee plantation behind our houses and disappeared into the tall grass. She added that it was a cobra. I believed her. She knew far more things about everything in there because she was a local.
The entire evening I had this awful feeling of anxiety which didn't go away. I wished I had some liquor in the house, to help me calm down. Earlier that month, I asked the locals how often they would see a snake within their gardens, or if it was a common thing. All of them replied that would happen rarely, perhaps once a year, or once in two years, during the dry season.
During my stay in Boquete, I have seen six snakes. The first two of them were dead, ran by cars on the street, near the bridge. The third one I saw it from far, slithering away into the river that crosses the main road. The fourth one was the one in the incident I described above. It was the closest ever, only a meter away.
After this episode, I hoped that I wouldn't have to face snakes again. Unfortunately, I did. I had more adventures, involving other creatures, worthy of a post in here, but I will save these stories for another day. In case you were wondering if I took photos of the snakes, I didn't. The experiences were haunting, thus no need for photos to remind me of them.
Here are other travel related posts:
TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE A LIVING WHILE TRAVELLING THE WORLD
FEELING UNINSPIRED? VISIT A WELSH RETREAT: GLADSTONE’S RESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
TURDA’S 400 FEET UNDERGROUND AMUSEMENT PARK, A HIDDEN GEM OF TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
CARIBBEAN PARADISE: BOCAS DEL TORO
BOQUETE’S FLOWERS AND COFFEE FESTIVAL, PANAMA
VISIT TO SAINT-JOSEPH’S ORATORY IN MONTREAL, CANADA
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to resteemit or upvote it! All photos were taken by me. If you wish to reuse them, credit the photographer. Please leave your feedback in the comments, I would love to hear your thoughts!
@2018 LaviPicu aka The Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
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