October is Snake Month!

Hi all,

Just a quick note from Costa Rica about what's been up.

First, I've been teaching like crazy for the past 7 weeks, so Amy has felt like she has not really seen me since we got back from Minnesota, and she is pretty much right. I taught in the Foundation Course in Peace and Conflict Studies, and then got a chance to finally re-teach a course: Conservation and Development...and that's where the Snake Month begins! October.

The first snake of the month was spotted on the edge of a trail in La Cangreja National Park in the nearby canton (county) of Puriscal. It is a small park, but home to some endemic plants and a fair number of critters. So, what you see in the following picture is a curled-up Eyelash Viper (una toboba). It was about 3 or four feet off the trail and about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. A number of my students had walked by and not even seen it due to its camouflage. Pretty amazing. This is a highly poisonous snake...and I'm glad we didn't stir it.

Here's the pic:




The second snake of the month came while Amy was back visiting her parents and going to her best friend Betsy's wedding in Grand Marais. It was a baby boa constrictor that decided to come and scare the bejeezes out of David one night. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and then realized....SNAKE!!! I'm not usually too scared of critters, but without my trusty identifying partner (Amy), I didn't know what to do. When in doubt, call our neighbors Juan Luis and Sandra. Unfortunately, the rural Costa Rican way of dealing with snakes is to kill them...you just don't fool around because there are too many that look alike and too many poisonous ones. Only after the fact did I identify the snake thanks to this picture:



Other than snakes, it has just been rainy. Rainy, rainy, rainy. Although the last few days have lightened up finally...perhaps we are turning the corner towards the dry season?

Well, that's all I have to tell y'all at this point. Of course there are a billion other stories, fieldtrips, etc. etc. but I don't have the time or the patience to write them all down right now. I figured the snakes are exciting enough.

We hope that you and yours are doing well.

Un abrazote.

David (and Amy)