Serpiente!
Apparently there was a large snake outside the kitchen before lunch on Friday. I found out about it when Allen sent this photo on the WhatsApp chat group for the Volunteers.
As an aside, WhatsApp is the basic tool used for
communication on the ranch. Allen and I had used it very infrequently before
coming to Honduras, but would be pretty much in the dark without it now.
Allen had just finished with the maintenance team at the
water purification building which is very close to the kitchen when he noticed
a small crowd of people outside the kitchen. Max, the NPH chef, was outside and
beckoned for Allen to come help. Max had a long pole with a rope loop on the
end to try to capture the snake and lead it away. Some in the crowd wanted Max
to kill it, but others said that it was not venomous (mica snake) and beneficial
to have around (eating rodents?). Allen took this video of Max trying to catch
the snake which eventually went up a tree and escaped.
The children in both Allen and my Hogars were fascinated with the video as they do not often see snakes. I was wishing I could take a video of them watching my video, but alas I only had one phone.
In one of my earlier blogs, I mentioned a snake that was
found in one of the volunteer’s bed and another snake that the security guards
killed just outside the main gate. Both of these were venomous and were the
only personal snake sightings that I have seen to date in my 9 months in
Honduras. I also mentioned tarantulas which I have only seen a couple of times.
Here is a picture of one that I found in our room on my birthday last October.
Tarantulas are not as scary as I had thought and Allen was able to scoop this
one up and move it to our courtyard.
There have also been encounters with scorpions. I personally have only seen one, but have heard of the other volunteers finding them on their shelves or in their bathroom. Allen encounters much more of these critters in his maintenance job. One of his co-workers knows how to pick up a scorpion without getting stung. Scorpion stings are very painful but rarely life-threatening. All the same, I am very glad for the new mosquito nets that Allen put on our doors as I think it reduces the likelihood of a scorpion encounter in our room.
Tarantulas are not venomous, but Allen took this photo of a venomous insect on the ranch. I think it is a spider, but couldn't find the name on google.
Here are a few more pictures of interesting animals and insects that Allen has take while working around the ranch. He gets around to see some of the more interesting sights of the ranch - and has to search for ticks afterward :-(
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