The Lora snake strikes back

This past weekend I had the the opportunity to visit Manuel Antonio National Park with some wonderful friends. Manuel Antonio is located on the Costa Rican Pacific Coast, and it contains a breathtaking combination of tropical forest, beaches and coral reefs. White sand beaches are backed by exotic rain forest that grows right up to the high tide line, and it is inhabited by awkwardly friendly fauna. For example, the Lora Snake (Leptophis depressirostris)...

The Lora snake strikes back

I thought it was the apocalypses. It was a peaceful Saturday morning, we were crossing the rain forest taking only pictures and leaving only footprints -except for the occasional tree bark bite (yes David, corteza!)-. All of the sudden, a weird noise came from sky. Branches breaking, leaves falling, and a hasty commotion on the tropical floor less than 12 feet from us. What´s it? It is snake. A Lora snake, one of the most poisonous snakes of the Costa Rican rain forest.
Yes, right there. The adrenaline rush made us hectically approach the snake with video cameras and with other devices to assure that the discovery was real (yes, Japanese style). Amusement.. nervous laughter...bewilderment at the idea that we could have worn the green beauty as a deadly collar.

A few seconds later...

Wait? what is that new noise? It is a cat.. no, it is a bird.. NO, it is a another Lora snake falling 4 feet from us, and less than 10 feet from the other one. The enchanting noises of the rain forest were suddenly mixed with louds puta madre, hijueputa, joder, and other nuisances proclaiming our dispathy to the rain forest. Snakes falling over us. We ought to run!Soon we realized that the snake was eating a frog, and the struggle made the snake impact against the floor from its comfortable branch 60 feet above us. The scene was of National Geographic profile, and we stayed around for a few minutes!
Enough is enough, time to leave the trail.

Later we realized that we had actually seeing a fake Lora snake, a non-poisonous one. I like to think, however, that it was a real one . Also, I am truthfully happy that the apocalypses calls for frogs raining from the sky, and not fake Lora snakes.

Manuel Antonio is buckets of fun, and the local fauna is worth the trip... except for the more-or-less poisonous snakes that approach girls on the dance floor to ditty jingles of reggaton - a mix of Panamanian reggae with chants from hell, and Sodom and Gomorrah. See more photos...