Aw crud. . .

Last night, I headed out to turn off lights around the grounds as Rolando was off for the evening.

I walk down to the Frog tree house, turn off the lights and head back up, picking up the little branches that had fallen on the road along the way. . . II see a larger branch on the other side of the road, and start to walk over to it. ..Then I notice that it's not a branch, but a snake; about 2 feet long, parallel to the road.

I came back to the house, got the flashlight and the camera and went to take a couple of pictures (though they didn't turn out at all, as it was too dark and i couldn't see enough to tell if i was zooming in or not). . . OK, I was probably shaking too much for anything to turn out, either.

Then I decided to head to the bodega to see if Palomino and the lads (who are building the new tree house) could identify the snake, as I didn't know if the snake would move or any guests would be wandering about later on.

Palomino, Penocha and I walked down the road, and it took a few minutes to find the critter, but it was just off the road in the brush. . . they said it was venomous and "muy, muy peligroso" . . .

I would guess it was a fer de lance, as it had the diamond shapes on it. . . Palomino took the machete and went down to the side and into the jungle to cut a branch while Penocha and I kept the snake in our flashlights. . . Palomino came back with a 6-foot chunk of wood and walked in and clubbed the snake on the back of the head.

The snake flew into the air about a foot or so, and Palomino whacked it again. . . that was it. .. the thing was still twitching on the ground, but it was dead (I'll spare you the gory details). . .

Machetes are no good with the snakes, they told me, as you're not very likely to get a clean cut and the head will come after you even if you whack it off. . . better to find a stick like Palomino did and bludgeon it to death. . . Or use the flat edge of the machete to break its spine.