Snake Karma

Lapa Rios in Costa Rica

Fer-de-Lance

My friend and I went to Lapa Rios in Costa Rica to look for birds. We were going to go trekking with a tour guide through a rainforest. I was afraid of running into a local snake called the fer-de-lance. This snake is similar to a rattle snake except it has no warning rattle and if it bites you, you will die within a minute or two. I put on my big pair of boots expecting them to protect me but the tour guide said a snake will bite right through my boot. To reassure us we were in good hands, he pulled out a snake safety kit and performed the process on himself. It took about thirty seconds. I felt temporarily relieved and we continued on our trek. That night, I was awoken by a woman's loud scream. i heard the voices of people rushing over but I didn't bother to get up and I went back to sleep. Next morning, I found out that the scream came from a honeymooner that saw a fer-de-lance just inches away from her. She did not get bitten and the guide managed to kill the snake. The woman said she expected it because she has snake karma. This made me think about the numerous times I've encountered snakes and I thought maybe I had the snake karma and the snake was after me. That night i could not sleep for fear that a snake's relative would bite me during the night. The next day I returned to the resort and did not want to test my snake karma anymore.


Map of Lapa Rios