One Day, Two "Firsts"...

Yes, yes, yes.  I’m finally writing on my blog.  I know it’s been a while.  I could apologize and tell you it’ll never happen again, but we all probably know better.  Anyway, I’m baaaack…  Let’s move on.

This morning I went for a bike ride.  Nothing unusual about that.  About one-half mile into the ride, I was really tempted to turn around and go home. I was tired.  My legs felt heavy.  Every excuse I could think of came crashing through my mind.  Thankfully, I didn’t listen to the voices in my head and pedaled on and got to experience a “first” today.  Well, actually, two of them.

I had decided to ride up the Volcán, or at least as far as I wanted to, to get in just a little hill work.  So, I was out there riding, enjoying the view as I rode past a mango orchard.  I turned my head back toward the road, looked down, and there it was, about to be run over by my front wheel: a snake.  A very long, green, skinny snake.  Very much alive and crossing the road!

I swerved and just missed the snake by a few inches.  I continued to watch as it wriggled on on its journey across the road, not unaware that it had almost tasted death.  I had never seen a snake like it – at least not in person.  It was beautiful. Simply beautiful!  It was about 4 feet long, and had a pointed, triangular head and very skinny body.  I noticed that the head seemed disproportionately large, relative to its body. I was determined to figure out what kind it was as soon as I got back to my house.

As the excitement of my “find” wore off, I continued on and eventually turned around to head back to town.  Before making it back to Enlaces, I bought some avocados from a guy selling them from his bike.  Then I stopped at a little roadside stand where I’ve been buying bananas.  I’ve become a bit of a regular there: as I got off my bike, the man running it asked me how many bananas I’d like today.  Yeah, he knows his customers.

One other “first” happened today…  As I was coming down the Volcán and was almost back on the boulevard, I passed two guys riding in the opposite direction.  No big deal there; lots of people ride bikes.  But these two guys were wearing bike helmets, gloves and even riding shorts.  I’m not used to seeing that here.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ve started a trend!

Back at the house, I got on Google and found what I was looking for.  I had seen a green vine snake.  Mildly venomous to people, but not really aggressive toward humans.  One of the reasons I am so excited about today’s discovery is that I haven’t seen any snakes here while riding.  NONE.  Dead or alive.  Anyone who rides a bike a lot knows that’s pretty unusual.  I had even asked people if there were any snakes in Honduras, and was assured there were. 

Well, now I’ve seen a snake here.  Of course, it might be the only one in the country.