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On day twenty while trekking Silverio pointed to the ground to yell "Serpinta!" I looked down to see this beauty of a snake some two meters long.
Justino quickly cut down a small tree and rapped the snake on the head, stunning it. Silverio cut down a tree with a fork ending, pinned the snake's head and safely picked it off the ground for my inspection. The little bugger was pretty tough. I could feel it squirming in my hands. I later pictured the scenario from the snake's point of view, talking with his buddies in Mosquito Cafe: "You're never going to believe what happened to me today. These three creatures, a kind I've never seen before, clubbed me on the head, strangled me by the neck, twisted me into all shapes and sizes, several light flashes blinded me. When I thought I was good and dead they tossed me like garbage back onto the forest floor. I burned rubber out of there. What that was all about I will never know." The other direct sighting of a poisonous snake was on day sixteen. While carrying a pig to camp Justino pointed to a five footer slithering away on the ground. Silverio immediately stepped forward, said the snake was extremely toxic, again using a cut tree (with leafy branches) to keep safe distance. After it bolted away I asked him how toxic. He replied "without antitoxin immediately applied a man will be dead in ten to fifteen minutes." Hooooweee. Yea, that's toxic all right. But the serpent that captured my imagination was the Pucarara, or fearsome bushmaster. On day seven, about 6pm, after watching some spider-monkeys frolic, a 'bird' began chirping in the distance. Silverio's ears perked up, he points in the direction of the chirp. Both he and Tomba simultaneously speak "snake." I replied "Huh!?" in total disbelief. Silverio said the snake raises itself off the ground and bobs back and forth in a repetitious bird-like chirp, adding this one must be large because its voice is loud. As a child he remembers following the sound through the foliage thinking he would come upon a bird, surprised to see a snake instead. Though I cannot find anything on a 'singing snake' (or the like) on the web, the bushmaster is the largest of the pit vipers often reaching 6 feet in length (the record being 14 feet). The name Bushmaster when translated from Latin means "Brings Silent Death," for even the bite of a juvenile snake can be fatal. It has a reputation to aggressively attack when its territory is compromised, or when it is agitated or startled. It was this snake that attacked one of my guides during the Peruvian tour as he was hunting; he managed to get a shot off, hitting its tail, wounding it. He ran like hell out of the area. For I have learned from the guides where there is one snake there are bound to be more.
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