SNAKES IN PARADISE: A STUDIES ABROAD TRIP TO SRI LANKA

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SNAKES IN PARADISE: A STUDIES ABROAD TRIP TO SRI LANKA

INTRODUCTION

This TravelBlog is a retrospective journey, based upon memories and journal entries. The memories are many, while the journal entries are few. This is simply because the entire journey kept me engaged in the moment- really busy processing the sights, and sounds, and smells of the country. Far too busy to spend much time writing things down.

Although I have traveled to places like Australia, Belize, Guatemala, and Egypt, I have never been to Sri Lanka before. As with other countries, there is a sort of gestalt ambiance which makes each place unique. Sri Lanka is a land where the dogs run wild, and the cows are kept on leashes. Sri Lanka is a country where elephants may be seen browsing along the edge of the road. It is a land of water buffalos, rice paddies, and oxcarts. Of towering stupas, of Buddhas and Bo trees. Of mangoes and papayas and piles of fruits we had never seen before. Of bright yellow King Coconuts hanging up everywhere.

The roads of Sri Lanka are a special memory. They are all very narrow, and few are marked with dividing lines. To ride in our air-conditioned bus was in and of itself an adventure. All of the drivers weave around each other with consummate skill, and a great many polite honks of their horns. Busses pass each other very slowly, which makes sense, as they pass each other mere inches apart. At least once, we opened our windows and handed a pen to a Sri Lankan in the other bus!

My title for this piece is based upon the overall feel of the country, and the incredibly rich herpetofauna. In simpler words, the place is a tropical paradise, which would remind many people of the standard view of the Garden of Eden. Lush. Green. Verdant plant-life. Tropical. Colorful birds. Colorful chameleons. Colorful snakes. Oh, yes, the snakes. In one lecture, we learned that Sri Lanka has more species of poisonous snakes than any other area of equal size, and that over 300 people a year die of snake-bite. Some of these snakes like to crawl into bed with sleeping people, whom they bite for no apparent reason at all. There are vipers, and cobras, and kraits, oh my! On our short trip, we were privileged to see many snakes. In the "wild" (game reserves, and the garden of one restaurant) , we saw three snakes: two thin bright green Vine Snakes and one large, fat, gray snake the locals said was a Rat Snake. And if you've ever seen the pictures of snake charmers, with the obligate hooded cobra in a basket...? Well, in Sri Lanka they are quite real- both the charmers and their hooded friends. I saw four of them during our trip. One also had a enormous boa (a local type? An imported pet?) which he allowed me to hold for a few minutes. For me, the most exciting snake adventure happened during one of our lab practical sessions, when the herpetologist Anslem de Silva actually milked a Russell's Viper, bare-handed, right in front of us. This is a highly venomous species, one that kills many Sri Lankans each year. We could all see the drops of yellow venom that oozed out of the viper's fangs. It was amazing to think that the little drop of goo in front of me could kill a person.

BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL ECOLOGY OF SRI LANKA

So what was this trip, who am I, and how did this all come about? Basically the trip was a college class organized by Dr. Jon Pearce of San Jose State University, and I teach biology at San Jose State University. Jon was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and he fell in love with the place and with the people. Having been there now, I see his point! Jon should receive a lot of credit for putting together such a fantastic trip. He arranged for our group to meet some of the best minds in the scientific community in Sri Lanka, and to tour an amazing number of ecological and archaeological sites.

But this is the tale of how it all began. One day I saw a bright green flier posted in the hall, advertising the Biological and Cultural Ecology of Sri Lanka, and promising such wonders as Buddhist rituals and wild elephants. I was immediately hooked. My husband of thirty years, Bob, and I signed up right away. This was in 2004, and the trip was to occur in January, 2005. Only days before we were scheduled to depart, the tsunami arrived in Sri Lanka with devastating force. Although we still wished to go, and to help out with the relief effort if we could, and although our hosts assured us that the campus near Kandy was high in the mountains, and thus not directly affected by the tsunami, nevertheless, our cautious administrators cancelled our trip. Undaunted, we applied again for the January 2006 trip. This time we were successful.

The "we" turned out to be a rather small group, which made for an easy and pleasant trip. About half of us were students, and the other half were staff (teachers who were students on this trip). There was Jon Pearce (staff) and his daughter Laura (student), Allegra (student), Somala (student), Nora (student), Chris (staff), Adele (staff), myself (staff), and my husband, Bob (student). Each of these people is also writing their own TravelBlog, so I won't be relating too much about any of them in this account. Besides, episodes which I find amusing might be either flattering or insulting to the people involved! Better to let them discuss their own experiences.

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