I was sitting at the receptionist’s desk of a hotel in the Rupununi Savannas of Guyana,

when a snake about 7 feet long, with yellow belly and black back, and forked tongue,
slithered over the computer’s monitor and hissed at me. For the first few seconds, I
wondered what the hell was happening here. “Was this a real snake?” I realized quickly
that it was. I got on my feet and backed out of the area. The snake seemed afraid of
me, and generally afraid of humans, and without intentions to attack. It quickly slithered
down and headed away. I shouted to the little girl, Reanna, who had just walked out a
nearby door to be on her guard, that a snake was on the loose. I ran behind the snake
as it slithered along the bottom of the wall to the other end of the building.

Half-panicking, I looked for a stick or some object with which to hit the snake, but I
couldn’t get ahold of one. I shouted to the little girl Reanna to bring me a piece of wood
to kill the snake. She acted sluggishly. After a good 15 seconds or so delay, which could
have been detrimental in a situation like this, Reanna came along with a piece of stick,
about two feet long, and too thin to withstand the slightest shock.“Not that!” I shouted.
“Something bigger!”

I had to keep my eye on the snake. If the snake disappeared into a corner, or curled
itself up in a location where it was hard to detect, it would pose a serious threat to
everyone in the hotel, and might very well spring a deadly surprise on an unsuspecting
victim.

I watched the snake as it slithered into a narrow passageway. By then, assisted by me,
an elderly man had managed to procure a wood of reasonable size, and capable of
mortally wounding the snake. I took the wood from him. I approached the snake with
calm. But my lack of precaution made me nervous. Nevertheless, I fired at the snake
with the wood, the snake backed away, but at times jumped towards the man and
snapped its jaws in retaliation. I backed away.

Within a few minutes, I arrived and took the wood from the elderly man, who up that
time, had not succeeded in wounding the snake. I fired at the snake with the wood, and
within a few minutes, the snake was dead, having been wounded first on the back, and
then on the head.