Honeymoon with a Herpetologist

The following article has been accepted for publication by "Reptiles" magazine.  It will be in the September 2011 issue.

My first clue should have been when I saw snake tongs on the honeymoon packing list.  The second clue should have been when my fiancé Mark started reading about the reptiles and amphibians of the Yucatan peninsula.  

When we were at the travel agency, Mark asked the agent which resorts had the most snakes and other reptiles on their property.   When she replied that the resorts tried to control the snake population, Mark explained that he planned his vacations around seeing different species of snakes and amphibians.  The agent gave me a sympathetic look.

The agent showed us brochures of various resorts with beautiful beaches and swimming pools.  This was my idea of an ideal honeymoon, but Mark didn’t look too excited.  When she showed us a picture of the Xcaret resort, Mark perked up.  Sea turtles, iguanas, and other reptiles?  This was what a honeymoon was all about! 

The photos from our honeymoon have a very high reptile ratio.  The rough order of the photos are  iguana, gecko, iguana, me, gecko, sea turtle, Mayan ruins, gecko, me standing behind large iguana, etc.  There are no pictures to indicate that Mark and I were actually together on the honeymoon.  We realized this after we posted our photos.

Mark responded, “There were plenty of pictures of us from our wedding, but when can you see so many iguanas?”

Mark brought a large flashlight on the honeymoon.   The flashlight was for illuminating the various reptiles and amphibians that Mark hoped to see on his nightly walks.  The first day at the resort was rainy, so Mark wanted to go out with his large flashlight and his camera.  Even though I was exhausted, I imagined him being arrested for suspicious activity and being held in a Mexican prison.   I sleepily followed him on his journey through the resort.   We saw a tiny snake about the size of a worm under a leaf.  He was disappointed, but I enjoyed seeing the raccoon-like coatimundis.

The next day, we were walking around the resort when Mark saw some workers cutting the undergrowth with machetes.  Neither he nor I knew Spanish very well, but he was determined to find a snail eater snake.   I only knew the French word “escargot”, which was not the same in Spanish.  Mark pantomimed eating a snail, and the workers thought he wanted to find some snails to eat.   As we walked away, I saw them shaking their heads and laughing at the crazy Americans. 

We were both impressed with the ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum.  Mark was also impressed by the size of an iguana sitting on a rock.  This iguana appears frequently in our honeymoon photo collection. 

At the Xcaret resort, we saw baby sea turtles of various sizes.  We were fascinated by the way that they swam with their flippers behind their backs. 

Even  though our honeymoon was different than I had imagined in many ways, I would not have traded one minute of my honeymoon with a herpetologist.