We stopped at a desert recreational area and took a walk amongst the Saguaro cactus which are sometimes called the ‘desert monarch’ on account of the fact that they can be fifty feet tall and up to two hundred years old. We walked among them a short way but became understandably nervous when we read a warning sign about rattle snakes and we remembered Mike’s gruesome stories of painful venomous deaths where blood turns to cement and you die in seconds so we didn’t stay very long.
I think Mike was exaggerating. I looked it up later. There are about eight thousand reports of venomous snake bites every year in the USA but on average only five people die which is about twice as many in Australia. That is about the same amount of people who die from dog attacks in the UK each year.
Have Bag, Will Travel 