Cobra Blood

"I still can't decide if I want to go kickboxing or drink cobra's blood."

A predicament I never expected to have.

This afternoon a few of my friends invited me to join them in trying cobra's blood. Unfortunately, I have kickboxing on Tuesdays and I didn't want to miss a workout. I was really conflicted because, as they pointed out, I can go kickboxing anytime but cobra's blood is harder to come by. This isn't entirely true given that I'll be living in the middle of nowhere for the next year (more on that later). I was leaning toward the blood option until I started to feel sick to my stomach. Some of my other friends had already tried it and described the process to me.

Basically you arrive in a dank ally where you meet a man, his wife and the snake you will soon consume. Each person gets their own cobra. The man proceeds to kill the snake before giving it to his wife to skin. The blood is drained into double shot glasses and mixed with a little sweet wine. Depending on where you go, you may drink the blood with the bile mixed in or a medley of other organs chopped up for a more chunky drink.

The blood is supposed to make you strong and healthy.

The more I thought about it the more I realized I couldn't do it. While I'd feel totally hardcore drinking cobra's blood, I'd also feel pretty evil.

If I find myself overwhelmed with regret over not trying it, I'm sure there are plenty of snakes to be had in South Sulawesi.