Today I went to the Okefenokee swamp. This is a native American word meaning "land of the trembling earth," so-called because the methane trapped in the peat causes the ground to wobble as it is disturbed by footprints.
I convinced a biker couple to go halves on hiring a motor boat with me, and we took a 3 hour tour of one tiny corner of this massive wildlife refuge. We were on the canals (routes cut into the swamp) half the time, and praries (open expanses of water covered in lillypads) the other half. We saw several wild aligators, though only small ones. The best view was of one aligator sunbathing on the bank, who hissed at us for getting too close.
Early this morning I witnessed the emptying of the compost toilets at the commune. Basically some poor voluteer has to take the bucket out from under the privvie and empty it into a compost heap for 2 years, before it is then turned into flower bedding. Lovely.
As I write I am in the home of a couch-surfer in Tallahassee, Florida.