The One Where Patwoman Goes On Vacation: Chapter Four: The Swamp Is Full Of Wonder

I was pretty keen to go to the swamp. I wanted to see the moss hanging from the trees, the big, leafy flowers floating on the water, the trees growing right out of the river.

R & M wanted to see gators.

Here are some things that surprised me about the swamp:

1) Not a lot of bugs. I expected to be eaten alive by mosquitos, but no. I'm guessing it's because the water is moving, so the mosquitos don't nest there.


2) Didn't stink. Don't you think of the swamp as stinky? It's not. Again, moving water. It actually smelled worlds better than Bourbon Street. We were on one of those boats that take you right into the swamp, right through the plants, right up into the tree roots. And the air was clean. The water was clean. It was cooler and less humid than the city. And my allergies didn't bother me.

3) Alligators love marshmallows. Now, that was really surprising. I guess you don't think of carnivores as having much of a sweet tooth. (Except Gabby, who loves anything I'm eating.) Maybe that's because there's not much opportunity for dessert in the wild. Maybe gators and bobcats and bears and sharks would all eat marshmallows, given the chance.


But these gators went nuts for marshmallows. Our captain would call to them ("Come heeyah!") and throw a marshmallow over the side of the boat and they would swim like crazy for it. Apparently, they had experimented at one time with tossing the gators chicken meat, but it made them too aggressive. Like jump in the boat to get more chicken aggressive. Needless to say, they don't do that any more.

Of course, the swamp is a vital entity, so in the time since Katrina plants have grown, animals have reproduced, etc. Still, the evidence of the storm is there.



We shot some footage on the video camera too. It was just too visually stimulating to pass up. Here are some random shots, for your enjoyment.