Hanging with the locals

It's always a surreal experience penetrating out of the urban mess of Miami into the Everglades, one of the largest subtropical wilderness areas in the world. First you drive through Little Havana, with its spicy colors and Caribbean spirit; then you plunge through an expansive ring of suburban hell, with every chain store in existence accounted for; then you cross over one major road and you're suddenly in the swamp. All development stops dead and the earthy smell of the bogs fills the air. Five minutes later, and if you drive down a gravel road into the wilds and get out of the car, you won't hear anything but the sweeping of the wind through the grass.

Winter is the season when all the alligator eggs hatch. I stumbled upon this brood of little guys on my hike this weekend. Their mother was close by, submerged in the water and camouflaged under a thicket of weeds, so I didn't get too close.