Everglades and Little Havana

 We went to two different parts of the Everglades on two different days.  The first day we went to Shark Valley (named because of the Shark River that runs through it.  The land was very flat so it didn't feel like a valley but there you are.)

We rode a tram and I enjoyed it.  I pictured it to be more swampy and buggy but the water was crystal clear and the only bugs were the ones that dive bombed Mark and left the rest of us alone.

It was all flat and wet except these mound of trees here and there.  Some of them are hardwood and they were "hammocks" where the natives used to live.  Since they were slightly raised, they were dry.  Some of them are where the alligators live.

Here is an alligator.  I don't know if you can see it.  It's the only one we saw.

There were lots of great blue heron sightings.

This is an anhinga showing off his wings.

We also went to another part of the Everglades a different day.

This seemed like a place Monet would have liked to paint.

The water was just so amazingly clear.

Here's a really big grasshopper shown next to my foot for scale.  Mark would not get that close to it.

What we didn't get at the Everglades was a poster.  The stores were all closed so we'll have to get one online.

 I loved little Havana!

There were chickens just roaming around, coexisting with the pigeons.  And they weren't just any chickens.  They were beautiful.  (I've never thought a chicken was particularly beautiful before.)

There were huge interestingly shaped trees and beautiful flowers and colorful houses.  

Do you have to be Cuban to live in Little Havana?