The Houston swamps

It was great. It was hazardous. It was just living on the edge to its maximum. Two Houston based colleagues took us to the Houston swamps. There we were. In the middle of nowhere (which takes about one hour drive; just follow the highway west). Five Dutchmen. Temperatures high in the nineties and humidity close to 80%. The sweat literally flooding out of every pore of the body. Rat Snakes luring from the grass, in the trees, in the waters; hell, they were everywhere! Undeterminable jungle sounds cascaded from all around (still I am convinced to have heard a Spanish squirrel shouting from the three armed tree next to me).
American alligators floating in the dark muddy waters, patiently waiting for that one wrong move; walking past the water, just one inch too close. 30 mph for the first 30 feet. Escape would be an idle hope. By the way, did you know that the big difference from crocodiles, is that alligators have a rather U-shaped rounded snout (like a shovel), whereas crocodiles tend to have longer and more pointed "V"-shaped noses. But then again, who cares when you stand eye-in-eye with either of these powerful prehistoric predators? We only had walked for a couple of hundred yards, when we suddenly found ourselves in front of another vicious creature. Big yellow eyes staring right at us, only a few yards away. I could hear the tension falling off from all of us, when we saw the big, greasy brown long tailed rat in his mouth. A prey he must have catched just seconds before. The blood was dripping on the small curled path, when the raccoon rushed away into the tight trees…
Really, the hike was great fun and a warm welcome walking around in the green after spending a full week in a concrete environment.

Tonight: The Cure live in the Toyota stadium.

Cheers,
Tom