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Raoul the Crocodile


No, this image has not been edited. It is the real thing. We were laying on a rickety little dock at the edge of a fresh water lake near the Coba Ruins in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Underneath the dock stretched this 10-12 foot North American Crocodile. He was hiding from the heat of the noonday sun. We paid 10 pesos each (which is about 80 cents American) to a family that lived across the street and they let us out on the dock to see Raoul (that's his name) up close and personal. He was beautiful, although I am not sure how smart it was on our part to lay belly down and hang over the edge of the dock. They can jump, you know. Five to six feet straight up. The young Mayan girl who lived across the street brought a plastic bag with some kind of raw meat in it (I think it was chicken) She was about 12, dark hair, dark eyes and a happy smile. She dropped bits of meat into the water and the croc lazily caught them in his massive jaws. The little bits that were left over were quickly devoured by a swarm of small fish. We asked what they were.... "Piranha."

Anybody want to go swimming?

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