Part four: Images of Southeastern Estonia While I could continue on with the written descriptions of how things have transpired, the following images seem equally appropriate. Click on the image for an enlarged image. Oh, and please forgive my sloppy codeslinging here. I'm just wanting to get these out to the world, not really make a pretty website. The farmland of Estonia. I'm not entirely sure what those five giant metal machines are in the central image, but there were situated behind one of the many farmhouses dotted throughout the landscape. Figure One: cabbage. Figure Two (r): the beginning (or end) of some crass Polish joke. The trees of the Estonian forest Requisite arty photographs of leaves The Soviet era electrical grid had these huge electronic blocks and have proven to be an endless fascination. Let you be warned now that there may be many more photographs of these, as I continue through the Estonian landscape. An Estonian bus station One of the last things I would have expected to see in flat Estonia, kayaking! But a slalom course was set up beneath the release for the hydroelectrical dam of the village of Leevaku, and at least three or four dozen participants were patiently waiting their turn to run the course. John, Evelyn, and Patrick took me to the Luhasoo swamp, right on the Latvian border. The swamp was covered in a thick layer of moss which were six to eight inches thick before you got to the viscous bog below. While you could tred over the moss without getting too wet, this swamp (managed by the Estonian state) featured several raised pathes of cut logs making it easier to traverse the swamp and leaving a much smaller ecological footprint on this amazing ecosystem. Supposedly venus flytraps thrive in this particular swamp, but they eluded our sight. In the middle of this swamp, a small 'island' of solid ground raised above the water table, and a small house was built on this island for anybody to use. There's no reservations available for the room, so we were just hoping to get there before anybody else. Behold we did, endingup cooking a fine meal and drinking vodka well into the night. In the morning, a class of school children all probably at the age of 8 or 9 woke us from our slumber. Several of the kids scraped together some of the moss and some sticks and built some innovative small buildings, examples of such can be found to the right. Very cool! Look! It's Russia! Given the current political tensions between Russia and Estonia (not to mention those between Europe and Russia), it's not possible just to cross the border into Russia without a briefcase full of paper work. However, we did manage to find our way to a village that overlooks the border river between Russia and Estonia. Yup, it's a Russian Orthodox church glistening against the water reeds; and you'll also note to the right on the enlarged photograph, a guard tower. We assumed that it was manned by some miserable, perpetually drunk Russian soldier, still armed with an AK-47. The road back into Mooste.