At Santiago Oaks there is a historic dam in a dry creek bed. It’s really beautiful. There is a small amount of water on one side of it that must have been left over from rainy season and appears to be stagnant. I walked down there with my friend Samantha the other day and we were quite grossed out by the state of the water. It seemed to be covered in pollen and thick like sludge. We were throwing rocks in to watch them break up the pollen on the surface just to have it merge back together when she spotted a turtle. I didn’t believe her at first. I thought it was a leaf. It was very still, but eventually he/she came swimming toward us, seemingly to check us out. I don’t know if he got stuck there after the last rains or was somehow born into this little watering hole, but he was quite a sight.