Photo: amaw [Flickr]
I learned two things from this neat post over at Kuriositas: 1) Atchafalaya Swamp is the largest swamp in the United States and 2) it's strikingly gorgeous:
Atchafalaya – the name itself is something of a mystery. When exactly the swamp got its name is unknown, though it means long river in one of the local languages. What is known about this place of splendor and inscrutability is that it is the largest swamp in the United States and is the spiritual home of Cajun culture.
Louisiana is culturally rich, drawing from African, Caribbean, Native-American as well as European culture and the ecology of Atchafalaya is just as diverse and varied. If you want to pronounce it properly, try these syllables - ah-CHA-fa-LIE-ah – and you may be as close as you are ever going to get.