oddities

the odd and weird


man sleeping with teddy bear on south american bus

What’s Up with the Air Con? 39

Seriously, I do not understand the whole air conditioning use in otherwise incredibly hot Third World countries. It defies rational understanding and I challenge you to come up with a good reason for this small bit of insanity. Basically in almost every hot Third World country it is apparent that […]


Worst Movie of All-Time?? 18

In a variety of places in the Third World (plus China and some others), you can buy pirated DVDs for amazingly cheap prices. In Kenya, I found some DVDs of the Boston Legal TV series, where the covers made me chuckle. I was walking through a market in Colombia a […]

Shane Van Dyke Profile Pic Titanic II

Winnie The Pooh cartoon

Men Traveling with Teddy Bears 40

Fast forward a little bit and I am on an overnight bus in Colombia. Actually, you don’t have to fast forward too far, this was only two weeks after hearing this amazing teddy bear news. I look across the aisle of the bus as the day turned to night and we all got ready to sleep and what did I see…..


outdoor shower head with water

Cold Showers from Hell 35

I suppose there aren’t any cold showers in hell, now that I think about it, but regardless, I hate cold showers. Hate. Hate. Before I first started on my RTW overland trip in December of 2008, I couldn’t remember the last time I took an intentionally cold shower. Like anyone […]


Craziest Person I Have Ever Met 25

He asked us where we were from. We told him and asked in return. “I live in a tree in Africa.” We chuckled. Not that funny, but I’ve heard worse. We assumed he was joking, so we asked him to tell us about his tree. He did. Without cracking a smile. We asked what he was doing here, if he lived in a tree in Africa. He said it wasn’t difficult to get to. And we realized that we needed to try to find a way to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

crazy doctor prescription from german doctor in nicaragua

Glimpses of Memory 10

I was watching some kid kick a soccer ball on a cobblestone street and thought to myself that I had the exact same moment. Some kids were playing soccer in an alleyway. I took out my camera and started taking pictures. One of the kids, the extrovert, then got the soccer ball and started posing for me. Kicking the ball up the air and throwing his hands up.