My Ecuadorian Mini-Break

On my way to Brazil in January I took a little mini-break to Ecuador.  I was originally planning on going for 10 days, but my parents were a little worried about a white girl (me) traipsing around Ecuador by herself for 10 days.  I think it might have been me saying things like, "while I'm in Ecuador I might just pop up into Columbia for a day or two," that really got them worried.  I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.  


But, my parents' worries became my own and I spent sleepless nights wondering whether or not the money from the book deal I'd surely get after being captured by Columbian drug dealers would exceed the amount of ransom my parents would have to pay to get me back, or not.  And, in the end, I wasn't sure my 10 day solo trip to Ecuador would turn out to be a financially sound decision.  I don't know how much ransom Columbian drug dealers are charging these days.  And, to be honest, I don't know what book deals for Americans who get captured by Columbian drug dealers are bringing in either.  


So, I decided to change my ticket and go for only three days instead of 10.  That would give me enough time to see Quito and get a little taste of Ecuador, without having so much time on my hands that I'd be likely to wander out into enemy territory.  


The reason I wanted to go to Ecuador in the first place is because it's the last of the easily accessible South American countries for me to visit.  I've been to all the countries in South America except for Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.  


Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana aren't the most convenient countries to travel to.  And then there's the whole language barrier with Suriname and French Guiana as I don't speak a bit Dutch and the only thing I can say in French is "bon appétit," and I doubt that would be very helpful.  French Guiana isn't really a country anyway, but rather just a part of France so I couldn't even add it to my list of visited countries.  And, to be honest, I really don't know what there is to see in those countries except for jungle and maybe some waterfalls.  So, my visits to those places will have to wait for now.  


And, Venezuela and Columbia aren't maybe the smartest places for a blond, white, American girl to visit right now.  Especially since I'm very anti-socialist and I've been very clear about that on my blog.  I mean, who knows, Chávez could be one of my blog leeches and might know that I do not agree with his politics.  


So, anyway, back to Ecuador.  Quito is a pretty little city.  It's situated on a high plateau and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.  

















Quito is a colonial city and has many beautiful churches, convents, and other buildings built during the Spanish Colonial Era.  The churches and convents contain amazing art, some of which was brought from Spain, and other parts of Europe, and some which was created in the convents' own art schools in Quito.




This is the courtyard of the St. Francis convent, which was built in the 16th century.  

These next two pictures are scenes from the famous street in Quito called La Ronda.  It's a part of colonial Quito that has been very well preserved.  I love the little kid leaning out of the doorway, head resting on his soccer ball, just looking like he's waiting for his dad to get home from work to play with him.  So adorable!

This is a very typical Ecuadorian dish.  It looks kind of scary but was actually pretty decent.  The fried banana was a bit much.  I can handle a bite or two of fried banana, but that's about it.  The pork and avocado were excellent, as was the tomato/onion salad once I removed the onions.  Onions=yuck.  Mixed with the pork were three kinds of corn...basically fresh cooked corn kernels, a hominy type corn, and then a hard salty corn, which were basically CornNuts, with some ginormous beans thrown into the mix.  It was kinda weird but kinda good.  Not my favorite foreign cuisine ever, but definitely several thousand steps above Ghanaian food.  Ghanaian food=double yuck!

Here's one of the pretty churches in Quito.  They have tons of beautiful churches but I didn't carry my camera with me a lot of the time when I was in the old part of the city because a lot of the old city is kind of sketchy and I didn't want to attract anymore attention to myself than I already was as a white blondy traveling solo.  So, I really didn't take too many pictures.  But, the city is quite beautiful.  You'll just have to believe me, or go there yourself to see.  

Here's just another view of Quito.                                                                                                 

I've wanted to go to the equator for a long time.  And, although I've been really close to the equator a few times, I'd never actually been to the equator. And, what better place to visit the equator than Ecuador?  

The equator is only about 25 km north of Quito's city center.  You can take a taxi to La Mitad del Mundo (which means "the middle of the world") monument for about 40 dollars or take the local bus for 40 cents.  I opted for the 40 cent plan.  Not only because I'm cheap and poor, but mostly because, if I wasn't going to be kidnapped by Columbian drug lords, I at least needed to do something slightly adventurous during my time in Ecuador.  

It was fun taking the bus.  I was the only non-local on the bus and I made several friends because of it on my way to the equator.  I had to change buses a couple of times and for one of the legs of the journey the bus fare was 15 cents.  I asked the girl next to me if the school kids have to pay for the bus fare (because they don't have school buses but just ride the city buses).  She said that they did, but that they only paid half price.  I wonder if they have to pay 7 cents or 8 cents.  Hmmm.  

Anyway, here are my pictures of the equator.  

I first went to the La Mitad del Mundo monument where scientists in the 1970's said the location of the equator was.  But now recent GPS data shows the true equator to be about 240 meters north of La Mitad del Mundo monument...right where the Indians supposedly always said it was.  Those dang Indians are always right about stuff like that!  


So at the "true equator" line they have a little Indian museum called the Intiñan Solar Museum.  It was a really interesting little museum.  They have shrunken heads (of real dead people), which quite honestly, I didn't even know were a real thing.  Before visiting the Intiñan Solar Museum I just thought that shrunken heads were something someone made up for the Indiana Jones movies.  I had no idea that Amazonian Indians (and Nazis) really shrunk heads.  Crazy.  


They also explain more about the equator and explain and demonstrate the Coriolis Effect as well as other scientific phenomenon.  Very interesting. 












































Anyway, I really enjoyed the little bit of Ecuador I was able to see during my mini-break to Quito.  The people are nice and friendly (sometimes a little too friendly), the scenery is beautiful, and the history is intriguing.  


One thing I found interesting is that Ecuador doesn't have it's own currency.  They just use US dollars.  They do mint their own coins but they are the same values and shapes as our coins and they use our coins and their coins interchangeably.  I've been to a few countries, like Belize for example, where they accept US dollars pretty much every where, but they still have their own currency too.  I've never been to a country that just doesn't even have a currency of their own.  Well, I guess except for Zimbabwe, but that is because their economy is completely messed up right now.  


I think it's brilliant/kind of moochy of Ecuador to use the US dollar.  They don't have to pay to print money, to develop new currency designs, to destroy old money, etc.  Haaaaaaaaaa they stick it to the American taxpayer to pay for all of that, while they enjoy the benefits of a stable (or somewhat stable) currency.  Dang those Indians are smart.  


Oh, and in case you're wondering where all of the Sacagawea one dollar coins that our government minted in 2000 and that never really caught on in America are...well, the answer is Ecuador.  Within hours of being in Ecuador I had nearly 20 of them that I'd received as change.  Ecuadorians love Sacagawea dollars.  


Tons of our coins and small bills are tied up just in the bus system of Ecuador.  So think of that next time you lick a dollar bill!  


Anyway, Ecuador is definitely on my list of places to return to with more time and more people.  I really want to go to the Galapagos Islands someday.  But it's pretty expensive to travel there, so I'll have to wait until I'm old and rich...or at least old.

Jericoacoara...A Little Piece of Paradise

Sometimes the sixth time is the charm...

I've been wanting to go to Jericoacoara since the first time I came to Fortaleza.  It's a little resort town/fishing village 300 kilometers away from Fortaleza.  It's famous for its beautiful beaches, scenery, warm sandy-beached lakes, rock formations, and tranquility.  

I finally persuaded my mom to go with me.  It took a lot of work.  She wasn't too excited about the five hour bus/truck-jeep ride to Jericoacoara.  But I asked everyone I knew here in Fortaleza whether or not it was worth going and everyone (except for one slightly paranoid guy) said to definitely go.  The paranoid guy said not to go because we'd certainly be jumped, robbed, and killed.  Boy was he wrong.  Jericoacoara was the quietest little peaceful place you could imagine.  I'd feel comfortable sleeping outside in a hammock with a sign saying "steal my ipod and kill me," pinned to my shirt.  Really, I would.  

Unfortunately my dad couldn't join us.  The first year of my parents' mission Jericoacoara was within their mission boundaries, but after their mission split in July of 2009, Jericoacoara became part of the Brazil Teresina Mission.  Mission presidents don't leave their missions (other than for training meetings) but luckily they're a little more flexible with mission moms.  

So, off we went.  We took a nice bus for four hours from Fortaleza to Jijoca, where the paved road ends, and then a truck-jeep thing (as seen below) for an hour until we arrived in Jericoacoara.  

This is the view of Jericoacoara from the beach when the tides were really low. The beach doesn't drop off very fast at all.  You can walk out super far and still touch the bottom.  So, it's a really nice place for swimming, not to mention the 81 degree water year round.  Fantastic!  

My mom, with the little town of Jericoacoara in the distance.  

There are sand dunes and palm trees everywhere you look...

and cool rock formations...

as well as hotties, like Fabio here.

For 90 dollars you can hire your own little dune buggy and driver for the day.  We were lucky enough to get "Tattoo" as our driver.  He was super cool and did a really great job of driving sideways on the dunes and making me think we were going to flip over.  It was fun!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we took a couple of our friends from Fortaleza with us to Jericoacoara, Kimberly and Caroline Cabral.  It's more fun traveling with a bigger group and plus we decided it might be nice to have a couple of locals with us in case our paranoid friend was right about the jumping, robbing, and killing that was sure to befall us in Jericoacoara.  Not that Kimberly and Caroline could have really stopped the jumping, robbing, and killing, but at least they could have yelled at our attackers in proper Portuguese.  

Approximately 96.4% of all modes of transport in Jericoacoara are dune buggies.  Motorcycles get 3.5 % of the people around, and the other 0.1% of vehicles in Jericoacoara are cars.  All of the roads are sand, so dune buggies make the most sense.  And they're more fun and probably less expensive than cars.  

A typical road in Jericoacoara

My cute mom in a dorky hat at the beach.  Don't worry, she knows the hat is dorky.  In fact, she abandoned it at our hotel.  

As part of the dune buggy tour they take you to three lakes near Jericoacoara. We went to Blue Lake, Paradise Lake, and Heart Lake.  When I first heard that we'd be going swimming in lakes I wasn't too excited.  For a girl from Idaho, lake swimming means freezing cold muddy water, leeches (and you all know how much I despise leeches of any kind), moss, snakes, and possibly dead floating bodies.  

But, Blue Lake and Paradise Lake were fantastic and gave me a new view of lake swimming.  The water was warm and clear, there were no leeches, not a bit of moss, no serpents, and, if there were any dead floating bodies you'd see them before they bumped into you because the water is so crystal clear.  The bottom of the lake is just sand, with no yucky plants, moss, or rocks to get in your way.  I loved it!  

Here's my mom chilling in one of the hammocks they set up in the lake.  

And may I just pause here to say how much I love hammocks and how we need to give them a more prominent position in American culture.  Hammocks can be a bed, a chair, and a swing...all in one.  What other piece of furniture has so much to offer?  They're inexpensive, mobile, and comfortable.  


And, as if hammocks aren't wonderful enough already, Brazilians put hammocks into lakes, which makes them even more enjoyable.  


Oh, and it was a little overcast so my pictures don't show how amazingly clear and blue the water was in Jericoacoara, but it was, I promise.  




Here are a couple of people kite surfing in one of the lakes.  The beaches in Ceará (the state that both Fortaleza and Jericoacoara are in) are world famous for kite surfing.  If I'd have realized that you could kite surf in a lake and not just the ocean, and that the lakes were so clear and warm, I would have tried kite surfing.  But, I guess that will have to wait until next time.  It looks so fun though and is definitely on my bucket list now.  

Just a gorgeous view from the buggy ride.  

On the buggy ride we got to a place where you have to drive through a little river.  There was a truck stuck in the riverbed and so a bunch of the buggy drivers stopped to help.  While we were sitting there watching them try to pull the truck out, all of a sudden out of nowhere, a little kid wearing a red cape, ran towards the scene of the accident.  It looked like Superman was flying in to save the day.  Minutes later the truck was unstuck.  I think it had very much to do with Superman's presence.  As we drove off I waved to the kid and said, "Chau Superman," and we all had a good laugh.  I don't know what a kid was doing out in The Middle of Nowhere, Brazil wearing a red cape and blue tank-top, but he couldn't have shown up with more perfect timing.  

Jericoacoara is just a fantastic little tranquil town.  It's the kind of place where you stop by while riding your horse to watch your friends play soccer...

whether or not you're fully dressed.  

It's the type of place where you can dine in elegance while wearing your swimming suit and flip-flops with your skin still greasy from tanning oil and sunscreen.  

It's the type of place where you could spend days and days just sitting at the pool...

This is one of the pools at our hotel.

breathing in the scent of tropical flowers and sipping water from a coconut, and nobody would think less of you for it.    

We had a great time in Jericoacoara.  I think my mom would say it was definitely worth the five hour ride each way.  

I think that the five hour bus/truck-jeep ride is the reason why Jericoacoara is such a wonderful little place to visit.  Because there isn't an airport there.  And, unless you are Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and/or Oprah, and can afford the 50 minute helicopter ride from Fortaleza, you have no other option other than that five hour drive.  

And, since there aren't too many disgustingly rich people in the world, and most people don't want to take a five hour bus/truck-jeep combo ride to paradise, but would rather fly directly there, I think Jericoacoara is safe from over-development and ruin (and Señor Frog’s) for a little longer.  

Live from a hammock in Brazil...it's Becca's Blog! (including pictures of live dogs!)

I've been stuck in a major blog bog lately.  


Although I have plenty of things I want to blog about I just can't seem to get myself going.   So, I decided tonight to just start...to write a blog post...even if it ends up being about nothing.  A lot of my blog posts end up being mostly about nothing anyway.  


So I guess I'd better get blah blah bloggin.  


I'm in Brazil once again.  This is my sixth, and final visit, before my parents come home in July.  My goal when they left was to try to visit every six-ish months, and I'm proud to say that I actually accomplished it.  


It's not often that I actually complete my goals.  I make a lot of goals.  And I break a lot of goals.  But I guess that goals involving things you already enjoy, in my case traveling, should be easy enough to stick to.  It's probably like a chocoholic making a goal to eat a candy bar a day.  Easy. But, my goal did take a lot of money, frequent flier miles, time, and planning.  So I guess I can be proud to check this goal off the list.  


Three of my six visits were tacked on to other trips I probably would have already been making whether or not my parents were in Brazil.  The first time I came to Brazil was on my way home from Paraguay after spending five weeks there working on my Master's Degree.  The fourth time I came to see my parents was as an appetizer to my Spinsters Storm South America 2010 trip, which included a return trip to my mission.  And the fifth time I graced my parents with my presence was on my way to Bolivia for a humanitarian expedition.  


So I guess I'm lucky that, because of having served a mission in Argentina and speaking Spanish, I've had plenty of reasons to justify my visits to South America these past 2.5 years.  


I have enjoyed visiting my parents and am glad that I've had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with them.  It has been good for me to share a little bit in their missionary experience.  I've been able to meet a lot of their missionaries, attend baptisms and meetings, and become friends with many members of the church here.  I guess it's been nice to see firsthand why they are where they are and why we've had to have our parents be away for three years.  I guess I feel slightly less selfish about my parents being gone when I realize what a meaningful experience it's been for them (and hopefully for the people they've served.)


Anyway, people always ask me what I do when I come to Brazil.  And, although I've been able to see some beautiful places and do some fun touristy things, for the most part I just hang out with my parents.  We watch BBC movies, piece quilts, do errands, visit, cook, I help them (mostly my dad) with major computer problems (like attaching files to emails), and just do everything I'd do with my parents if they were at home.  (Obviously my dad does not participate in some of our activities like BBC watching or quilt piecing.) 


Anyway, sometimes when I'm here it starts to feel like I am just at home with my parents in Idaho and I sort of forget that I'm in another country.  


But then I remember that I am not in Idaho.  Because...1)it's not freezing cold outside, 2)my hands aren't cracked and bleeding from the cold, 3)my hands therefore look less man-handish (which is quite nice) 4)there's tons of delicious fruit to eat year-round...watermelon, papaya, mango, pineapple, etc. and 5)approximately 12.5 minutes after doing my hair and thinking to myself, "man, I'm having a good hair day" my hair succumbs to the humidity and curls around my face, leaving me looking like a cross between three year-old Becca...

and the following dogs.

It's true.  I really look like that.  I have to flat iron my hair several times a day just to keep from looking too childish or dogish.  

But the biggest reminders that I'm no longer in Idaho often come at the grocery store.  I just find so many things funny/different/weird there and, as a good blogger, my camera is always in my bag ready to go.  

In Brazil it is super common for people to change their minds and just abandon food they don't want to buy at the registers.  I know people do that in the U.S. too but it just seems like it's way more common here and often involves perishable food items being shoved into the gum rack...yay, bloody meat juice dripping onto the gum and tic tacs!  Delicious.  

Anyway, on a recent trip to the grocery store, someone had decided to last minute ditch some cow kidneys.  I can just see a husband and wife in line, one of them saying to the other, "you know I guess I don't feel so much like having cow kidneys tonight for dinner...let's just leave them, okay?"  

That's got to be what happened.  I just don't understand how one minute cow kidneys sound delicious and the next minute you're leaving them at the checkstand.  I just think that you either crave (and enjoy) cow kidneys, or you don't and that there shouldn't be last minute decisions on that choice for dinner.  But, each to his own.  I can promise you though that cow kidneys won't ever make it even as far as the checkstand with me.  Yuck!

I guess I should give the cow kidney ditcher credit though...at least they didn't shove them in the gum rack.

The following picture should be entitled "In case of fire, trip here." 

It just made me laugh that the fire extinguisher is in the middle of the aisle and takes up half of the aisle.  It just seems like they could find an easily accessible place to put it that wouldn't cause shin injuries to the customers and/or wouldn't cause the fire extinguisher to get knocked down probably at least once a day.  I wonder what the shelf life is for an extinguisher that gets knocked over regularly?  

Maybe I don't shop for meat often enough (and really, I don't buy much meat...don't really enjoy cooking it) but I've never seen giant turkey legs...just the legs...for sale in the U.S.  

and they were giant.  I don't know if the pictures do them justice, but they were huge.  

I was going to take a picture of my hand next to the turkey legs, but my giant man-hands made the turkey legs actually look small.  So I used a bottle of coke.  Sorry to whoever later bought that bottle of coke.  Just for the record it didn't touch the turkey.  Oh, and it wasn't a 2 liter bottle...that would make the turkey legs unbelievably ginourmous...but it was a nice big bottle.

"Vat o' Pork Chops" is what I'm titling the following picture.  

because, it's a picture of a vat...of pork chops.  It could also be titled "A Public Health Disaster Waiting to Happen."  You just dig through with your bare hands, choose the ones you want, and bag them up.  That is, if you're the type of person who likes to buy pork chops from a vat.  I, however, am not. 

I thought of several titles for this picture, but couldn't think of any titles that wouldn't possibly be taken as pervy/disgusting.  So, I'm not going to title it.  I'll just tell you that it is a giant hot dog all curled up.  As if hot dogs weren't disgusting enough without being packaged as such.  

They sell this whole dried and salted fish stuff (including skin and I think bones) that smells as bad as it looks.  I think it is a Portuguese thing.  Of all the things the Brazilians could have inherited from Portuguese cuisine they chose this?  They should seriously re-think it...their grocery stores would certainly smell better if they did.  

And, last but not least...a bit of good news from the grocery store.  After 2.5 years of exporting corn chips to my parents, a grocery store in Fortaleza finally sells them!  

And they only cost $13.25 USD for 210 grams!  Maybe if my parents save up for the rest of their mission they can buy some...although I bet they'll be getting stale on the shelf soon, as I don't know anyone who would be crazy enough to pay $13.25 for a small bag of chips!

or $6.32 USD for an envelope of fajita seasoning.  

Maybe a millionaire, but not me.  And certainly not my parents.  My mom still washes and reuses zip-lock bags.  

Oh, and Brazil needs to work a little more on their grocery store displays.  They always seem to be so high with things so precariously balanced.  Anyway, the other night my mom and I were standing in line at the grocery store and a two liter bottle of Coke fell off one of the displays, hit the floor, and exploded all over us.  It scared us at first but then we found it quite funny couldn't stop laughing.  We were both covered in sticky Coke.  My mom's hair was entirely soaked on one side.  

So, I guess if we get bored during my visit we can always head over to our local grocery store for some entertainment.  

Anyway, blah, blah, blah, the end.  

Hoarding pickles and other sad things...

Are your parents driving you crazy?...because mine are.  Or at least they do sometimes.  

Like this past week for example.  I was getting ready to go to South America and on Wednesday I talked to my mom and asked her if there were any last minute things they wanted to add to the list of what I'm bringing them.  She said they'd think on it.  And I said, "well, will you think about it tonight or tomorrow morning and email me the list?  Because I'd like to get all of my errands done tomorrow." 

Thursday comes.  No list from my parents.  'I guess they don't need me to bring anything else,' I think and I head to town (town is what we country folk call the nearest "large" city). 


So, I get home later that evening and check my email and...there's the list...sent at 5 P.M. Thursday night.  What?  I just finished all my shopping!  


And people are probably saying, "Don't be such a complainer Becca.  I'm sure it  wasn't a big deal to just stop by the grocery store one more time before flying out."  


But what you don't understand is that quite often their lists include things that aren't easily found all at one grocery store.  Their lists of things usually take quite awhile to gather.  It is really a good thing I guess that I'm not employed full-time right now.  I have no idea where I'd find the time to take care of putting together all the "shipments" my parents receive.  


I think the thing on this last list that made me the most crazy was the request for Spitz brand cracked pepper sunflower seeds.  I mean I don't mind picking up some sunflower seeds, but when you specify the flavor and the brand you kind of make my life crazy!  


I went to three different grocery stores looking for them.  No luck.  In the end I discovered that the place to buy Spitz cracked pepper sunflower seeds is at gas stations...now I know.


Some other things on their list were Rootbeer barrels (where do you buy these...does anyone eat these? yuck!) and a box of Idaho Spud candy bars...and not everybody sells Idaho Spud candy bars these days.  


And really, to shift some of the blame, a lot of the buggy things my parents ask me to bring are not for them, but for missionaries and members.  But if someone says that they like something from the U.S. my parents (mostly my dad) love to be able to hook up them up.  Hence the last minute requests for what I think are weird things.  


My dad is sort of a people pleaser, and I guess so am I or I wouldn't do what I do.  


And my parents aren't really too horribly high maintenance...they don't make me feel bad if I'm not able to get all their errands done.  And they always tell me that if I don't have time that I don't need to worry about it.  But I do worry about it.  Because three years is a long time to go without some of your favorite things...milk, sour cream, berries, good American candy, Mexican food, peanut butter, Hershey's syrup, dill pickles, and the plethora of other good things that are not to be found in Northeastern Brazil.  So I don't blame them for wanting what they want.  Also, since I'm thinking there's a high chance that I will someday again live abroad, I guess I'm banking favors.  And boy do they owe me!


As a side note, we have a friend from Brazil who is attending BYU-Idaho.  Recently my parents had some other friends traveling from Fortaleza, Brazil to Idaho so they were able to bring the girl at BYU-Idaho a suitcase full of things from Brazil that she'd been missing.  Here's the conversation I had with my mom about that suitcase full of Brazilian loot.  


My mom: "OMH, you should have seen the things her parents sent her in that suitcase...dried beans, mix for cheese bread, those little potato chip slivers that Brazilians eat on top of everything.  Can you believe it?"


Me: "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, holy crappoly are you kidding me mom?...listen to yourself...do you want me to start listing all of the ridiculous things I've sent you in the last 2.5 years?"


My mom: nothing


I guess she didn't want me to start listing things.   


Anyway, to each his own I guess.  My parents have things they love and miss from America and Brazilians in America have things they love and miss from Brazil.  I guess you like what you're used to.  Although my brother Lee does try to convince every foreigner he meets that overall we have the best candy in the world.  And really, we do.  The Japanese have Hi-Chews, the Germans have Haribo, the Finnish have licorice, and Europe in general has chocolate, but overall, in my humble opinion, we do have the best variety and overall candy selection of any country in the world.  

Anyway, back to the point at hand.  In preparation for my trip I sent an email to my mom asking her if they had any dill pickles left or if she wanted me to bring another jar.  


She replied, "we have two left." 


To which I responded, "two jars of pickles or two pickles?"


And then she answered, "two pickles...and I ate a couple of slices off of one of them today."  


And that made me want to both laugh and cry...to imagine my parents huddled around their fridge, the glow from the refrigerator light making the scene seem extra sad and depressing, looking at those last two pickles bobbing in their brine and contemplating the day they'd eat them and the sadness and emptiness that would follow when they realized that there would then be nothing else to look forward to. 


So, I guess that's why I do what I do...why I let myself be driven crazy...to keep those depressing pickle hoarding moments out of my mind and off of my conscience.  


Oh, and since I titled this post "Hoarding pickles and other sad things," I guess I'd better think of some other sad things.  


people with really bad/missing teeth
little kids having to sell stuff in the streets
people with missing limbs
babies having their faces licked by dogs
etc.


Those things all make me sad.  


What makes you sad?
What things would you have a hard time living without if you lived in another country?
What do your parents do that drives you crazy?


Yes, I am begging for comments.  I might as well just come out and say it.  


Later leeches...