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Story of the sea turtles, Costa Rica

Baby leatherback turtle. Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife

IF A JAGUAR DECIDED TO slink out of the woods and cause trouble, we wouldn’t stand a chance. There are eight of us — writers and videographers and Instagrammers, all Contiki Storytellers on a trip to document sea turtle conservation efforts in Tortuguero, Costa Rica — but the size of our tribe can’t make up for the fact that on a deserted beach at midnight, without the glow of our mobile devices, we are totally and completely blind.

Cloyd Martinez, the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s buoyant local guide, is impatient to get going. “Your eyes have adjusted, yes?” he shouts into the wind, already too far ahead to hear the answer. “Pura vida! Straight line, follow me! Pura vida!”

Black upon black. A black stretch of sand between black waves and a black thicket of palm trees, hills and gullies punctuated by black seaweed and logs, navigated by humans dressed head to toe in black so as not to disturb the sea turtles’ light sensitivity. Every night on the Caribbean shoreline of Tortuguero National Park, a rotating team of volunteer research assistants from around the world go on long, solitary patrols. They’re looking for turtle tracks. They’re looking for signs that a hawksbill or leatherback, gentle prehistoric giants who have been clambering out of the ocean to lay their eggs on these beaches for 110 million years, has again chosen to entrust the sand with her imperiled cargo. They’re hoping to find the nest before the poachers do, or the rising tide, or the hungry jaguars.

In all those millions of years, sea turtles have held their own against natural predators — hedge a stubborn loggerhead against a shark and don’t be too sure about the spread. Humans, however, are a more daunting opponent. Pollution, nesting ground destruction, and invasive commercial fishing practices wipe out entire populations, and the demand for turtle meat and eggs continues despite widespread bans. Five of the world’s seven species are endangered, some grazing the edge of extinction.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Ecologist Archie Carr brought global attention to the issue in the 1950s and became the founding scientific director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, now the oldest and most influential organization of its kind. It’s a research powerhouse, but works just as hard at advocacy and education. For people to care about sea turtles, they must know how crucial the animals are to marine and beach ecosystems and how personal actions can make a difference in saving them. Each season, hundreds of tourists visit the Sea Turtle Conservancy and go on night patrols like this one. In June and July, green turtles crawl onto the beach by the dozens.

But it is March, and it is past midnight, and the prospect of spotting a sea turtle is low.

The wind shifts directions. The black takes on shapes and forms. Cloyd stops suddenly and points to a blip of ebony in a sea of midnight, something riding the waves that could either be a leatherback or a log. Our pulse quickens as we stumble over the sand, with each step closer knowing it is indeed a log but feeling the thrill of pursuit nonetheless.

“My father was a poacher,” Cloyd tells us. “Bags and bags of turtle eggs, they would harvest them every season and sell them in the village. But then we started to see how important the turtles are to our way of life. People come to see the turtles. So I decided to protect them. That was two decades ago.” He stops and nods at the faux-leatherback log, the false alarm. “When we were little boys there were so many turtles we used to ride them like horses, all the way back to the sea.”

Two football fields away, there is a phantom flash of red, a signal in the darkness. This time it is no false alarm. A patrol team up the beach is sending a message, a rudimentary laser-pointer Morse code that indicates either a question or a sighting. One flash…two. And then a frantic pulsing that can only mean one thing: A turtle is onshore.

There isn’t time to think about the insanity of sprinting across alien turf without the ability to see. Instead, instinct kicks in. The mind shuts off. Legs propel us over the obstacles and potholes, dodging waves and scrambling for lost footing, but from the lungs up is an eerie calm — a sense of floating. The pounding of waves synchronizes with the pounding of blood in our temples. There is a sudden hyperawareness that the ocean is actually a bright, luminous white, a reflection of the stars overhead. It is intoxicatingly white. It is what attracts newly hatched turtles from the ground to their home, and in that moment of running on instinct, we get a sense of theirs.

A makeshift field camp bathed in infrared light draws near, and in the middle of it is a 850-pound leatherback turtle, midway through the ritual of laying her eggs.

Photo: Brian Gratwicke

She knows the scientists are there but goes about her business unperturbed, like a mother at a teaching hospital who drifts into the altered state brought on by birthing hormones instead of acknowledging the onlookers around her. Her face is out of view. There is an agreement between the scientists and the turtle: She lets them into the most intimate moment of her life, lets them measure her and tag her and record in their notebooks all the data they need to draw conclusions about the fate of her species, and they stay crouched behind her, always moving out of eyesight so she isn’t tempted to flee to the safety of the waves.

It is with these small acts that they help her. The metal tags they attach to her back flipper contain an ID number that can be tracked across years and migrations. Last season a green turtle that had first been ID’ed in 2000 resurfaced in Tortuguero. Sea Turtle Conservancy tags have turned up in Spain and Portugal, and satellite maps of tagged turtles look like the flight paths of a major airline. Through tagging, data sharing, and satellite tracking, scientists can understand these creatures’ mysterious movements, their improbably long treks propelled by a hard-wired sense of direction aligned to Earth’s magnetic fields. The sea turtle is the ultimate traveler. By instinct it is drawn to a life of freedom across the world’s farthest-reaching currents, and by instinct it will return to the beach where it was born. No matter how far it wanders, it will never forget its home.

Is that why we storytellers, travelers by occupation and design, feel such kinship with the animal nesting six inches in front of us?

She is taking her time. Her back flippers quiver as she deposits her brood, nearly seven dozen jellied ping-pong balls nestled softly in a deep pit, and then heave side to side with elephantine force to conceal the nest. We don’t keep up with her movements fast enough, and a curtain of sand welts our arms and chests. In two months, her hatchlings will emerge and crawl toward light. Only one turtle out of 1,000 will survive to adulthood.

Tonight’s efforts are improving those odds. Since the Sea Turtle Conservancy began its work in Tortuguero, the green turtle population has increased by 500%. Village mindsets evolve as new generations grow up knowing conservation as a way of life. Awareness grows with each visitor, with each reader, with each person who takes action.

As our turtle returns to the waves, she seems to send a message: Go back to your own habitat, to the 4G connections and social media channels that sustain you, and tell my story.

Want to get involved?

Adopt a sea turtle
Make a donation
Visit the Sea Turtle Conservancy

Turtle experiences take place in Tortuguero, Costa Rica; Soropta Beach, Panama; Florida, United States; and at various turtle live release events. One- to three-week Eco-Volunteer Adventures on Tortuguero Beach can be booked from March through October.

This post is proudly produced in partnership with Contiki, world leaders in youth travel. The author is a winner of the Storytellers: Costa Rica competition. In early April, she participated in a Contiki Cares conservation trip through Costa Rica.

Gringos eating Mexican candy

WHEN I’M NOT sure what to bring home for someone as a souvenir, I’ll buy some local candy. I think it’s a cool way for other people to get some foreign culture exposure, and it’s also fun to learn about what other people consider to be yummy snack food. When I was in Mexico, I gobbled up the salty, spicy, sweet confections they had to offer, but these folks make it seem like Mexican candy is less superior than the junk food we’ve got in America.

If they are this judgmental about boiled sugar products, I can’t imagine how they feel about actual Mexican culture. Maybe they are just more into tacos.

7 pro tips for travelers in Turkey

Photo: Björn Bechstein

Living and working in Turkey has been quite the experience to say the least; I’ve been stressed out, freaked out, inspired, smitten, rescued, amazed, educated, thoroughly bathed, and so on. And, after that short amount of time, I’m quite a different — cleaner — person with some serious Turkish street smarts.

Here are 7 things to learn before traveling to Turkey.

1. Don’t stand in the front of a dolmuş.

A dolmuş (“dol-mush”) is a minibus that takes you to the locations stated on a sign in its windshield at the cheap price of two TL. They’re a godsend in Turkey when you don’t have a car, and they’re everywhere, which means you can catch one at any time.

But as a foreigner on a dolmuş, say your destination to the driver, pay, and then move to the back. The people who stand in the front of the dolmuş — by a default cultural norm — have the job of passing up money to the driver and relaying at which destinations to stop. If you happen to find yourself in the front, holding passed-up money, and have no idea what the hell is being said to you, calmly say, “Pardon, Türkçe yok,” (Sorry, no Turkish) and move to the back. Everything will be fine. You won’t understand either way if they’re cursing you or not.

2. Roll up your jeans up before entering a public restroom.

Regardless of whether or not you end up being blessed with a normal toilet or cursed with one of those holes in the ground, you might want to roll your jeans up before entering — not just the actual stall, but the entire restroom itself. Because without fail, there’s always a ton of water on the floor, and a water-combo in the stall itself. If you forget to do this, my advice would be to not speculate too much on what’s soaking the bottom of your pant legs. Just pretend it’s majority water and go about your day.

3. Çiğ köfte may be delicious, but pace yourself.

Çiğ köfte (“chee-kof-tey”) is typically a side dish, looks like raw meat, is red in color, spicy, and you wrap it in iceberg lettuce to eat. It’s delicious and most of the time is made of bulgur, a type of grain. Regardless of its composition, if you eat too much it will run through your body like an Olympic sprinter holding a blowtorch. So my advice, limit yourself to two pieces. It will be much easier on your body this way.

4. After eating out, always pocket the wet wipes.

Because I’ve obviously had quite a few bad run-ins with Turkish restrooms, another tip would be to pocket the individually wrapped wet wipes provided at every Turkish restaurant. The probability of there being any toilet paper in a public restroom, and it being dry, is not very high. I’ve definitely come to appreciate Turkey and their strong wet-napkin culture.

5. Fenerbahçe or Galatasaray? Pick one and be ready to be chastised for picking either.

Fenerbahçe (“Fin-er-ba-che”) and Galatasaray (“Ga-la-ta-suh-rye”) are the two biggest football teams in Turkey and are based in Istanbul. Every Turk is one or the other first, with their hometown football team in a permanent second.

You have about a 50/50 chance of the person with whom you’re talking liking either Fenerbahçe or Galatasaray. You won’t know which team they like because they want to know first which team you like. Once you say, “Uh…Fenerbahçe?” they’ll then proceed to throw their hands up in the air and spout off some Turkish but smile simultaneously. Because the Turks just like to cut up and revel in watching you squirm for that small moment.

6. During Ramadan, don’t eat before the 8pm ezan (call to prayer) in a restaurant.

One night all of my coworkers and I had to attend a mandatory business dinner. This was during Ramadan; I knew all about this holiday because my students were zombies during the entire month due to fasting, and we talked about it in our classes. But when your stomach is growling, and there’s a bowl of bread sitting in front of you at 7:45pm, and you haven’t eaten all day, minor details like that tend to escape you. So I unwrapped the bread bowl and began to eat.

Mid-chew, one of my Turkish coworkers looked at me with a forced smile and a look of what-the-hell-are-you-doing on her face and said, “Not yet!” But the Turks in my group, being the hospitable people they are, just smiled and said go ahead. If you’re hungry, you’re hungry, but I will never make that mistake again.

7. When your English student has the choice of having dinner with anyone in the world, it will always be Atatürk. Deal with it.

When teaching one particular unit, we begin by asking our students one question: “If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?” Without fail the answer is always Atatürk before the question leaves our mouths. This can be quite aggravating at times, because you’re dying for some answer like Sting or Tom Cruise, just to break the monotony.

But it will never be, because this is Turkey, and all Turks feel, after they’ve explained why Atatürk is the perfect dinner mate, that you as a foreigner also deserve to know the history of the Republic. Let’s just say my high-school world history class has officially been refreshed tenfold.

The post 7 lifesaving tips for travelers in Turkey appeared first on Matador Network.

How to piss off a DJ

Photo: Merlijn Hoek

These days, it’s pretty glorified to be a DJ. Everyone thinks about the dude standing in front of a sea of drunk or rolling college kids, juggling beats and dropping bass at the next biggest festival of the season. Few people remember that that moment represents a small snapshot of a DJ’s life, which is very much not a party when not at the decks.

Few DJs get famous without being epic producers, which in turn takes a seemingly endless amount of hours parked on a laptop both mastering the skills of mastering and actually developing the tracks that will help them make their name. A lot of work goes into becoming festival-worthy, so when the dues are paid and titles earned, while many DJs manage to keep their egos in check, others can get a bit entitled.

You’ve probably seen what happens when mega-famous prima-donna DJs get pissy about something (see: Deadmau5 and anyone), but there are a handful of things people routinely do that will universally piss off just about any DJ. Having been one myself for the better part of a decade, I know exactly what they are.

Force us to listen to a whole song.

If you’ve got a friend who’s a DJ, you’re probably all-too-familiar with the phenomenon of musical-ADD: that constant changing of iPod track or radio station after the first chorus of the song. When mixing, it’s rarely the case the song will make it past the second drop without the DJ initiating the transition into the next track. Subsequently, we almost never hear a song past the second or third minute, because by then we’ve moved on.

Drill that enough times, and the instinct to have the song change, and be the driving force behind that change, becomes overwhelming. Therefore, to a DJ there’s nothing more mind-numbing and maddening than listening to a song in its entirety.

Scoff at our laptops.

Go ahead, tell me what I’m doing isn’t proper “disc jockeying” and that playing a show on a laptop is illegitimate. Allow me to apologize for the horrifying practicality that is being able to carry a near-endless library of music in less than a backpack and having access to it in seconds, without having to flip through crates or page through CD binders. Not to mention the fact that I can do stuff on the fly through software that’s virtually impossible with analog methods.

Fail to recognize the separation between the scene and the DJ, particularly regarding drugs.

I’m going to put an end to the debate once and for all. Yes, a lot of people at raves and electronic music shows are on all kinds of drugs, but it’s actually exceptionally difficult to DJ while tripping balls. Don’t get me wrong, tons of DJs spin in a multitude of situations and under the influence of a variety of things (and they’re even good at it), but don’t assume all of us are messed up when we’re performing. Please and thank you.

Tell me to turn it down.

This manifests in two ways. First, when someone decides to shout in my face, “HAAAY, I’M TRYING TO TALK, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TURN IT DOWN?” I love music; I play it as loud as possible and for as many people as possible. Playing my music loud and enjoying it is what got me through those shows where only six people showed up, and is what remains constant when I’m playing to a crowd of 1,000. So, when you ask me to do the opposite of that because it’s inconveniencing you…I see red.

The other way this seems to crop up is when I’m working on a set or track in my apartment, in the middle of the day on a weekday when I: a) finally have some time off from my day job, and b) there’s almost no one around to bother. And yet, somehow, there’s always that one person who’s trying to sleep at 3 in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Really?

No requests, please.

These days, if a DJ is booked, the promoter is saying, “Hey, we like you, and we trust your taste in music.” With some exception, this means most sets are planned from start to finish out of professional necessity and courtesy. If you make a request, recognize that our ability to play it hinges on whether or not we have it in our library, whether it fits with what we already have planned, and whether or not we even want to play it.

Sorry, but I’m not going to wildly change what I’m playing because y’all came to the wrong show, especially when doing so might jeopardize what I was paid to come here and do.

Gravitate to the DJ booth.

The DJ booth is the coolest spot in the club, and you’re invited! Just kidding. Seriously, stay the hell away from the booth — especially if you have a drink.

The single biggest no-no in a DJ’s book is to approach the booth with any form of drink. I’m truly amazed at how often people forget that drinks are liquid, which, of course, is the mortal enemy of anything electronic. The spilled drink that fried the laptop not only ruins the show, but can also cost the DJ/producer their entire music library (including countless hours of works-in-progress). It happens all too often. (Don’t believe me? Look at how pissed Dillon Francis was when it happened to him.) Don’t be that person.

The post How to piss off a DJ appeared first on Matador Network.

7 reasons to volunteer in Thailand

Photo: Dan Kamminga

IT DOESN’T SURPRISE ME that Thailand is one of the most popular voluntourism destinations in the world. Travelers can sign on with projects geared towards almost any interest they may have, from teaching English, to working with animals, to promoting ecological preservation, and more. But many of the perks of a volunteer experience in Thailand come from the unique characteristics of the country itself.

Here are seven reasons why Thailand is the best place to practice voluntourism abroad.

1. You’ll get an unparalleled chance to see — and work with — Southeast Asian wildlife.

Thailand has over 39 wildlife sanctuaries spread out across the entire county, which are home to leopards, tigers, otters, Malaysian sun bears, gibbons, tapirs, snakes, lizards, turtles, and over 900 bird species. One of the most popular places to volunteer in Thailand is the Elephant Nature Park, run by Lek Chailert. Lek has dedicated her life to the rehabilitation and protection of Asian elephants; her humble spirit and passion for wildlife is worth a visit in itself.

2. You’ll explore diverse ecosystems.

Photo: Christian Haugen

Thailand has over 180 national parks, marine national parks, and protected forest areas. In Chiang Mai, located near the highlands of Northern Thailand, volunteers often work on reforestation projects, or with local wildlife. Central and Eastern Thailand are the best areas for those interested in agricultural initiatives, and the thin peninsula of Southern Thailand is perfect for volunteers who enjoy working on beaches or with marine life.

3. You’ll experience complete culture shock.

Thai culture is a complete 180 from what most voluntourists are used to back home. For one thing, an overwhelming majority of the population (around 95%) are Buddhist, which distinguishes Thailand from all but a handful of other countries. Thai festivals are some of the coolest as well, including Songkran (Thai New Year), which involves epic water fights throughout many areas that draw travelers. Thai people are often characterized as extremely friendly and outgoing, and are happy to help those in need. Despite any political unrest the country may be seeing, those who sign up for volunteer projects in Thailand will be warmly welcomed and instantly feel like a part of their new communities.

4. You can eat Thai food all day, every day.

Volunteers are often housed in villages near their assignments, and sometimes meals prepared by locals are included in the price of the volunteer trip. This means the chance to sample authentic Thai cooking, from the people who eat it every day. Thai food in Thailand is pretty different from Thai food in other parts of the world, mostly due to certain ingredients being unavailable in places like the United States and Europe. There aren’t really specific dishes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, so international volunteers can expect to eat similar Thai meals throughout the day (three square meals of pad thai? Yes please!).

5. Your accommodations will be one-of-a-kind.

Photo: Aziz J.Hayat

Thailand has jungles, beaches, mountains, and mangrove forests. Many volunteer programs provide housing, so depending on what kind of project a traveler is looking to get involved in, it’s possible to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the beach, birds settling in for the night, or the hoots of gibbons. Living like the locals also helps build perspective, and travelers will take these lessons home with them on their return.

6. You’ll observe a burgeoning economy firsthand.

Thailand has one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. While it enjoys an incredibly minimal unemployment rate, at less than 1%, there’s still a relatively low per-capita GDP of $5,210, and many Thai citizens go abroad to seek work. The combination of ongoing economic development and lack of local manpower gives international volunteers the chance to be involved in meaningful work. But rather than feeling like “the privileged Westerner coming to save the day,” you’ll be assisting Thai-led projects that are having a direct impact on the country.

7. You’ll have the benefit of an excellent exchange rate.

While the plane ticket to Thailand can cost over $900 round trip, voluntourists will benefit from the awesome exchange rate that comes with traveling in most Southeast Asian countries. Many budget travelers spend an average of $30/day; if meals, lodging, and transportation have already been taken care of in your program fee, it’s possible to spend even less. Tourism is one of Thailand’s leading industries, and voluntourists often boost the country’s economy by spending their money liberally on activities, excursions, fancy meals, and other luxurious experiences they might not be able to afford back home. (Just make sure you spend responsibly, and avoid things like elephant rides, tiger temples, full moon parties, and the sex trade.)

Here’s your chance to give back and promote socially responsible travel to Southeast Asia. The Tourism Authority of Thailand is giving three groups of friends the opportunity to explore Thailand and participate in volunteer community projects that are helping make the world a better place. Enter today for your chance to win.

The post 7 reasons Thailand is the best place to practice voluntourism appeared first on Matador Network.

What you won't see at the World Cup

Photo: Muhammad Ghafari

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1. Vuvuzelas

The notorious revelation of the last World Cup won’t be landing in Brazil. These trumpets, traditional cheering instruments at the great South African tournament, were shown — and blown — to the world via the media in South Africa 2010, to be later disapproved of almost unanimously by the soccer world.

They were rejected by players, who had trouble communicating with their teammates during matches due to the noise. They were unpopular among commentators for the same reason. After South Africa, the vuvuzela was banned from the major European soccer competitions.

Many will sigh with relief when they notice this remarkable absence. But “if you thought vuvuzelas were bad,” The Guardian warned in April, “wait until you hear the caxirola.”

2. Caxirolas

The caxirola entered the fray to replace the doomed vuvuzela as a symbol of the World Cup. Created by musician Carlinhos Brown in partnership with the Brazilian government, the green and yellow rattles were tested during the regional derby between Bahia and Vitória in April, 2013.

However, being defeated by their arch-rival so infuriated the supporters of the home team, Bahia, that fans ended up throwing hundreds of caxirolas onto the field, forcing the referee to pause the match, an event that became known as “the caxirola revolt.”

The caxirola was then vetoed by the state and by FIFA, who had previously gone as far as to declare the instrument an official World Cup product. The millionaire dreams of Carlinhos Brown came to an end (the plan was to produce up to 50 million units), and other megalomaniacal businessmen showed up to fill the vacuum left by the ouster of the rattle. One example is the pedhuá, which you’ve most likely never heard of.

3. Pedhuás

After the collapse of the caxirola, an idea surfaced in Campina Grande, in the state of Paraíba. The pedhuá is a palm-sized plastic whistle inspired by an indigenous instrument that mimics bird sounds. The similarities between it and the caxirola aren’t few.

The plan was also to produce 50 million units. The instrument gained approval from the ministry of sport and was authorized to receive the World Cup trademark. National celebrities endorsed the initiative; TV directors, musicians, and actors were seen trying the whistle. In spite of such efforts, its future doesn’t look promising.

The pedhuá Facebook page has only around a thousand followers, the instrument is unknown by the overwhelming majority of Brazilians, and its 15 minutes of media fame ended in mid-2013.

4. Guerrilla stunts

Guerrilla stunts are low-cost advertising maneuvers by which small brands raise awareness through unusual forms of communication. Complicated in theory, simple in practice. Just remember the group of Dutch beauties who attracted the attention of television cameras during the match between the Netherlands and Denmark at the last World Cup. They wore orange (the Netherlands’ color) and skirts with the logo of the Bavaria Brewery, a competitor of Budweiser, who was an official sponsor of the event. The police forced the girls to leave the stadium, and the initiative was then reprehended by FIFA.

According to the institution, such episodes, which it refers to as “parasite marketing,” won’t occur again in Brazil. FIFA reinforced the restrictions imposed on non-sponsoring companies with the General World Cup Bill of Law, enacted in 2012 with approval from the federal government.

Implemented on a temporary basis, the law (actually, a set of laws that apply to the Confederations Cup, the World Youth Day, and the World Cup) overrides the national constitution in some aspects and, precisely because of this, is quite controversial.

5. Your favorite beer

In fact, the General World Cup Bill of Law has temporarily repealed the national ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages inside stadiums, which has been in effect since 2008. Since Budweiser is one of the sponsors of the event, only brands of its holding (ABInBev) may be sold in the stadiums. If your taste preference lies among the labels of the biggest brewer conglomerate in the world, fine. But if you expect to find the internationals Heineken and Sol, or the local brands Kaiser, Schin, and Itaipava, you’d better think again.

6. Your favorite typical food

In addition to standardizing the beverage offerings inside the stadiums, the General World Cup Bill of Law will do the same with foods, ignoring regional variations of soccer gastronomy.

Street vendors not accredited by FIFA or one of its official sponsors are not allowed to operate in the stands or inside an exclusion zone that may extend a 2km radius from them. In practice, this means it’ll probably be impossible to eat feijão tropeiro (“trooper’s beans” — cooked beans mixed with cassava flour, a regular treat in the state of Minas Gerais during soccer games) while watching matches at the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte, or acarajé (a traditional northeastern dish made from fried, mashed black-eyed beans) inside the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador.

However, nothing prevents a tourist from taking a snack or fruit into a World Cup stadium.

7. Bananas

Bananas came under the spotlight when, before a corner kick, Barcelona’s right-winger Daniel Alves picked up and ate a fruit that had been thrown onto the field at him. This event was enough to start an anti-racist crusade in social media. Neymar Instagrammed a photo of himself eating a banana with his son, under the hashtag #WeAreAllMonkeys. Dozens of other national and international celebrities repeated the gesture. Controversy arose when an advertising agency admitted to having planned the informal campaign. Villareal, Barcelona’s adversary in the fateful match in April, quickly found and banished the fan who’d thrown the fruit. Repercussions peaked about one month before the World Cup’s opening.

The polemics continue — about the spontaneity of Daniel Alves’ gesture, about the meaning of the hashtag that went viral, and even about the opportunism of a Brazilian television host who began selling t-shirts featuring a stylized banana.

Controversies aside, one thing is certain. Whoever dares to take a banana as a snack into a stadium will receive a side look endowed with disapproval from neighboring fans. The same that’s already targeted the vuvuzela, the caxirola, the pedhuá, guerrilla stunts, and the ill-famed General World Cup Bill of Law.

The post 7 things you won’t see inside Brazil’s World Cup stadiums appeared first on Matador Network.

Where does #YesAllWomen go from here?

(via)

IT HAS BEEN NEARLY A WEEK since 22-year-old privileged California college student Elliot Rodger posted this video before going on a shooting rampage through Isla Vista. Rodger murdered 6 students (including the three men who were found stabbed to death in his apartment) and wounded 13, before committing suicide in his luxury BMW.

In his chilling YouTube video, Elliot wonders why women are not attracted to him, and cites their disinterest as the reason for his “day of retribution,” when he will “have revenge against humanity” and all of the women who “treated him like scum” even though he was the “perfect guy…the supreme gentleman.” He warns that on this day, he will enter the “hottest sorority” at the University of California Santa Barbara and “slaughter every single spoiled stuck-up blonde slut” that he sees in there.

The killing spree immediately sparked a Twitter campaign in which hundreds of thousands have expressed that #YesAllWomen have experienced some form of harassment, discrimination, and/or violence in their lives.

#YesAllWomen Because I sometimes forget that I've been groped, bullied and verbally abused by men. It seems SO normal.

— Emma Osborne (@redscribe) May 28, 2014

The #YesAllWomen hashtag has been used well over 1 million times and includes responses from around the globe.

#YesAllWomen because in Malaysia they make a big fuss about finding pork DNA in chocolate than jailing 30 men who raped a 15 year old girl

— Alicia Amin (@AliciaAmin) May 28, 2014

The campaign has served as an outlet for women and men alike to share their experiences with misogyny. Many of the tweets detail extremely personal instances, often describing rape, fear, sexual harassment, and victim blame.

Because I now wear shorts under dresses in crowded bars after being groped and even penetrated by unseen hands. #YesAllWomen

— Laura (@LauraLikesWine) May 25, 2014

"I have a boyfriend" is the easiest way to get a man to leave you alone. Because he respects another man more than you. #yesallwomen

— Ariel Filion (@ArielFilion) May 27, 2014

The cops who asked me "Well, what were you wearing?" when I reported an attack and attempted rape. #YesAllWomen

— Aimee Mann (@aimeemann) May 25, 2014

I've spent 19 yrs teaching my daughter how not to be raped. How long have you spent teaching your son not to rape? #yesallwomen

— Deanna Raybourn (@deannaraybourn) May 24, 2014

The Twitter campaign has seen some criticism, with the hashtag #NotAllMen popping up in response. However, the New York City branch of the National Organization of Women had this to say,

#YesAllWomen because the #NotAllMen hashtag allows men to mentally separate themselves from the problem with the excuse of "it wasn't me."

— NOW-NYC (@NOW_NYC) May 28, 2014

The #YesAllWomen campaign has been successful in putting a relatable face to modern feminism. Many questions have been posed and countless examples of struggle have been given. Now it’s up to us to take another step toward resolution.

Unfortunately we all have a lot of these stories. If you're tired of hearing them, imagine how tired we are of living them. #yesallwomen

— Anne DeAcetis (@annedeacetis) May 28, 2014

Have you participated in the #YesAllWomen campaign? Where do you think the revolution should go next?

The post Where does #YesAllWomen go from here? appeared first on Matador Network.

Learn a language using Skype

No matter what Rosetta Stone or an infinite number of other language-learning companies would have you believe, the best way to learn a language is through immersion — to be thinking in the language all the time, to be learning its rhythms and patterns, and to be listening to native speakers speak it.

Unfortunately, that usually means leaving where you are, and that’s usually not such a cheap option. Fortunately, we live in a small world, and the CNA Language School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has figured out a way to teach English to its students without having to send them abroad: have them Skype with the elderly.

While it says something about our society that this is the case, the elderly in America tend to be somewhat neglected, and thus are often happy to have an audience, or at the very least a conversation partner. The Speaking Exchange program conducted by CNA and FCB Brasil solves this problem by having students Skype with residents in retirement homes in the United States. It turns out, the interaction is pretty productive. The Skype sessions are recorded as videos, and any of the language mistakes the elderly conversation partners miss are checked by the school’s teachers.

Here’s to hoping more speaking exchange programs like this start springing up.

The post Can’t go abroad to learn a language? Skype with the elderly instead appeared first on Matador Network.

Normal friend vs. Spanish friend

Photo: Christian Dembowski

1.

A normal friend shakes hands with you when he sees you…

A Spanish friend kisses you and the people that accompany you on both cheeks, even if he doesn’t know them.

2.

A normal friend gets upset if you are late…

A Spanish friend never finds out, because he is always later than you.

3.

A normal friend puts music on when he has a party at his house…

A Spanish friend always has a guitar for party guests to play music.

4.

A normal friend tries to talk to you in English…

A Spanish friend obliges you to learn Spanish by talking to you slower and louder.

5.

If you have lunch with a normal friend, you know you will leave after the dessert.

If you have lunch with a Spanish friend, you know it’s very possible you’ll end up having dinner together.

6.

When a normal friend invites you over for dinner, he makes all kinds of efforts to impress you…

A Spanish friend knows you only need potatoes and eggs for your dinner to be perfect.

7.

A normal friend says he can’t meet you during the week because he has a lot of work…

A Spanish friend runs from his office as soon as he can to have a drink with you.

8.

A normal friend asks you to “keep it down” when you’re in a public place…

A Spanish friend yells that he can’t hear you.

9.

A normal friend never forgets the plans you’ve made…

A Spanish friend completely forgets them, but then improvises something better in a matter of seconds.

10.

A normal friend proposes you spend New Year’s together in a foreign country…

A Spanish friend invites you over to spend New Year’s so you can eat 12 grapes.

11.

A normal friend goes out with you until 2am…

A Spanish friend calls that outing “tomar algo” (to have a drink); going out means coming back at 6am. At the earliest.

12.

A normal friend eats because he is hungry…

A Spanish friend eats (and drinks, and drinks coffee), as an excuse to be with his family and his friends.

The post 12 differences between a normal friend and a Spanish friend appeared first on Matador Network.

33 countries you haven't visited

There are some countries that are natural must-dos on everyone’s bucket lists. You can’t be a lifelong wanderer and never make it to France, for example. Or Australia. Or Thailand. Or Egypt. But there are — depending on who you ask — about 200 countries in the world. And it’s just not likely you’ll make it to all of them.

Which isn’t to say any of them aren’t deserving. Some are absolutely beautiful but might not make it high on your list for any number of reasons. Maybe your country doesn’t have the best relationship with theirs, and you have a bitch of a time getting a visa, like Americans who want to visit Cuba (or pretty much anyone wanting to visit America).

Or maybe they’re just remote. The Marshall Islands in the Pacific, for example, don’t get much tourism because they’re such a chore to get to from literally everywhere in the world. And some, like Somalia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are so war conflict torn that they basically don’t exist on tourist maps.

Here are 33 countries you probably haven’t been to, as well as photographic reasons to remedy that immediately. Extra travel cred if you’ve been to more than 10.

1

Suriname
Suriname is mostly just really difficult to get to. Geographically, it lies between Guyana and French Guiana, with the Brazilian Amazon to the south. Most of the population lives along the Caribbean coast, but vast parts of the country are rainforest.


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2

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is normally passed over by tourists for neighboring Iran. But it’s actually a flourishing country and is doing much better than many of its other post-Soviet Central Asian counterparts. This photo is of the capital Baku’s skyline.


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3

Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is one of the many post-Soviet Central Asian 'Stans, and like many of the other 'Stans it's experienced a fair amount of political instability since the end of the Cold War. It's home to the beautiful Tian Shan mountain range.


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4

Namibia
Africa has relatively few economically and politically stable countries. But Namibia is one of them. It’s got a ton of awesome savannah for safari-goers who're looking for something a little less busy than South Africa’s parks.


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5

Palau
The Pacific island nation of Palau is one of the smallest countries in the world and comprises 250 islands. It has incredible scuba diving, if you ever manage to get there.


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6

Bhutan
The country that's famous for being the world’s happiest is also famously hard to visit. The visas fluctuate in price but as of this writing were $200 a day during high season. It’s worth it though. Bhutan's been romanticized as an unspoiled Shangri-La.


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7

Kuwait
Kuwait’s probably best remembered in the West for being the site of Operation Desert Storm back in the early '90s, but there’s a reason Saddam wanted to annex the country in the first place.


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8

Papua New Guinea
Unlike neighboring Indonesia, Papua New Guinea does not have a particularly dense population and is known for its incredibly diverse cultures and its dense jungle, which has allowed for many local tribes to remain basically untouched. This photo is of the Tavurvur volcano.


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9

Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world, sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria in the Alps. You probably haven’t been there unless you’re a millionaire who’s trying to hide your money in Vaduz, Liechtenstein’s tax-haven capital.


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Intermission





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10

Estonia
Estonia is one of those rare post-Soviet countries that turned into a great success. Turns out, it’s pretty easy on the eyes as well.


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11

Laos
Laos is probably the least frequently visited of the immensely popular Southeast Asian countries. Laos is pretty poor and is still feeling the aftereffects of the Vietnam War, which it came out of with a Marxist government, but like the rest of Southeast Asia, it's still peppered with beautiful jungle and gorgeous Buddhist temples.


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12

Democratic Republic of Congo
The DRC's had a rough few centuries. Its history since the Belgians took over in the 1870s has basically been a series of massacres, civil wars, and dictators. It's now known, among other things, as "the rape capital of the world." But it’s also home to huge swaths of the Congo rainforest, the second largest on the planet behind the Amazon and, as a result, some of the most spectacular flora and fauna in the world.


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13

Oman
Oman sits on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and tends to be the country mentioned in the news media the least among countries in that region. Which is probably not all a bad thing. This photo is of the Bimmah sinkhole, just outside the capital of Muscat.


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14

Antigua & Barbuda
Antigua & Barbuda is a small Caribbean island nation. It does have something of a tourism sector, but it tends to cater to the luxury crowd. So if you’re a budget traveler, you likely haven’t made it here yet.

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15

The Gambia
The Gambia is a tiny sliver of a country on the banks of the Gambia River. It's surrounded on all sides by Senegal, except for the mouth of the river, which flows into the Atlantic. It’s a relatively stable country. This picture is at the Sheraton Resort there.


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Intermission





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16

Cuba
Okay, so if you’re not from the US, there’s a solid chance you’ve been here. But Cuba is still closed to Americans except in rare situations (at least until the Castro brothers die), and as a result of the American embargo it's still caught in a 1960s time warp in many ways. Havana is world renowned for its old-style automobiles.


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17

Kazakhstan
In his attempts to critique British and American culture, Sacha Baron Cohen assumed the identity of a Kazakh reporter named Borat. The only loser in that scenario was Kazakhstan, which is the ninth-largest country in the world. Its tourism levels are inexplicably low, but growing.


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18

Nicaragua
Tourists tend to skip most of Central America between Guatemala and Costa Rica. This photo is of the volcanic island Ometepe in the middle of the country’s giant Lake Nicaragua.


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19

Moldova
Moldova is sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania and holds the distinction of being both the poorest country in Europe and the most unhappy country in the world. This picture is of the Nativity Cathedral in the nation’s capital, Chisinau.


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20

Eritrea
Eritrea, a tiny sliver of a country that broke off from Ethiopia, is ranked as the country with the least press freedom in the world, behind North Korea. But it also has the beautiful Eritrean highlands. Which are great to visit, if you’re not a reporter.


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21

St. Lucia
Tiny St. Lucia is an island in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, and though it does host a lot of tourists, most of them come by cruise ships. And that barely counts.


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22

Paraguay
In the heart of South America, Paraguay is usually passed over by tourists for its neighbors: Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. It’s known as “the Heart of America.”


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23

Somalia
There’s good reason for not having been to Somalia. It's been in a state of civil war for over 20 years. As such, even the beautiful places are pockmarked with bullet and shell holes.


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24

Mauritius
Mauritius is one of those rare places that wasn’t discovered until Europeans stumbled on it during the Age of Exploration. There, they found gigantic, dumb birds that weren’t scared of humans. The now-infamous dodo bird is extinct. Mark Twain once said of the island, “Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and heaven was copied after Mauritius.” If you haven’t been there, it’s understandable. It’s in the middle of the Indian Ocean.


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25

San Marino
The story’s the same with San Marino as it is with Liechtenstein and Andorra. It’s basically a gorgeous tax haven. Oh, hey, and it’s surrounded by Italy. You could do worse.

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26

Tuvalu
Tuvalu is the third-least populous country in the world, behind Vatican City and (relatively) nearby Nauru. Tourism there is rare because of how far it is from literally everything.


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27

Sao Tome & Principe
Sao Tome & Principe is a tiny archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Gabon. This photo is of Pico Cao Grande, a volcanic plug that juts out of the landscape 1,000 feet up into the sky.


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28

Brunei
Brunei is a sultanate on the island of Borneo. It’s a great place to visit, but it just enacted some of the strictest anti-gay, homophobic laws in the world. This is a picture of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan.


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29

North Korea
Yep, there are even beautiful spots in the infamous hermit kingdom. Granted, if you’re an American, you’re going to have a particularly hard time getting a visa, but if you’re not, there’s an okay chance you’ll be able to book a very controlled, surreal tour of the capital Pyongyang, as well as some well-selected surrounding villages. The picture above is of Heaven Lake, on the North Korea/China border.
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30

The Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands is another extremely remote island nation in the Pacific made up primarily of coral atolls and small islands. It's not known for a booming tourism industry, and it's probably one of the states on this list you’re least likely to have visited.


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31

Slovenia
Slovenia occupies an interesting region of Europe. It basically acts as a crossroads between Western and Eastern Europe and between much of the north and south. The only reason it gets passed over by tourists is because its neighbors are Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary.


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32

Burundi
Though Burundi lacks the notorious past of its neighbors Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it remains one of the five poorest countries in the world. This photo was taken on the banks of Lake Tanganyika (which is the namesake of neighboring country Tanzania).


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33

Andorra
Andorra is a tiny state sandwiched between Spain and France in the Pyrenees. Like most European microstates, it's a tax haven and per capita is one of the richest countries in the world.


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The post 33 beautiful photos from countries you probably haven’t been to yet appeared first on Matador Network.