Fun Facts

On the Fun Facts page you will find regular updates on what we have learned along the way including details of places we have visited, people we have met and funny things that we have discovered about ourselves.

April 2016

• In New Orleans the gas lamps burn continuously.

• The namesake of White  Rock is actually a normal everyday gray rock painted white.

• A hair cut at Suki’s in Vancouver costs a little more than in Mexico, but the results are worth it.

March 2016

• A challenge to parallel park, check. A threat to pedestrians and bicyclists, check. Rolling like a pimp, check. But still kind of cool? Maybe.

• The Graffiti Park at Castle Hill is a great local canvas for street art in Austin. An ever changing and evolving public art display, here you’ll see everything from impressive large scale murals to tourist scribbles. In any case, well worth a visit.

• Sixth street in Austin has officially designated band loading zones.
• Apparently people used to throw a lot of crap off of Mount Bonnell. We just liked the sign.

• A local haircut in Tulum, Mexico costs around USD 2,50 (including 25% tip). An all scissor cut – because the electricity was out 🙂 – and a straight razor edge trim made this by far the best haircut value for money Alex has ever had.

• Costa Rican grocery stores have more varieties of flavored tuna than we have ever seen.
• The ceiling paintings inside Costa Rica’s National Theater are beautiful but full of historical inaccuracies. The Italian who was commissioned to paint them had never been to the tropics, so everything from the clothing, to the shoes, to the color of the workers’ skin is just plain wrong. Not to mention, you never hold a bunch of bananas that way.

• While most butterflies feed on flower nectar, some, especially the larger ones, also eat rotting fruit and meat (yes, a little gross).

February 2016

• At 880m, Cerro San Cristóbal is the second highest point in Santiago, Chile. A 22m tall statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks the city at the top. It’s quite a hike on a warm day, but well worth the amazing views. Note that the funicular doesn’t run until 13.00 on Mondays (we found out the hard way) 🙂

January 2016

• Continuing our South American Mate tea experience (see Montevideo post), we tasted a proper, locally brewed Mate in Calafate. The Mate is made by adding a little cold water to the yerba mate plant leaves, digging in the special metal straw (once it’s in the drink, the straw shouldn’t be moved), and then adding hot water. Everything in this process is called “Mate” – the leaves, the drink, the straw, and the gourd. Drinking Mate is a social occasion and the tradition is to pass the gourd from person to person. You’re supposed to drink your Mate in exactly 3 sips (otherwise it’s a short Mate if 2 or less sips, or long Mate if 4 or more, although it doesn’t really matter). Then the gourd is refilled and the next person drinks the Mate. In 3 sips. This continues until everyone says “gracias”, meaning that you don’t want any more Mate. In other words, don’t say thanks until you’re completely done drinking Mate.
• Greeting lamas can risky business. Sometimes they might spit at you, but usually Lamas get to know you by smelling your breath. This particular lama did spit at a local gaucho just after getting introduced to Kristina.
• This glacier lake (see third picture) varies in depth over time and can rise up to 22 meters due to an ice dam created by the Perito Moreno glacier. Once enough water pressure has built up, a tunnel under the ice begins to form and eventually the dam collapses in spectacular fashion allowing the water to drain to another lake and ultimately the ocean.

• Glacial rivers are very cold, but super fun to jump into (especially on hot day after a 10-mile hike).

• Some very interesting and somewhat tasty Patagonian mountain snacks include the red flowers of the Firebush plant whose nectar tastes just like honey, prickly Heath berries which taste like apples and Calafate berries that look like blueberries and are edible but not all that tasty. However, the Calafate definitely redeems itself as a jam (fairly common in the area). There is a saying that if you eat the Calafate berry, you will surely return to Patagonia one day. The “devil’s strawberry” (not pictured) is poisonous so shouldn’t be eaten. It doesn’t taste like strawberries anyway (or so we hear).

• Yes, there’s a clothing store in Montevideo called “TITS”.

• Apparently all of the street signs in Montevideo have corporate sponsors.

• The Museo Casa de Gobierno includes a history of the republic and a number of artifacts from past presidents. Our favorite display was of the presidential action figures (no, they are not toys).
• Theatre Solis in Montevideo is one of the oldest theaters in Latin America. Besides the half-ton chandelier, the ceiling includes a rather odd misspelling with a number of working theories on the cause. We think the artist just ran out of space.

December 2015

• The iguana at the Honolulu Zoo was actually confiscated at the airport. Its original owners were bringing their pet on vacation (surprise, surprise, you can’t bring lizards with you to Hawaii), and now it’s a permanent resident.
• Tortoises are slow, giraffes are tall, and yes, baby monkeys are adorable.

• There are multiple beaches in New Zealand where you can dig into the sand to make your own geothermal hot pools.

• It’s cheaper to take a sheep than your bike on the Whitianga Ferry.
• We quite possibly found the world’s smallest library in Mercury Bay, New Zealand.
• Even a local town pharmacy has a good selection of ingredients for making beer, wine and liquor at home. Gotta love New Zealand.

November 2015

• While Christchurch is sadly still building following the 2010 earthquake and 2011 aftershocks, it offers a unique setting for some pretty impressive street art.

• Although Sydney did technically have a few pigeons, they mostly had city birds that were pretty exotic by our standards.

• What do Cinderella, Sparta and the Millennium Falcon have in common? They all competed in this year’s Red Bull Billy Cart race in Centennial Park (Sydney). Scoring was based on a seemingly arbitrary combination of speed, style, and car concept with bonus points for spectacular wipeouts. We didn’t stay till the end, but Doc and Michael J. walked off with four 10s, while Han and Chewbacca weren’t far behind.

• The city of Melbourne could have been named Batmania! Influential John Batman (pronounced [‘Batmn], unlike like the superhero’s name [Bat’man]) arranged a treaty with the locals but lost the name game to the British prime minister of the time.

• The durian fruit stinks (literally). This is why it is banned from most hotels as the smell will travel through the ventilation system and spread to other rooms. Too late we discovered that the durian is also considered (by some people) to be the best tasting of all fruits. Unfortunately we never got to try it.

October 2015

• Chiang Mai, Thailand has a great transportation option called “Red Taxi”. They’re sort of a cross between a taxi and a bus and amazingly cheap. They run semi-fixed routes, but will also take you directly to your destination for a little extra. It’s nothing fancy, you’re basically sitting in the back of a pickup truck, but it works great and it’s a bit of fun too.

• Accidentally buying conditioner instead of body soap at the local shop in HCMC is especially funny when you have John’s hair cut.
• Drivers in Vietnam use their horns constantly as a warning to other drivers/pedestrians, as a heads up that they are doing something illegal (or about to), or possibly as some kind of crazy traffic Morse code (at least it sounds like it).
• There is in fact a World Toilet Association which names its toilet projects “Mr. Toilet Public”. For the record, it was a very nice public toilet by Phnom Penh standards.

• The Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit Wittayaram in Bangkok is cast of high carat gold and is in the Guinness Book of Records (remember that) as the sacred object with the highest intrinsic value in the world – £37.1 million (and that was back in 2003).
• October 4 is official Kanelbulle day in Sweden. Yes, they actually have a day devoted to the cinnamon bun.
• The famous Swedish shipwreck, the Vasa was used as the basis for the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean. The real ship sank almost immediately after leaving port on its maiden voyage in 1628. With 64 canons on 2 decks, it was one of the largest warships in Europe at the time, but unfortunately a bit top heavy.

July 2015

• The flag of the Comune di Verona looks surprisingly like the Swedish flag.

• The first incandescent light bulb filament was made from bamboo. See below for a panel from the Padua Botanical Garden expounding on the incredibly varied uses of this amazing plant.

• The Blue Line ferry to Split has both a casino and a “kissing area”.

• It’s not just Pisa, Bologna also has a “leaning tower”.
• In Bologna, a 2 course lunch can consist almost entirely of fresh mozzarella.

June 2015

• In Catalonia, children’s’ Christmas presents are “shit” out by a log that you wrap in a blanket and then beat with a stick. Look it up, it’s true.

• We experienced another Catalonian tradition on the night of Sant Joan, leaving a bowl of water out to absorb the magic of the evening, then washing our faces with it in the morning. It’s supposed to make us look younger, but will have to get back to you on that. Refreshing either way.
• On the one hand, it’s great that most things in Portugal are translated into English, on the other hand, when the ticket machines in the Porto metro mistranslate ticket (or trip) into “title”, there is definitely some room for confusion.
• There are in fact 4 different kinds of port wine, white (great along or mixed with tonic), rose (don’t bother), ruby and tawny.
• There are automatic camera controlled toll booths on the roads all over Portugal. This is probably great if you have the correct RF device in your car. Otherwise, I guess you just wait until the huge bill comes in the mail 🙁

May 2015

• Apparently there is no such thing as a fresh fruit or vegetable on the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry.
• Dom Square in Utrecht, The Netherlands is the site of an original Roman castella which marked the northern boarder of the Roman empire in 47 A.D. It’s also where the first Christian Church in The Netherlands was built.
• In Utrecht, the mounted police pick up after their horses.

• It’s great to write to your friend Mike reminding him of the many joys and virtues of the titanium spork (look it up if you haven’t yet been introduced to this modern engineering/design marvel). It’s pretty stupid to forget yours at home at the beginning of a 3 month camping road trip.

• The monk that manages the email account at Brouwerij de Koningshoeven (La Trappe) is named Brother Wigbert.
• La Trappe brews the first and only Trappist wheat beer (La Trappe Witte). It’s delicious and would be great on a hot day, brewed with a fair dose of Saphir hops for a strong citrus character.
• The raid on Dieppe (Operation Jubilee) on August 19, 1942, was the first time US soldiers engaged German armed forces in WWII. The raid was a complete failure, but provided valuable information for the much later Normandy landings (Operation Overlord). The majority of the infantrymen and ultimate casualties were Canadian.
• Hypermarkets in Spain often have entire sections dedicated exclusively to Jamón. You can buy whole legs for less than 100 euros. Mmmm delicious