Know Your World
Keep an all-for-fun tally of your points. Write down your answers of Country, City/location, and Place as you read each description. Then grant yourself half a point for the correct Country, One point for the City (or location if more distinct). One and a half points for the name of the particular place. For example: Where may you find Robin Hood and his merry men? England ½, Nottingham 1, and Sherwood Forest 1 ½. For a total of 3 points possible for each place. See the answers at the end.
PLACE 1:
If you love Voodoo you will kinda like it here. This place sports the largest outdoor market for all things creepy and fetish. Multiple stalls, under a tin-roofed, run down pavilion, is where men hawk their wares. You can buy preserved bats, goat heads, preserved snakes, animal bones, and probably eye of newt if you need one for a spell or an ancestor’s stew recipe. I will warn you that the verbal guarantees of potency (or freshness) should be held suspect. In this city you may also meet several sorcerers who use these things in their rituals.
One visitor from Lithuania said, “Strange place – not for everyone. Fetish lovers and sorcerers are coming here. So be careful. But very interesting to see.”
You may imagine that this place could be found on some island in the Caribbean, but it is not. Here’s the hint: it is on the African continent.
PLACE 2:
There is a man-made island which hosts dolls of all sizes and colors. Actually the island is made up from mud scooped from a shallow lake bed. The reclusive former owner of this small area, Don Julián, started collecting them for reasons known only to himself. Eventually, the island captured the attention of people who love weird things when in 1943 a movie director used it as a film location.
When the owner died by drowning in the canal in 2001, his family opened the island to the public as a tourist attraction. There you can see hundreds of dolls, mostly hung in the branches of trees and bushes, or nailed to the wall of a hut, but there is more there to see…including the first doll Don Julián collected as well as his “favorite.” Yup! Creepy!
I really don’t see the attraction. I’ve seen run-down dolls before. As you might imagine from the name of the owner, the location is in Central America.
PLACE 3:
It is cold, it is dark, it is managed carefully. You can’t get in, even if you wanted. This is where seed copies of 6,120 plants are kept safe in case of worldwide disaster. Of course, they don’t have copies of the moths, honey bees, and other critters which would pollinate them. With an inside temperature set at just over 0 degrees F. the scientists have to wear lined jackets under their white lab coats. They even have to wear those jackets outside where there is almost always snow on the ground, except in the summer when highs can reach 39 degrees F. This rather large island belongs to and is north of the European continent.
In 1984 (amazing year, don’t you think?) a small group began this project of storing seed. They purchased an abandoned coal mine for the purpose. In 2001, they were able to ensure worldwide cooperation via an international treaty (and additional funding). That treaty “establishes a multilateral system for plant genetic resources … providing access to the materials and providing mechanisms so that those who use the resources can share any derived benefits.”
Among the initial seeds preserved were 32 varieties of potatoes from Ireland, for example. Recently they reported the facility contained “samples from approximately one-third of the world’s most important food crop varieties.“
In reality, I wouldn’t want to visit anyway since I could just order a few packets from Burpee if I wanted to see seeds (plus, I moved from Michigan to avoid cold weather).
PLACE 4:
Here animals die and are not eaten by other animals. In fact, thousands of otherwise healthy birds, fox, and hares just fall over dead. You would, too, so it would not be an ideal vacation spot. The general area is mostly uninhabitable except by wild animals, and this particular gorge is inhabited by no creature. You might say that earth is allowed to “be herself” here. It is a rough and volcanic area.
So, healthy animals wander into the gorge for food, water, or habitat … but do not wander out. Birds, wolverines, even bears see a land of plenty and die. This 1.2 mile hidden area was discovered in 1975 by a volcanologist. He also “identified the cause of death when he first came across the site,” as a common gas which volcanoes and many thermal vents expel. The problem is that this valley holds that gas in concentrated levels and the animals die from carbon dioxide which is colorless and odorless. In high concentrations death can occur in mere minutes. (“A grim example of this occurred in 1986 at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, where an up-rush of carbon dioxide from the volcanic lake killed 1,746 people … overnight.”)
So, the authorities have banned travel to this death spot in northeastern Asia. I agree. One need not go this far to observe dead things. Where I live, spring is dead skunk season when those skunks despondent because they cannot find a mate commit suicide by running in front of cars.
TALLY YOUR POINTS BELOW:
If you succeeded with …
1.5 – 2.5 points . You are good.
3.0 – 5.0 points . You are great.
5.5 – 7.5 points . You are superior.
Greater than 7.5 points . You are either a liar or a genius.
(This is only for fun, you receive no punishment if wrong and no reward when correct.)
PLACE 1: Country: Togo. City: Lome. Place: The Akodessewa Fetish Market.
PLACE 2: Country: Mexico. City/Location: Laguna de Tequila. Place: Island of Dolls.
PLACE 3: Country: Norway. City: Spitsbergen. Place: Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
PLACE 4: Country: Russia. Location: Kamchatka Peninsula (will also accept Kikhpinych Volcano). Place: Valley of Death
Copyright 2023 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms, as I do, and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere. ~ Sherry]
MORE OF DON’S GREAT GUEST POSTS:
~ Theraping for Dollars ~ Self-Scan ~ Wind Chimes, part II ~ COOL! ~ Wind Chimes, part I ~ It Is Time To… ~ Courthout Statue ~
~ The Effect of Crime On Small Business ~ Young Brains ~ Why We Miss ~ Helpful Pests ~ Giving Up Your Seat ~Obedience ~ Good Mental Habits ~
~ Winning The Lottery ~ Why Sarcasm Does Not Translate ~ OOPS! That’s How I Write ~ The RE-COLONIZATION of America, pt. II ~
~ Laws The U.S. Should Enact ~ The Re-Colonization Of America, pt. I ~ How To Retire On Less ~ State Song ~
~ The “Holier Than Thou” Attitude of “The Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf’” ~ THE TRUTH ~ H.A.L.T ~ Where’s The Clamor? ~ Parents Who Lie ~
~ Odd Places ~ Internet Is Fragile ~ Shopping ~ Student Loans ~ A Government ~ Going To Church ~ Anheuser-Busch ~ Hans Van Doorn ~
~ The Wrong Problem ~ Talking About Money ~ Trustworthy ~ A Life More Beautiful ~ TECH with ATTITUDE! ~ Black Drink ~
~ Public Schools III ~ Public Schools II ~ Public Schools I ~ 5-Star Reviews ~ Fractions Matter! ~ Small Spoons ~ Dumpster ~
~ Weird Forgiveness III ~ Weird Forgiveness II ~ Weird Forgiveness I ~ Classified Documents ~ Future You Needs A Friend ~
~ Feeling Understood ~ Starting The New Year Right ~ Awe! Aah! Ooh! ~ Christmas As A Poor (Rich) Child ~ Bigger Problems ~ Blessing ~
~ Climate Change – 2 ~ Medical Science Too Far? ~ Gravity and Light ~ Travel Fun ~ Fascinating People: Gloria Hartman Doughty ~
~ Sadly Magic Words ~ Mulberries ~ Climate Change? ~ ~ SPURIOUS UBIQUITOUS NOISE ~ TEW ~ Credit Card Debt ~ Insect Oddities ~
~ DATA ~ Cities Got Name? ~ The Bible Does Not Say That! ~ Too Old?? ~ Be My Guest ~ IN-CRE-MEN-TAL-ISM ~ Bad Friends & Broken Tools ~
~ Pools Are For The Birds?? ~ Animals Hindering Your Financial Freedom ~ The Chicken ~ Finding The Exit ~ Allegheny Blackberries ~
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~ Living In High Horse Country ~ The Dying Generation ~
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