Ever had a churro? Some folks think of them as Spanish doughnuts because they are similar in the fact that they are fried dough covered in sugar and cinnamon. But they are not shaped like a doughnut.

Here in the states I've found most churros to be straight and long. But in Mexico we came across them being made on the street out of the back of a pick-up and they came out kind of in swirls.

Also here in the states we tend to think of doughnut type foods to be for breakfast. That is not the case in Mexico. Doughnuts are for anytime of day and can be had anywhere. Many times while relaxing on the beach vendors would come by with trays of freshly baked doughnuts. The random food vendors where the highlight of our recent Mexico trip.

This video is of the churro makers in action in Sayulita Mexico:

Two Mexican Hairless Dogs or Xoloitzcuintlis resting at el Zoologico de Vallarta. Read more about this rare breed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hairless_Dog

These are the first set of images from a recent trip to Mexico. The Puerto Vallarta Zoo or Zoologico de Vallarta as it is really called was quite an interesting experience. I'll leave it at that for now.

(download)

Click here to download:

Zoologico_de_Vallarta.zip (136 KB)

This is a shot of an airplane the Russians must have decided was not worth taking whenever they left Bale Dogle Somalia. I have no idea what kind of airplane it is and my limited research did not turn anything up.

Do you know?

In the early part of 2010 we traveled to Belize for about two weeks. Ever since returning I've meant to write about the trip but haven't, so here goes.

This photo was taken of off the Cristo Rey Road just a few miles outside of San Ignacio where two brothers, Jose & Javier Magana run a small Mayan art gallery. The day we stopped by we were the only ones there so we got a personal tour and learned how to carve slate the Mayan way. It was a great experience.

Lucky to get this shot because it is not often these two trains are parked next to each other in Silverton Colorado. We took #481 up from Durango but our return trip was delayed due to a small mud slide. So we had to hang out in Silverton for a couple hours extra and then we took #480 back to Durango.

If you've seen any of my other Somalia blog posts you can tell I did a lot of driving. This shot is a typical street scene in or near a city. We could drive for miles and miles and not see another human being but once you hit a town there were people everywhere and the streets were lined with vendors of all types.

I believe this picture was taken outside of Mogadishu.

Daryle

During my deployment on Operation Restore Hope I had to take anti-malaria drugs regularly. The two different drugs were Lariam and Primaquine.

We were stationed in a very dry part of the country and mosquitoes were not really an issue thankfully. In fact there is much evidence that our lives where more in danger from the anti-malaria drugs than malaria itself. Over the past couple of decades there have been countless horror stories on the side effects of these drugs, Lariam in particular. Check out these links:

The Dark Side of Lariam

Mefloquine Action

Lost to Lariam?

I remember hearing such stories even back when I was still in the service so I am saddened to see that the government still issues this drug to soldiers.
Yet another situation where Lord Tennyson's words from The Charge of the Light Brigade ring true:

"Not tho' the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:"

Dickens Out

Joyce and I are currently exploring the Southwest corner of Colorado. Though we've both lived in Colorado over 10 years we've not really spent much time in this part of the state. 

This photo was taken at what I know as Bale Dogle Airfield in Somalia. But every time I look up the place in Google it asks me, "Did you mean Baledogle?" and gives me that search. And Google maps refers to it as "Wanlawayn Air Strip" which may be what it is called now. I know Wanlawayn as the town near the air strip so that makes sense.

I am curious what the locals refer to it as? If you're in the neighborhood can you ask around for me?

But I do love that thanks to Google I can get a bird's eye view of just about exactly where that photo was taken.(I was facing NW when I snapped the photo.)

Thanks for looking!

Daryle