1. Costa Rica cleaning chancho

    don carlos prepares the pig for butchering by removing the hair.

  2. Costa Rica chancho's feet

    in the process of butchering the pig.

  3. Costa Rica bloody hand

    my host sister's hand covered in pigs blood.

  4. Costa Rica don carlos the butcher

    my host dad butchers a pig.

  5. Costa Rica remains of chancho

    my host family have a farm behind their home which serves as a lecheria and a carniceria as well.

  6. Costa Rica Mama y Machete

    Taken during community diagnostic interviews

  7. Thailand Paa Boon

    Keeping the traditions alive.

  8. Thailand Surprise!

    “I didn’t know, o my gosh, I didn’t know!” This is all I could say as the Thai PETA enforcers kicked through my mosquito net last night and challenged my devotion to the cute and cuddlies all over the world. After an interrogation lasting well into the morning, with taped eyelids being shown picture after picture of kittens wearing hats and monkeys with mohawks, I was able to convince the band of hemp suit wearing brutes that I had nothing to do with the crime and indeed love all of earth’s ...

  9. Thailand Loosen the Grip

    [Paul has an epiphany of a child.  Lets see what it is....] The other day my host father grabbed a large handful of hay and brought it close to the house.  The next thing I knew he had lit it on fire and was moving it around with a stick.  Not having lived on a farm before, especially one in foreign country, this seemed a bit strange.  However, I did not have the capability to ask what in the world he was doing.  Watching on in wonder he then grabbed a can of bug spray.  It became clear that...

  10. Togo Sacrificial dog as part of Habiye male coming-of-age events

    Habiye is the male coming of age ceremony that takes place every five years during which 'generations' of boys become men in the eyes of their family and friends. Some of the events include dancing wearing hats made of home-made baskets covered with cow dung and decorated with goat hair; wrestling; chasing down a dog, slaughtering it, cooking it and eating it; and learning to be a Kabiye man. In the Kabye culture, only men who have participated in these rites of passage can eat dog. This even...

Countdown to Weekly Contest Deadline!

“Sunset at the Railroad” by PCV Nicholas Baylor Hall. Namibia, 2011.