Monday, July 28, 2008

Chicken Bus

from wikipedia:

A chicken bus (Spanish: "camioneta") is a colloquial English name for a colorful modified and decorated US school bus and transit bus that transports goods and people between Guatemalan communities. The word "chicken" refers to the fact that rural Guatemalans regularly transport live animals on such buses, a practice that tourists from other countries might find remarkable. The buses are also commonly used in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.


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Friday, July 11, 2008

Pith Helemt

from wikipedia:

The pith helmet (also known as the sun helmet, topee, sola topee, salacot or topi) is a lightweight helmet made of cork or pith, typically from the sola (Indian swamp growth, Aeschynomene aspera or A. paludosa) or a similar plant, with a cloth cover, designed to shade the wearer's head from the sun. The pith would be soaked in water before wearing, and the gradual evaporation of the water would act as a steady coolant. Pith helmets were once much worn by Westerners in the tropics; today they are most frequently used in Vietnam. (The forms solar topee and solar topi are folk etymology—the name comes from sola, and is not connected—etymologically—with the sun in any way.)


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