Gadling

In the town of San Juan Chamula in southern Mexico, I entered a church completely unprepared for the what I saw. Pine needles and hundreds of small lit candles covered the entire wooden floor, where worshippers were kneeling and chanting incantations. In front of each group of worshippers was a 3-liter bottle of Coca Cola, which the faithful drank periodically and used to, well, burp, in an attempt to keep away evil spirits.

This custom mixing Christian and (mostly) Mayan beliefs, I thought to myself, must be one of the most unusual rituals in the world. Well, turns out I wasn't even close.

Over at Vagabondish, Turner Wright takes a look at the 8 Most Bizarre Rituals in the World, including Indian baby-tossing, Kenyan blood-drinking, and Japanese fire-walking. Also from Japan: A fertility festival in which participants carry a huge wooden penis around town. (It takes place every March 15 in the town of Komaki; book your flight today!)

Whole thing here.

When the last speaker of the Sechelt language, a tongue spoken by fewer than 40 people in southwestern British Columbia, eventually dies, an entire language will perish too. But, linguist John McWhorter wonders, so what?

In his recent article in World Affairs, McWhorter explores the phenomenon of dying languages and asks what we really lose when a language goes extinct. "The main loss when a language dies," McWhorter argues, "is not cultural but aesthetic. The click sounds in certain African languages are magnificent to hear. In many Amazonian languages, when you say something you have to specify, with a suffix, where you got the information. The Ket language of Siberia is so awesomely irregular as to seem a work of art."

If you thought you could live a regret-free life without visiting Guatemala, think again. This diminutive Central American country, smaller than the state of Louisiana, packs in enough diversity to entertain you for months. And its low, low prices mean you don't need to visit your neighborhood payday lender to afford to stay a while.

From active volcanoes to immaculate colonial cities to quite possibly the world's most beautiful lake, Guatemala boasts plenty of reasons for you to bid farewell to your loved ones, return those outstanding library books, and spend a couple months in Central America. Here are the top nine:

9. The people. When a tourism slogan proclaims that "The best part are our people!" I roll my eyes and figure it must be a colorless place with nothing to offer. Not so with Guatemala. Within a period of three days, I had two different people sit down next to me in Xela's Parque Centroamerica and strike up a lengthy conversation. One of them invited me to hang out with him and his friends that night at a local watering hole. The other only started talking to me because he thought I was gay. But still, that counts!

Hope everyone's enjoying what's on Gadling today, from stinky Asian food to A Critical Mass Halloween in San Francisco to an informative post and gorgeous photo gallery about Auckland, New Zealand. Now here's a look at what else is going on in the travel world today...

• This video about frequent flyer mile hoarders has been making the rounds-- it's a peek into a small subculture I knew nothing about, and still don't entirely understand.
• Geography of Bliss author Eric Weiner explores the backpacker ghetto of Thamel, a district of Kathmandu in Nepal.
• Over at Bootsnall, Eileen Smith details the ins-and-outs of wine tasting in South America. I'm not much of an oenophile myself, but when I tried the Carménère in Chile it made me want to be a better person.
• Tyler Cowen points out that Yemen is running out of water, partly because half its water is used to cultivate qat, an addictive drug.
• Speaking of water, Chris Blattman suggests that the days of seeing an African woman carry a bucket of water on her head might be over.

More Gadlinks here.

• "Unless you enjoy breathing in ammonia, avoid [fermented] skate at all costs."
• "Koreans gnaw on dried squid while drinking beer and soju. Too bad the rubbery strands smell like dead mice."
• "Due to its fetid odor, the oval, tropical fruit [durian] also has one thing in common with terrorists and smokers: It's banned from the Singapore airport."

People love to complain about the dismal state of air travel these days. Whether it's the stomach-churning airline food (and there's so little of it!), the complete lack of leg room, or the fact that your luggage was for some reason routed through Honolulu, we've come to expect some pretty poor service from quite a few airlines these days.

In any other industry, customers register their indignation by refusing to spend money at the offending establishment. Found a finger in your Caesar's Salad? You're probably never visiting that restaurant again. Tired of your cable cutting out in the middle of House? You just might cancel that company's service and call up their competitor (who'll probably even throw in a year of Starz at no extra charge!)

But with airlines, we're like the pathetic girlfriend who's been cheated on five times but still believes her boyfriend when he says, "Seriously, this time will be different! I've changed!" The worst airlines stay in business because by and large people are willing to put up with crummy service if it means they get a cheap flight.

To be entered in a random drawing for one of five professionally-mounted photographs (shot by Peter Guttman) of the Brazilian Amazon*, simply answer the five questions above and leave a comment telling us about a place you've always wanted to visit.

Terms and Conditions of the Giveaway:

• To enter, simply leave a comment telling us about a place you've always wanted to visit.
• The comment must be left before Monday, November 9th at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Five Prize Winners will be selected randomly to each receive one of the prizes listed above.
• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• The total value of each prize is approximately $800.
• Click here for the complete official rules of this giveaway.

I love how this shot from flickr user cmvoelkel is split into thirds by the tower of the Manhattan Bridge and the apparently happy couple. It also appears to be in black and white until you look outside the puddle and see the color on the couple's shoes. Taken in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, this is an interesting, really well-composed shot.

Want your pics considered for Gadling's Photo of the Day? Upload your photos right here.

Halloween is right around the corner-- hope everyone has a great costume picked out already. If not, get crackin'! And check out our own Heather Poole's guide to creating a flight attendant Halloween costume. (Fellas, this is your chance to dress in drag unaccompanied by the judging eye of others.)

Now it's time for our daily look at what's going on in the travel world today...

• The 13 sins of hostel living.
• Pico Iyer profiles the great W. Somerset Maugham over at World Hum. Maugham's book The Razor's Edge had a real effect on me back in college. My favorite quotation from it: "Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it." Indeed.
• Mobile phones as the key to prosperity in Africa? Not so fast.
• Over at Slate, Brian Palmer explains where the "The" comes from in The Netherlands, The Hague, and The Bronx.
• Dallas police issue 39 traffic tickets over the course of three years for the "crime" of not speaking English. A police department spokesperson has since apologized.

More Gadlinks here.

Hey there, fans o' Gadling! You've just stumbled across our daily look at some of the most interesting travel tidbits from around the internets. Enjoy!

• From the learn-something-new-every-day department: "Bolivia: The Saudi Arabia of Lithium." Finally some good news for South America's poorest country.
• In his article "Against Apple Picking," Slate columnist Daniel Gross decries pick-your-own apple orchards as a "wasteful scam." (What's next, Slate? "Against Grandma"? "Against Apple Pie"?)
• The Onion's fake weekly newsmag explores a question I've often wondered about Disney World.
• Where to go for cheap dining in Manhattan. (Check out the comments for some delicious sub-$10 meals.)
• Ever thought about trying to run marathons on all seven continents? Turner Wright is here to tell you you're not insane (and I'm here to tell you, wait, yes you are.)

Still more Gadlinks here.

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