Ghana Wedding in Tarso Hotel in City of Ho of Volta Region

You are right. The average age for a Peace Corps volunteer is 28 and only 7 of the volunteers are over 50.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=about.fastfacts

Asiabill from has written 258 comments

Enjoyed seeing the map of Indiana of both hometowns being so close to I80 just like my hometown, Des Moines at the crossroads of I80 east / west and I35 north/south. Somehow I think the interstate's closeness helped motivate me to just stick out my thumb and see where I might end up.

Weddings like funerals,the 100 Day Death ritual in S.E. Asia, christenings / baptisms, circumcision, 12/13 year old jewish bar mitzvahs, lutheran confirmations and 18 year old female "coming out" events are all part of cultural obligations attended by people regardless of how much faith each individual may have in the particular religion. My wife and I weren't sold on the idea of marriage nor it's opposite, divorce but accepted the cultural facts of life that being respected by the family, community and various bureaucratic officials and seeking to succeed in business and prosper required us to follow through with a significant wedding event so we got married in Santa Isabel in Manila's historical district, Intramuros with over 100 people who attended and attended the dinner / reception, hired a limo, photo / videographer service, custom made the weeding dress and all the bridesmaids' dresses, arranged for a fairly well known cultural / opera singer to perform and completed the whole "bling bling" wedding. Since the some of the richest and most famous Filipinos throughout history also chose Santa Isabel as their wedding location we joined the ranks or resulting status recognized by such a wedding.

Great to hear somebody else dropped over 12lbs / month which I plan to do in the upcoming months. India seems to be the same regarding women gaining weight and men losing weight.

Andy...

So, why do you think men LOOSE and women GAIN weight...like the Peace Corp fellow in your picture?

Gadget from has written 916 comments

I can think of no certain reason, this is intriguing. Randall said it was because of the difficulty of finding protein to eat. The local men are skinny and the women are fat, I often ask the women,
"How old are you?"
I want to know if they are 25, it appears after age 25 the women grown very large.

Fat is an insulation to the body, maybe woman need it for some protection?

I eat almost no processed food, the only processed food is the Ginger cookies. Ghana has a lot of ginger here in this country.

This is a good question.

tropicalguide from has written 112 comments

Got my monthly LP newsletter today, I myself have only been to Thailand once, enjoyed it, know Andy travels to Thailand frequently, and if I was planning to travel there again to Thailand would contact Andy and an ex pat I know on line there, what has happened to LP? The following is touted as a "Rare Budget Choice" from $93 USD URL: http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/ko-samui-r2100578/chaweng-garden-beach-resort-p1033380/?affil=lpemail
Seems to me LP has been 'gentrified' since the BBC took them over, several months ago I was abruptly taken off their 'Thorn Tree Forum' for being critical on a post and adding url s directing travelers to low budget hostals and unique lodging places in my region. Anyway abruptly received an e mail I was no longer a member of the Forum. I had forgotten about it until today. No big deal.

Many of my 'generation' of Guatemala ex pats 1980s and early 1990s were ex Peace Corps who decided to stay on, most US, UK, Australian and Canadian ex pats (those who based in ex pat bars especially) had to struggle with Spanish, the ex Peace corps, who were immersed in the language at their posts for two years spoke advanced to fluent Spanish and got along well. Half of our 'ex pat' community were 'Snowbirds' anyhow, those who came from November through March to mainly drink and philander, don't miss em, recently met one on line who is now abstinent for many years and doing very well, we e mail back and forth once in a while. What I do miss from those pre Internet days was the 'oral tradition', backpackers told stories of their travels, it was war time in areas of Guatemala and Nicaragua and most of El Salvador, roads were full of potholes and police and military checkpoints abounded in some areas, everyone knew everyone lse in Antigua, Panajachel and Xela, Rio Dulce, and except for El Salvador (I don't know about Nica, we just did'nt go there overland until 1990) Peace Corps were everywhere except in areas the US Embassy deemed as unsafe. I frequently meet them on Bus '30B' in San Salvador, the bus that stops near the Peace Corps offices in an upscale area of San Salvador, all tell me after a year or so they lost their idealism, just waiting for their bonus and the government to pay a large part of their student loan, many wind up as career State Dept. employees, with all those perks. They all of course have laptops and cell phones so can communicate with each other on line all week. I always thank them for their volunteer service, why not?
Got a 'kick' out of this
http://inside-digital.blog.lonelyplanet.com/2011/01/18/when-can-you-say-youve-been-somewhere/?affil=lpemail
A little too 'politically correct' for me, I will stick with The Hobo Traveler, which I now read every day, makes me think, laugh, gets me rattled once in a while, life in the tropics.

Gadget from has written 916 comments

About Lonely Planet...

I would guess that only about 1 in 50 people care that Lonely Planet has moved to the Flashpacker price range, they are middle tourist now, not low budget.

It has taken me 13 years of travel to accept that travel is not about finding a good deal, and that it is a vacation. Maybe one in 500 people travel the world, the other 499 go on vacation.

A make money only Travel Business recognizes this, and Lonely Planet has decided to promote the romantic version "Lonely Planet," then sell to the 499 who are going on vacation. People going on vacation want to live one to two weeks in luxury, and forget they are poor the rest of the year.

I think you could ask the question of Backpackers?
"IIf you had a million dolllars, would you stay in backpacker hotels?"
I think only 1 in 500 would do so, I enjoy the down to earth and Mom and Pop hotels, they are family, I do not want to live in Corporate hotels.