Ever wondered what Mexican emigrants go through trying to illegally cross the border into the United States? Well, now you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself at Eco Alberto, an Illegal Border Crossing Theme Park.
Located 100 kilometers from the US border, and about two hours away from Mexico City, the small town of El Alberto has become one of Mexico's most popular tourist attractions. Seven years ago, 90% of the local population had crossed over into the US in search of the American Dream, and the small settlement had become a modern ghost town. Life was simply too hard in El Alberto and almost everyone decided to try their luck across the border. But that all changed when the Eco Alberto Park was inaugurated in the vicinity of the small Mexican town. Now, El Alberto has a population of around 3,000 and draws in thousands of tourists every year, all eager to experience the unique activity that put this place on the map.
The Eco Alberto Park doesn't have any impressive roller-coasters, carousels or themed rides, like Disneyland, but it does offer an activity you can't find anywhere else in the world. Called "Caminata Nocturna" (Night Walk), this unique experience simulates what it's like for illegal emigrants trying to cross the border into the United States through rough terrain and with the border patrol always on their tail. Although the name might be a little confusing, it's no walk in the park, and even though participants are safe from extreme danger, this course gives them an authentic experience of fear, joy and the hope of a better life. Putting yourself in the shoes of an illegal alien will set you back 250 pesos ($20), but it's an experience you will never forget.
The Night Walk illegal border crossing is split into several stages. First, there's roll call, after which the would-be emigrants are packed in the back of pick-up trucks and taken to the starting point, where they are given an explanation of what they are about to go through. A "coyote" (people smuggler) tells them they will be facing rough conditions, spiders, snakes, poisonous plants and the vigilant border patrol, but that it's not even 5% of what a real migrant has to go through to reach his goal. He also informs them that the whole Caminata Nocturna was created as a way to show people a part of Mexico that exists but no one wants to see, and as a way to honor all those brave migrants who tried to cross the border for real. When the coyote finishes his speech, the real fun begins.
The Eco Alberto Theme Park spreads over seven miles of rough terrain, which the Mexican migrants have to cross by pick-up and by foot in order to reach their destination. The coyote is always by their side, guiding their every move and instructing them on how to remain undetected. They have to crawl through tunnels, mud and small canyons, while avoiding snakes and other dangerous wildlife and keeping an eye out for the US border patrol.
The park has a staff of 82 who do their best to offer tourists a realistic experience, and for the most part they do a pretty good job. Members of "La Migra", or the US border patrol, have a particularly important role in the Night Walk experience, so they try to act the same way and say everything the real authorities do. Their Mexican accent makes them less believable, but you can tell they're trying their best. La Migra tries to convince emigrants to come out, and when they catch some of them they even rough them up a bit to make it look real.
The State Government of Hidalgo has accused the Eco Alberto Park of making fun of emigrants and even of training Mexicans so they can cross the border into America for real, but the parks' representatives say that since they started organizing the Night Walk activity, in the summer of 2004, 60% of the local population preferred to remain home, instead of putting their lives in danger and being exploited in the US. They claim they are trying to train people not to leave, but to stay in Mexico and work harder for a better life.
Buttocks tasing and blood spitting are two key ingredients to an intriguing story. A truly wild mugshot doesn't hurt either.
Police in Florida arrested Kelsey Smith, 29, last Tuesday after the suspect endured multiple tasings during a struggle with law enforcement, according to an arrest report obtained by The Huffington Post.
Smith was spotted by a Volusia County sheriff's deputy in Deltona, Fla. after he allegedly parked in the middle of an intersection.
The suspect's eyes "were glassy and bloodshot, and his speech was very slurred," the report said. The deputy also wrote that "the smell commonly associated with the consumption of alcohol was emanating from within the vehicle and from Smith's person."
We ALL need to step away from our computers and get out of the house more. Because our brains are completely effed up.
--According to a new study out of Harvard, when someone on Facebook gives your post a "Like," it feels just as good to your brain as HAVING SEX.
--The researchers found this happens because every post you make has a little bit of self-disclosure. By putting yourself out there, you're inherently risking rejection.
--So when you're NOT rejected . . . and you get a "Like" that shows you're being accepted . . . it hits the reward center of your brain. You get the same feeling from having sex or eating food.
If you're planning on throwing a backyard get together for you and your pals, there are a few guidelines every good BBQ host should follow in order to make sure his guests have a great time.
1. Serve Food Everyone Likes
Burgers are always a hit, and the good news is that they're hard to screw up. Slap some patties together and toss them on the grill, flip once, and serve. If insist on getting fancy, you can try stuffing the hamburger meat with onions beforehand. If anyone at your gathering likes their burgers deliciously rare, a neat trick you can try out is to put a small ice cube in the center of a patty just before you put it on the grill. This allows you to cook the burger long enough to develop a nice char around the outside, without making the inside dry.
Hot dogs. Easy, kids and adults love them, and they're dirt cheap. But don't cheap out too far and get those tiny little links, be a man and go for those plump ballpark franks.
If you want to do more than burgers, hot dogs or chicken wings, steaks are always a great option, but be aware that the price for your cookout will go up dramatically – and we both know that your friends aren't going to help pay for anything!
2. Beer & Beverages
If you want to avoid people constantly going in and out of your kitchen to dig around in your refrigerator for another can of stumble juice, get a decently sized cooler and load it up with ice. If you place it near the grill, it can conveniently double as a storage bin for the various meat products you've yet to put on the flames, as well as any vegetables or heat-sensitive condiments like mayonnaise.
Other than beer (yes, there are other things to drink, I was surprised too), consider having a reasonable stock of soda pop available for designated drivers, “recovering alcoholicsâ€Â and other squares in attendance. If anyone is bringing their kids, a few juice boxes can go a long way to impress those desperate single mothers.
3. Plenty of Extras
This is a pretty basic idea, but failing to have all the necessary extras can ruin a barbecue. Double check that you have plenty of mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and whatever other condiments you might need. Prepare sliced tomatoes and lettuce beforehand and store them in the fridge until burgers are ready, and you'll find yourself saving a lot of time. And, perhaps the best piece of advice, get a ton of paper plates, Styrofoam cups, and plastic cutlery. Nothing will be at risk of getting broken and you won't have to spend four hours doing dishes. Smart.
4. Music & Entertainment
Unless you want the only sounds to be the flare of the grill and the sounds of sweaty men grunting at one another about sports or politics, you'll probably want to liven the mood with some tunes. You don't have to have a state of the art sound system. Keep the volume low enough for people to still be able to hear one another talking, since you're the host of a barbecue, not a struggling DJ at a sketchy night club.
Television for the most part should be avoided if your goal is to keep most of your guests outside, but if you don't mind everyone piling into your living room, sports are generally the go-to programming for backyard cookouts. Whatever you do, don't put on a movie – everyone will get sucked into it and simply wait for you to serve them. You're having a barbecue, not putting on dinner and a show.
5. Activities While Waiting For the Meat
We're not talking about foreplay here, we're talking about things that are actually fun. If you're lucky enough to have a swimming pool, that's pretty much the gold standard for a successful summer barbecue.
Consider simulating a bar environment and putting up a dart board somewhere in your back yard. Step it up a notch and get a little blackboard with chalk to hang next to it so that people can keep score. Nothing like combining drunk, hungry people with sharp projectiles. If you want to kick it old school and introduce a game that most of your guests probably haven't played, horseshoe can be set up last minute .
--Around 6:00 A.M. on Friday, a 39-year-old man and his 18-year-old son were home in Anchorage, Alaska. And apparently, they were doing some father-son bonding over marijuana, LSD, and ecstasy. Their names weren't released.
--Eventually that father-son bonding turned into arguing . . . over a woman they both apparently liked. Then they started arguing over who was going to get to do the rest of the drugs. And THEN things got ugly.
--First the 18-year-old stripped NAKED, and then the father stripped down naked too. Then they started wrestling. They WRECKED their house, CRASHED through a front window, and kept brawling naked in the street.
--Then they took their anger out on the neighborhood. One neighbor says the 18-year-old, quote, "just snapped off [my mailbox]. Then he drop-kicked my pickup a couple times. I didn't see any damage to it. Of course, he was barefoot."
--Both men were arrested for assault. The father also got a resisting arrest charge and the son got a criminal mischief charge.(Anchorage Daily News)
A man in Miami was charged with video voyeurism after police say he secretly recorded Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant contestants disrobing.
They said evidence against the 31-year-old, who was in the models’ changing room as part of an entourage with Waterbabies Bikini, was ironclad: he recorded himself hiding his camera and admitted to the crime.
“Man to man, I did it because I’ve never had a girlfriend," he told police.
The good news is he'll probably get a girlfriend in jail.
This is a clip from a documentary about young Christian mixed martial arts fighters called 'Fight Church'. It's still in production.
It is already shaping up to be hilarious.
"The hope is that through the fight I can create a relationship with the person I'm fighting and extend Christ to him," says one fighter.
Even better: "Can you love your neighbor as yourself and at the same time knee him in the face as hard as you can?" It's a question that's virtually as old as recorded history.
Could you imagine what the ring announcers would sound like?
"He's passed to full mount and now, oh he's switching to a crucifix! He's pinned both arms and now he's pulling out his bible and reading the Book of John to him!"
The first rule of Jesus Fight Church: read the bible.
The second rule of Jesus Fight Church: practice elbow stabs to the face.
There's no place where American ingenuity is on display better than the deep fryers at our state and county fairs. Every year, the fried food geniuses figure out new ways to continue the chubbification of America.
--And this year, the new fried innovation is . . . DEEP FRIED BREAKFAST CEREAL.
--A vendor at the San Diego County Fair is selling deep fried Trix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
--It's pretty simple actually . . . he mixes the cereal into a batter and deep fries it into a ball. Then it's covered with sugar and a few un-fried pieces of the cereal.
--This same vendor introduced Deep Fried Kool Aid last year, as well as Deep Fried Girl Scout Cookies. Besides the Deep Fried Cereal, this year he's also introduced Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly.
By now, you've probably heard how gross your cell phone is: In one recent study done in Northern Ireland, almost ALL the cell phones they tested had bacteria growing on them. And so did almost all the OFFICE phones they checked.
--Forbes.com has a list of the most germ-filled things we encounter on a daily basis. Some of them are obvious, like grocery carts and bathroom door handles. Here are the top five you might not think about.
#1.) Gas Pumps. According to one study, 71% of them are contaminated with germs. The best defense is just to keep some hand sanitizer in the car.
#2.) Restaurant Menus. They hardly ever get wiped down. That's why you shouldn't wash your hands until AFTER you've ordered.
--The same thing goes for the little drink menus they sometimes have sitting on the table. If you flip through it, you should wash your hands again.
#3.) Lemon and Lime Wedges. Researchers for the "Journal of Environmental Health" went to various restaurants and ordered 21 different drinks that came with either a lemon or a lime.
--They found a total of 25 different microorganisms living in them, including E. coli bacteria.
#4.) Escalators. According to a study done in New York City, they're basically covered in bacteria that can cause respiratory infections. And you can expect the same from handrails on busses, trains, and stairways.
#5.) Condiment Dispensers. That includes things like ketchup bottles and salt & pepper shakers. They're almost never cleaned, and most people don't wash their hands before they eat.
--Apparently picking them up with a napkin doesn't really help either, because bacteria can go right through it. So you either need to use hand sanitizer, or wash your hands afterward.
Apparently, women just can't stop having sex with random dudes on vacation. Which, of course, begs the question . . . how come YOU AND I are never one of those dudes?
--According to a new survey, 40% of women under 30 say they've had a one-night stand on vacation.
--And 10% say they've had at least FIVE one-night stands with five different guys on a one-week vacation.
--About 33% of that random vacation sex happens on the beach. The place where women are most likely to meet a guy for a one-night stand is at a bar or nightclub. The beach is second.
There's a woman in Nordmaling, Sweden named Lena. She's in her 40s, she has a good job, and she's a single mother. She's also a SERIOUS SEXUAL DEVIANT.
--Apparently, Lena set up her own private S&M DUNGEON in an abandoned military bunker. And she left her ropes, leather bondage items, pulleys, and love toys inside.
--Well . . . on Friday, two fisherman stumbled onto the bunker, and when they looked inside, they immediately thought it looked like a CRIME SCENE.
--Basically, Lena's gear was SO HARDCORE the fishermen thought the bunker was used for sexual torture.
--So they called the cops. Lena saw a story about it in the local paper, so this week, she went to the cops to admit it was HER sex dungeon. She told them, quote, "I just wanted to test my limits" and says she used to take one guy there after dates.
--She's promised to clean up after she uses the bunker for sex in the future.
Here's a great reason not to take one of those horrible quizzes in "Cosmopolitan".
--Sunday in Mesa, Arizona, 22-year-old Noelle Clough and her husband were doing a quiz in "Cosmo" about their EXES. That's a pretty volatile thing to take a quiz on . . . and it exploded.
--It's not clear what exactly they were saying that made each other angry . . . although we can guess one or both of them made it clear they still had some feelings and/or SEXUAL DESIRES for their exes. But things got UGLY.
--Eventually, Noelle's husband threw two kitchen knives across the floor and told her to STAB HIM. And she DID . . . she stabbed him in the back with a four-inch paring knife.
--The cops say they'd been drinking. The husband was not seriously injured from the stabbing . . . Noelle was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Now that we've conceded that everyone in America is deliciously chubby and it's not going to change, we can relax . . . and start getting down to the business of eating. Here are two new inventions to help.
--Pizza Vending Machines. A European company called A1 Concepts has announced plans to start setting up PIZZA VENDING MACHINES in the U.S. They've been a huge hit in Europe, and will be here before the end of the year.
--They're called "Let's Pizza" machines, and they cook you a fresh pizza in just two-and-a-half minutes. The average price will be a reasonable $6 for a 10-and-a-half-inch pizza.
--Burger King's Bacon Sundaes. Starting tomorrow, Burger King will be offering BACON SUNDAES nationwide.
--They feature vanilla ice cream covered in hot fudge, caramel, and bacon crumbs. A full stick of bacon also sticks out. They check in at 510 calories and are only going to be available for the summer.
--45-year-old Shelly Lewis and 43-year-old Alicia Binford of O'Fallon, Missouri are two attractive, RANDY women. They both have blonde hair out of a bottle and a special place in my heart.
--On Monday, they were at the Woodlands Golf Course, which is a public course in Alton, Illinois. Police aren't sure if they were golfing or just hanging out with some male golfers. What they ARE sure of? Shelly and Alicia were FLASHING THEIR BREASTS.
--For some reason, other golfers complained. The cops came, and both women were arrested for misdemeanor public indecency.
--In their mugshots, both women certainly LOOK ready for a good time. Shelly is wearing a very small tank top and Alicia appears to actually be TOPLESS. She's not . . . she's wearing a top . . . you just can't see it in the mugshot.
It's pretty rare that someone in this country beats someone else to death . . . and just about everyone takes his side. THIS is that kind of moment.
--On Saturday, around 3:45 P.M., a man in Shiner, Texas, caught a 47-year-old man from Gonzales, Texas, molesting his four-year-old daughter in a barn. No names have been released.
--The father reacted like . . . well . . . like you'd think just about any father would react. He started BEATING THE HELL out of the guy. And he hit him in the head so many times that he KILLED HIM.
--The girl was taken to the hospital for an examination, and it looks like she's okay.
--Her father hasn't been arrested yet . . . a grand jury will determine if any charges will be filed against him.
--If we had to speculate, based on the circumstances . . . and TEXAS JUSTICE . . . this thing is going to be ruled self-defense.
Dads are notoriously hard to buy for. So if you're still looking for something good to give him, we've got you covered. Here are five great Father's Day gifts that all cost less than $50.
#1.) An iPad Paintbrush. If he's addicted to the game "Draw Something", the website SensuTouch.com has a two-in-one iPad paintbrush and stylus pen. It costs $40 and also works on the iPhone and the Kindle Fire.
#2.) A "Pick Puncher". If he's a guitar guy, check out PickPunch.com. They sell what basically looks like a stapler, but it punches guitar picks out of anything made of plastic, like a credit card. You can also get it on SpoonSisters.com for $26.
#3.) The "Daddle". I'm not sure his BACK will appreciate this one, but the kids might like it: It's a saddle you wear so they can ride you like you're a horse without falling off. You can get it on Amazon.com for $40.
#4.) "Star Wars" Ice Cubes.ThinkGeek.com has ice cube trays that make exact replicas of R2-D2, the Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader's head, and Han Solo frozen in Carbonite. Each tray is $10.
#5.) A Branding Iron for the Grill. This is JUST the kind of stupid thing dads love: It's like what ranchers use to brand cattle, but it's for burgers and steaks. --They cost $20, and the website TexasIrons.com has them in every letter from A to Z.
(--Check out some photos here. And you can check out 20 MORE Father's Day ideas at iVillage.com)
We hear about brawls at weddings all the time over here, but usually they're at low-budget affairs. You don't usually hear about them happening at $60,000 weddings in fancy British castles.
--That's exactly what happened over the weekend. 25-year-old Danny Gutherie is a professional British soccer player, and on Sunday he got married to 23-year-old Rebecca Middleman at the Allerton Castle near Harrogate, England.
--According to reports, even though it was an expensive and upscale wedding, everyone was HAMMERED . . . and as people were sitting down to dinner, a fight broke out.
--How do people fight at a classy wedding? In this case, it started with them THROWING LOBSTERS at each other . . . then ended when someone PUNCHED the bride in the FACE.
--She was taken to the hospital. Police came to break things up, although they didn't say if any arrests were made. Then ended up having to come back two more times when more problems broke out throughout the night.
--According to a fascinating new study of more than two million people by the University of Zurich in Switzerland, you're more likely to die on your birthday . . . or within a few days of it . . . than any other day of the year.
--And the chance goes up the older you get. By age 60, you're 14% more likely to die on your birthday or a few days around it than any other day.
--The researchers believe that the stress that comes from your birthday is the big reason. A birthday makes you think about how old you are, that stresses you out . . . and it can actually increase your risk of a heart attack or stroke.
--The study found that men are also more likely to die on their birthdays from accidental deaths . . . and suicides. The researchers think that could be tied to men being more likely to drink heavily on their birthdays than women.
MURDOCK, FL. - Sheriff's deputies arrested a Port Charlotte man when he continued to call 911 because he couldn't bring a kitten into a gentleman's club.
Charlotte County Deputies were called shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday to the Emerald City in Murdock after the owner told 47-year-old Everett Robert Lages to leave. Lages had attempted to bring a kitten into the club, and instead of leaving, he sat down outside the business and called 911.
When the deputies spoke with Lages, they noted that he appeared intoxicated. They told him he needed to leave the premises and assisted in calling a taxi for him. However, when the taxi arrived, Lages would not cooperate with the driver.
Lages insisted that the club owner had committed a crime and continued to call 911 on his cell phone, even though the deputies were on the scene. Deputies told Lages to stop calling 911, because it was a crime. Lages refused to hang up the phone and refused to exit the taxi.
Lages was placed under arrest and had to be forcibly restrained. He was booked into the jail on charges of Misuse of the 911 System, Disorderly Intoxication, Trespassing after Warning and Resisting Arrest without Violence. He is being held on $4,000 bond.
Animal Control was called to take the kitten, which is safe and sound.
Charlotte County's E911 Administrator Laurene Anderson pointed out that when someone continues to call 911 when there is no real emergency they are potentially tying up resources that could prevent someone with a real emergency from getting the help they need. It was for that reason the law was put in place. She also pointed out that the Enhanced 911 system gives emergency operators the ability to track calls back to their source and location. (Source)
A CareerBuilder study found that if you're overweight, it might be because of your JOB. Two in five people have gained weight at their current job . . . and one in four have gained more than 10 pounds. Here are the jobs most likely to cause weight gain:
#1.) Travel Agent: It's a sedentary job, which contributes to weight gain . . . although we're not sure there actually ARE travel agents anymore.
#2.) Attorney or Judge: It has high levels of stress, which also leads to weight gain.
#3.) Social Worker
#4.) Teacher
#5.) Artist/Designer/Architect
#6.) Administrative Assistant
#7.) Physician
#8.) Protective Services, like police officers or firefighters
What the HELL is wrong with this woman? Last week, a cop in Aurora, Colorado pulled over a woman for making an illegal left turn. When he looked in the car, he saw something shocking.
--There was a car seat in the back . . . with a GAS CAN strapped into it using the seatbelt. Meanwhile a young child was sitting NEXT to the gas can and the car seat in a diaper . . . but he WASN'T in a car seat or wearing a seatbelt.
--The driver wasn't wearing her seatbelt either, and a 14-year-old passenger in the front seat also wasn't wearing hers.
--The cop asked the woman why her child was unrestrained in the back. She said, quote, "he unbuckles and buckles his seatbelt by himself all the time." The cop responded, quote, "And then buckles in the gas canister?" She didn't respond.
--She was ticketed for an illegal turn, two seatbelt violations, and a car seat violation . . . for having a child under eight not in a car seat. As of now, she isn't facing any child endangerment charges.
Back in March, Taco Bell released its Doritos Locos Tacos nationwide. If you somehow missed it, those are Taco Bell tacos with a hard shell made out of Doritos.
--And now, Taco Bell says that it's their most successful product ever . . . and it just might be the MOST SUCCESSFUL FAST FOOD ITEM OF ALL TIME.
--In the first 10 weeks, Taco Bell has sold more than 100 million Doritos Locos Tacos. In comparison, it took McDonald's 18 years to sell its first 100 million hamburgers.
--Full sales data isn't available on an item-by-item and restaurant-by-restaurant basis, so it's hard to tell if another chain sold that many units of any item quicker.
--Taco Bell's previous sales record was the Crunchwrap Supreme. They didn't give the exact numbers, but they did say it was so popular when it debuted in 2005 that they made it a permanent menu item in 2006.
--Now that the Doritos Locos Tacos are so successful, Taco Bell is planning to expand and try OTHER Doritos-flavored shells. The current ones are nacho cheese . . . Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos will most likely be next in line.
Here's ANOTHER good justification for drinking between one and 17 glasses of wine every night. According to a new study, you're FAR less likely to get bitten by bed bugs if you're drunk.
--In the study, a Ph.D. candidate from University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that the higher someone's blood-alcohol level was, the less likely they were to be bitten by bed bugs.
--Bed bugs prefer non-alcoholic blood because it feeds them better. The bugs who sucked on sober people increased their mass by an average of 100% . . . bugs who sucked on drunk people only went up by 12.5%.
--And the heavier they are, the more eggs they can lay. So it's not worth their time to suck your blood if you're filled with alcohol.
