Costa Rica - Sizzling San Jose

Hoooo boy that Austrian station was GREAT, huh? There is a slight possibility that Ellen will never leave. 

So, are you doing anything right now? Just putting pop tarts in the microwave with the wrapper on just to see the blue lightening and stink up the cafeteria? Quit being a douchbag, dude. Why don't you come listen to Costa Rican radio, instead. Pinky picked this station for the super gimmicky but totally fun web radio player thing, plus the music's pretty good.

Are you planning on finding a new lover in Costa Rica? Apparently sweethearts call each other their media naranja which translates to "the other half of their orange". That's a nice thing to say to someone! Some close friends of ours call each other that.

orange you in love?

If you die there (or wen you die there), they bury you pretty much the day it happens. You can get embalmed, but it's really pricey. When someone dies, their close family and friends are called, and then they call the TV stations. A few times a day the TV stations cut into the broadcasts with soft music and scroll brief obituaries across the bottom of the screen. Everyone watches to see if they know anyone, and that's how you find out when folks die. Wild, huh? Imagine that you're sitting there, watching your soap opera, and suddenly you find  out by scrolling obit that your ex died. That's way better than anything Days of Our Lives can throw at you.

when Ellen googled "costa rican death announcements television," this is what came up. and who are we to argue with google? we love your creepy flesh colored beard, spencer!!

Perhaps your ex died from bullfighting. Although bullfighting is still practiced in Costa Rica, the bull itself is rarely killed. They let a bunch of dudes into the ring and they fuck with the bull, pulling its tail and swatting his balls and all the other asshole things rodeo folks do to piss them off. At least they make sure that you're sober. They recently stopped letting the drunks do it. Gorings are still a regular occurrence, so at least the bull gets to win sometimes. Plus they get to go home at the end of the day and don't have some dude slicing their spinal cord. It's really a win-win situation.

what was that rule about drunks?

Ecotourism, canopy tours, blah blah blah, we've all heard about it and are jealous of everyone who's been.

So, grab your shades, sun block, long board and throw away your watch and let's head on to the capital, San Jose! We hope you enjoy the music!

911 la Radio

Listen Here

don't get car sick watching that record spin...

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St. Kitts and Nevis - Where it is Decidedly Not Snowing

Firstly, we'd like to apologize for our recent absence... There was a snowpocalypse that pretty much owned the East Coast. Ellen was trapped under 8 inches of snow and 2 inches of ice and had to walk to the grocery (uphill both ways) to get her beer. But, the sledding has been prime!

sleddddddding!

So, back to business. What did y'all think of Lithuania? "Meh," says Pinky.

We've been thinking about what region we haven't visited in a while. Haven't been to Central or South America in a bit, but if we're planning for longevity, we've gotta stretch those out. We really need to knock out some of those island nations. Maybe we'll do a Caribbean week soon or something.

For today (blizzard of the decade, day 4) let's tune in to some island music! Wanna head to St. Kitts and Nevis? Pinky's parents like to vacation there and his mom just takes pictures of goats.

we can almost feel the tropical heat from here!

Native Americans have been hanging out on the islands for about 5,000 years. When Columbus pulled up in 1493, the Kalinago people (Carib) had been there for a few hundred years. The French and English made their way to the islands over the next couple hundred years. Unlike other islands, the indigenous population allowed the Europeans to settle there. Bad idea. They were massacred shortly afterwards. 

we don't blame those europeans for not wanting to leave

The Brits and French used the islands as the center of their Caribbean expansionist efforts. Even though the Spanish kicked them out for a minute, the British ended up taking full claim in the early 1700's. Though they're geographically super close (2 miles apart), St Kitts and Nevis were governed as two separate islands until the late 1800's. Then the British were all "This is dumb. Shack up with Anguilla." This colonial/territorial/governing arrangement lasted for a little under 100 years at which point Anguilla split off and became it's own British state (where it remains today). But St. Kitts and Nevis are still stuck together. 

i don't think you need a spyglass to see that guy's head...

Nevis claims they don't get the support they need from St. Kitts, and it seems that there's a good bit of resentment between the two. Maybe St. Kitts dumps on Nevis because they're jealous about Alexander Hamilton. He was born there around 1757 or so and ended up getting his face on the American $10 bill. We all know the federalism stuff and the duel story, so let's move on. 

just seeing his face makes us want to go buy crap at dollar general.

Nevis has tried to split off, but the referendum failed. They still are constitutionally allowed to succeed, after a few provisions are met. Will it happen? We dunno. Ok, so St. Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983 (the same year we were born) and became the youngest sovereign state in the Americas. Yay for our birth year buddies!

Ok, let's tune in and see what's happening down there. Enjoy!

ZIZ Radio LIVE Stream

Listen Here!

Note from the Snowed in Editors: Do yourself a favor and just listen to another station. It started out with some decent reggae this morning, but is just awful narcissistic club music right now. Check back later in the afternoon and enjoy something else for now. We'll be in Seychelles...

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Trinidad and Tobago - Spicy San Fernando

Oh, hey! Whatcha doin? Just trying to figure out what to name your new Beta fish while waiting to get your circuit breaker reset because you tripped it into oblivion with a space heater? Yeah, us, too.

Djibouti was hit and miss on Tuesday, so do y'all wanna go to Trinidad and Tobago today? We're gearing up for more nasty weather and this should be the perfect cure!

you can just imagine those folks to be ellen and pinky having an underwater tea party. not THE tea party. ok, you can imagine that those folks are ellen and pinky holding the tea party under water.

So, let's get a little oriented. Trinidad and Tobago are located in North America, but actually sit just off the coast of Venezuela in South America. Trinidad and Tobago consist of two islands, the southernmost of the Caribbean islands, and is the home of the steel drum, the limbo dance, calypso music, the largest specimen of brain coral in the world, and was the fictional location of both Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe.

When Pinky was a kid, he used to listen to an old steel drum record of calypso music from the islands. He loved it. He used to play it constantly. His parents must have the patience of Job. He's hoping we'll get some similar stuff today.

the implied cacophony is deafening! 

Trinidad and Tobago were first settled about 7,000 years ago, the first in the Caribbean. We couldn't find much in the way of pre-Columbian history, so let's just fast forward a few thousand years to 1492, when Columbus landed in late July. Settlements were set up in the early 1500's, and a long history of settlements, slavery, plantation farming, and lots and lots of fighting ensued. Especially on Tobago. Tobago has changed hands around 30 times, more than any other Caribbean island. The English finally took hold in the early 1800's and kept it as a colony until independence in 1962.

i feel the small pox coming on...

They've been pumping oil since the early 1900's, making it one of the richest colonies in the British empire. Those petro-dollars and a location outside the hurricane belt have helped them in modern times to build a pretty strong nation. They're able to provide free education for there citizens from kindergarten all the way up through university!

Anyway, let's tune in and find out what the Trinbagonians are listening to! Don't forget your sunscreen!

WACK Radio

Listen Here - watch out! They're culture krazy!

Panama - Pulsing Panama City

Whatcha doin'? Just picking dog hair off your velcro-like facial hair stubble and sitting on a bag of frozen peas because you busted your ass on the ice on the way in to work? Yeah... us, too.

Did y'all have a good time in Sao Tome and Principe? That was a really, really good station - even though we heard this little ditty:

Awwwwwwwwwkward.

Come on! Let's escape the arctic blast and go visit Kenny in Panama! How long has he been down there? A year?


Ok, before we get to the canal, which is really, Really, REALLY important, let's knock a couple things out. Panama is about the size of South Carolina, has a little under 3.5 million people, and is home to the largest rainforest outside of the Amazon basin in the Western Hemisphere. Its history for the past 500 years has been intimately linked to its geopolitical importance.

Here's a little orientation

So, the Spanish come in, the indigenous Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cueva tribes are massacred with warfare and disease. Panama acts as a Spanish Colony for the next 300 years. The Spanish would dig up precious metals in South America, sail it up to Panama, haul it across the land mass, and pack it onto ships set for Europe.

Panamanian jungles anyone?

In the 1880's, a French company made the first attempt at building the canal, but gave up after 22,000 workers died, mostly from disease. About 20 years later, the American Army Corps of Engineers launched a second attempt, and after 10 years and another 5,600 deaths, the canal was finally opened in 1914. Ships would no longer have to sail the treacherous Drake Passage. At first, they were puttin' through about 1,000 ships a day, and now they're up to about 15,000. Nice job gang.

Canals canaling canalers.

America controlled the canal until the late 1970's, and it was pretty contentious throughout Latin and South America. They'd helped Panama break away from Columbia just prior to building it, and there were some contentious and questionably worded treaties, as well as agreements made by folks that did not have the authorization to do so. After WWII, things really gained steam, culminating in riots in the mid-60's for Panamanian control. Negotiations began under the Ford administration and ended with a treaty signed by Carter in '77 that would turn it over to Panama by 2000, so long as the canal remained permanently neutral. This really helped relations between America and a lot of Latin and South American nations. It was finally signed over to the Panamanians eleven years ago, and remains one of the most important transit points in the world to this day, as well as a significant source of income for Panama.

still pretty amazing how they can take ships up and down in elevation! modern marvels, y'all.

The average toll paid is about $54K. The highest toll ever paid was about $330K by a Disney cruise liner. The lowest toll ever was $0.36  paid 90 years ago by an adventurer who swam the canal.

Pinky would love to get into the modern political history of Panama, including the US invasion in 1989 to turn over a dictatorship that resulted in a lot of civilian casualties, but we've all got a lot to do and we've written a bunch already. It's totally worth a read though if you want to look it up.

we get to hang out in Panama City today! and, look! there is no snow!

Enjoy your time in Panama and hopefully these disc jockeys will get over using a laugh track soon! Fingers crossed!

Caliente 97.1

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Turks and Caicos - Getting Down on Grand Turk

Well, what did y'all think of the Netherlands? Yeah, agreed, it was ok-ish. There's only so much good that Euro-Pop can do.

Let's head to the Turks and Caicos Islands today! 

Whoa. Just looking at this map makes us realize that we have so many more countries to go!

Pinky's sister and her new husband were going to head down there recently for their honeymoon, but they were expecting bad weather down there all week, so they utilized their travel insurance and headed to Hawaii instead. Good thing bad weather doesn't frighten us!

Like many other Caribbean islands, the indigenous population, in this case the Taínos and Lucayans tribes, were enslaved with the arrival of Europeans. When the Europeans started to run low on people to enslave on the Island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti today), they raided the Turks and Caicos islands for labor for their plantations. The islands were almost completely depopulated over a span of about 20 years. And, aside from the odd pirate hang-out these islands remains basically uninhabited for another 150 years.

And, here's the fateful moment where they all simultaneously contract small pox and die, before being turned into slave labor, that is.

They were knocked around between the French, British, and Spanish rule, but no one entity ever built any permanent settlements. After the American Revolution, British loyalists fled the States (and good riddance to them) and flooded the Caribbean. The first real settlements were built in the Turks and Caicos by carpetbagging ex-pat Brits. Soon after, the islands were annexed by the British as part of the Bahamas. They were put under the stewardship of the Jamaican colony for a good long while, and when Jamaica was granted independence in the 60's, the Turks and Caicos became a Crown Colony themselves. Check out this nifty timeline to help you place important dates in Turks and Caicos history, including the arrival of Jojo the dolphin.

Since the late 1970's there's been a good deal of talk about shacking up with Canada or achieving independence themselves, but governmental changes have prevented it from occurring. Here's the juicy part though, last year the UK suspended them from self-governance, as there was a lot of evidence of systemic corruption (like selling government land for personal gain). Plus an American woman accused the Premier of sexually assaulting her. After that nifty trick the Crown dissolved the position of premier until a new sovereign government can be elected (by next year at the latest.) Yikes. Talk about a bad performance review.

Let's tune in and see what they're up to down there. I sure hope we get to hear some of their distinctive Ripsaw music!

So! Grab your shades, sun block, and your favorite conch and let's head to the city of Grand Turk kick back to the tunes of RTC!

Radio Turks and Caicos

**even though the site is "down" for maintenance, you can still listen my selecting one of their audio streams!**

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Guatemala - Glorious Guatemala City

Wow! That Seychelles station was AMAZING, huh? Given, it's actually a boosted French station, but wasn't it great? They didn't play a single song that I didn't like.

What say we tune in to Guatemala today? Seems like everyone we know is heading down there for work or travel or school lately, so why not?

apparently it looks like this and any place that looks like this is ok by us.

Pinky used to work with a Guatemalan fellow when he worked landscaping for a few summers back in high school, which was about 10 years ago. (Don’t judge!) Pinky was always amazed at how good this guy was at handling American currency. He'd only been in the States a year or two, but he was so adept at picking out the right change. He'd reach right in his pocket and pull out the exact change for lunch without even looking. Of course, he had to look at the bills but he'd pick the coins out just by touch. The guy just had arithmetic in his fingers, we guess. Not unlike a blackjack dealer or a bank teller. Not the sort of thing you'd expect from a man working a shovel. We wonder what kind of job he had back home...

home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Tangentially, that's one fucked up part about American currency. Since it's all the same size, sight-impaired folks have to depend on the kindness of strangers to help them differentiate between a $1 and a $50 bill. You don't find that in many other countries. Pinky’s friend Karla helped win a federal lawsuit a year or two ago to change that. So, at some point we'll have different sized currency. We’re looking forward to it. Think how much anxiety that's got to engender not knowing what kind of money you're throwing around.

you could be spending 5 silver dollars and have no idea.

The fun part will be to see what kind of designs the treasury will come up with. Pinky remembers seeing a very, very, very low value banknote in China that wasn't much bigger than a postage stamp. It had a truck on it. It might have been worth .001 cents or something like that. It was cute. We don’t think the Treasury will do anything like that since we have a pretty strong currency and the Treasury is annoyed to use "paper" for even $1 bills.

this picture is bigger than the real thing!

Anyway, we've digressed and not really said anything about Guatemala. Sorry 'bout that. Let's go ahead and tune in to the land of totally rad Mayan history, Spanish colonialism, and a century of exploitative labor practices by Chiquita. Guatemala, ho!!!

Tropicalida

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PS: it's Pinky's birthday - wish him a good one, y'all!

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Haiti - Perfect Port-au-Prince

How'd you like our visit to Egypt? Good station, huh?

OK, let's head to Haiti today!

Pinky's been aching to go here for a few years now. He really wanted to go last fall but couldn't find anyone to go with him (he hates traveling alone.) He even solicited for a companion on Facebook but only got a "wish I could" from our friend Mr.Wm. Gulley and a safety warning from his brother. Annnnnnd, then the quake came along and destroyed the capital. Sigh... 

y'all know the devastation and tragedy.

Anyway, flights to Port-Au-Prince have resumed and Pinky can get tickets fairly cheap through an airline membership he's signed up with, so there's a standing invitation to y'all if anyone wants to head down there. Perhaps we could volunteer in Port Au Prince? He's happy to do anything, just so long as we can visit the cave paintings and Citadelle Laferrière at some point.

they have a massssssive stash of cannon balls. like, we're talking about a lot of balls. a lot.

So, Haiti was "discovered" by Columbus and the Spanish quickly decimated the indigenous population to the point that they began importing enslaved Africans because they'd killed too of the many natives to run a colony. Their treatment of the Africans was just as brutal. At one point while the French and Spanish had split the island, about 1/3 of the new slaves were dying within a few years of their arrival. It was France's most profitable colony, so that when Haiti fought a 12 year war and won its independence in 1804, France didn't let them forget that.

we will with hold your baguettes and crepes!

(too much? sorry, France. we really do love you.)

Haiti was the only nation born of a successful slave revolt in recorded history, but it took two decades for the world to recognize it's independence. And, then France only agreed to the recognition after Haiti paid them an astronomical sum of 150,000,000 Francs (which was 10 times Haiti's annual revenue and twice the price of the Louisiana Purchase, which is 70 times larger.) So even after winning their freedom, Haiti was extorted into buying it, too. That's a pretty big fuck you to the Haitians, huh? 

That interaction violated international law - even then - and it still hasn't been rectified to this day. That massive debt has screwed over Haiti ever since as every available bit of cash was sent overseas for debt repayment. This inhibited Haiti from investing in their own country. In 1915, 80% of their government's revenue went to the French bank that had financed their "debt." The desperate need for cash forced the Haitian farmers to take on risky and/or environmentally intensive crops, and catastrophic deforestation and soil erosion ensued. 

Economic instability fostered political instability, and as a result, Haiti has been subject to 32 coups in its 206-year history. That's an average of one every 6.5 years. Though many were internally driven, not all were. The French, German, British, and American forces have all allegedly engendered coups and have supposedly cleared out the national vaults on more than one occasion. Yikes. 

scenes from the 2004 coup

So, with all of that said, there is good stuff happening in Haiti - aside from the current cholera outbreak, the widespread homelessness and poverty, uniform environmental degradation, and so on. The arts, painting, native crafts, and writing, have been gaining international light since the earthquake in 2009. With our minds focused on Haiti's pre-colonialism culture, let's tune in to Haiti and listen to what it sounds like today, shall we?

Radio Galaxie

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Greenland - Nuuk, Naturally

Man, that Cuban station ended up being fantastic, huh? We think it could give that Namibian station a run for it's money as one of our favorites.

OK, we're aching for some cooler weather. Let's continue our journey around the world by heading to Greenland, which is decidedly cooler than Cuba.

With only 57,637 people in the entire country, Greenland the least densely populated country in the world. The city of Asheville is larger! And, Asheville is rinky-dink.

Their parliament, Kalaallit Nunaanni Inatsisartut, only has 31 members. Talk about getting stuff done! This is there parliament. They can all fit in there! We both had classes in high school that required larger rooms!

We never knew, but apparently it's under Danish rule. The US tried to buy Greenland after WWII, but the Danes politely declined. And, thank goodness we didn't get it. Where would we put that 51st star?

Greenland is edging towards independence though. They have been granted domestic self-governance last year. We know what you're thinking and we agree. Last year was 2009 and that's basically the future! Not being free at this day in age is mind boggling. Oh boy did that sound American....

You know what's really cool? They have a 100% literacy rate! When do you EVER hear that?!

So, let's get down to business. Pinky really wanted to stream this station from Hans Island,  since it looks like it's run by his kind of people (whatever THAT means), but they won't stream it to you unless you have a Hans Island ISP. (Ellen's note: This has got to be a hoax. According to Wikipedia, which doesn't lie, there are no inhabitants of Hans Island. And, this guy looks like he's fresh from the funny farm. He also looks like he doesn't know how to use a toothbrush, much less a computer. So, I'm highly skeptical that there even internet there.) Pinky thinks this is pretty awesome. Those guys must be CRAZY. And, trust us, we love the crazy.

View Larger Map

Hans Island is waaaaay the fuck up there. Way the fuck.

The only non-news streaming station we could find broadcasting in Greenland that wasn't boosted from Canada or Denmark was this classical station, and even though it's in Danish, it ought to be a nice change of pace, and kind of apropos for how we imagine Greenland to be.

Let's escape the cold and tune in to the capital city of Nuuk, Greenland and chill out - both literally and figuratively.

DR P2 Netradio

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Cuba - Havana Heat

Hey whatcha doin'? Just shakin' all that Cheez-It salt out of the bottom of the bag into your mouth? That's pretty gross.

Anyway, how did you like Kazakhstan? There ended up being a bunch of late-night techno -- sorry, "house" -- in the afternoon, which kinda helps when you're trying to move a mountain of paperwork. Although, we're embarrassed to tell anyone that we listened to it, except for y'all, of course.

Let's head to Cuba today! Our friend Martha requested we take a trip to our Missile Crisis neighbor this past weekend. She went down there a few years back. It's Pinky's boyfriend's ancestral homeland, too. And, since he's laid up in bed with some kind of flu, maybe he can tune in today. 

Just some scary Cuban Missile Crisis top secret intelligence documents to make you crap your pants.

Pinky had a bitch of a time finding a live streaming station that wasn't news, but finally found this one after trying about 3 dozen websites. Literally. Man, who would have thought? This one sounds like it'll be a little more poppy than we wanted to represent a sound as distinctive as Cuba. It seems like we're getting about a 70/30 awesome to crappy mix so far, which now that we think about it, is probably far better than anything else we've done.

Get ready for some pork sammie eatin', cigar smokin', can goods stock pilin', embargo survivin', lifelong president and his crazy brother havin', antique car drivin' entertainment. Enjoy!

Radio Rebelde

Click on "Audio Real en Internet" on the right hand side of the page.

Also, here's some gay Cuban radio soap opera info. Sounds sketchy? It's not!

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