I love the weird, gross and obscure—finding it and then sharing it with you (like this post on how butter rum flavor comes from the scrapings inside a civet’s anus, for example). This week, let’s focus on travel, shall we?

1. 

   A large cruise ship can generate 210,000 gallons of human sewage during a week-long cruise. What they do with it is largely up to the cruise line, and the options range from on-board waste treatment plants to burning the waste to dumping it in the ocean—as long as it’s 12 miles offshore, it’s legal! The “what do you do with the poop?” question might be a good one to start asking if you’re choosing between cruise lines.

2. An estimated 3,000 Euros (~4060 USD) are thrown into Rome’s Trevi fountain each day. The money is collected and donated to charity.
3. The average cab ride from Tokyo’s Narita airport into the city costs $300.
4. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on the Caribbean island of Saba has the world’s smallest airport, with a runway length of just 396 meters (1300 feet). Better not tell the pilot of Boeing’s 747 Dreamlifter.
5. There are 60,000 stray dogs in Bucharest, Romania. In other words, one stray dog for every 31 residents. (Funny, I was there in 2011 and don’t remember seeing many strays. Unattractive footwear, yes. Dogs, no.)
6. Speaking of stray dogs, India has the highest number of human deaths from rabies per year. The number is estimated at 35,000.

7. 

   The kola nut, which comes from trees native to Africa and is the origin of the term “cola,” is still popular as gift currency for chiefs and guests in some African countries, such as Mali. (I handed them out myself while I was hiking through the Bandiagara region there.) Kola nuts are also an ingredient in the latest version of Virgil’s Real Cola (sold in the U.S.), proving once more, all that’s old becomes new again.

8. A great place to get creepy for cheapy is Mexico’s Isla de las Muñecas, or, Island of the Dolls. All shapes, all sizes, some decapitated, just hangin’ from the trees.
9. I was going to put in a little gem about some kind of disgusting food from somewhere, and in doing the research, got too completely grossed out myself to be able to include it. If you want to feel the bile rise from your belly to the back of your throat, fill your boots over here: “25 of the Strangest Foods from Around the World.”
10. At the Heladería Coromoto ice cream shop in Mérida, Venezuela you can get Viagra ice cream. At the time this post went to press, birth control ice cream was still unavailable.

What global kookiness have you encountered in print or real life? Please share with us!

Images shared under Creative Commons license. Saba airport image by Fyodor Borisov and Island of the Dolls image by Esparto Palma.