roberrific

Sometimes myself and my friends (who do NOT wish to be included in my travel journalism) will take shopping trips around the city and have fun buying things that we think can sell for more money on eBay. Its a game.The rules are simple. We each have $50 maximum budget and one month to turn a profit. In this time we are expressly forbidden to promote our sales on our own social networks, like for example my travel blog, as the game is not about how many friends you have, but whether or not you can use your knowledge of antiques to pick the best items and turn a profit on your purchases in an online auction websites. Hence you will se no links to my eBay store or any sales here. The key to success ... read more

At first glance, Mexico's Days of the Dead celebrations (which fall on November 1st and 2nd annually) seem like a different take on Halloween. There are people in costume, and they seem to be connecting with the shadow side of life dressed in costumes like skeletons (calaveras) or devils (diablos). Besides these basic similarities, however, the two holidays couldn't be more different. On my first trip to Mexico I was struck by the unaffected attitude the Mexicans have towards death. First of all, this is not a country that seems overly concerned with health and/or safety. There's no Public Health Board stepping into every restaurant or checking up on food vendors to make sure that the food is property handled. You're expected to jump on and off moving buses if you're a strapping young man like ... read more

Wildcrafting is the evil twin brother of agroforestry. What that means is that while the word agroforestry communicates a sense of intelligent design in the efficient cultivation of forest products, the word wildcrafting implies trespassing and thieving away natural occurring commodities from an absentee landowner, and nature. The types of all natural material commonly sold on eBay include driftwood, flowers, feathers, mosses, mushrooms, ferns, grains, quills, clay, wicker, burls, seaweed, nuts, herbs, dried berries, seeds, cones, bark, saps, roots, rocks, fossils, shells, dye, antlers, leather, teeth, fur, bones especially skulls. Wildcrafting at its worst is definitely not cool, because if everyone was a ‘nature merchant’ we wouldn’t have much wild country to admire. But then again, if that were the case, the demand for natural products would plummet… right now our civil... read more