I don´t know what it is about the climate here, but every woman over the age of 50 has a fur coat. The people at PETA would not be happy. And all of these women are tiny. Look, I realize that old people shrink. I think we can all agree on that. But the old people here are the tiniest I have ever seen. I swear to god, last week I was walking and didn´t see this little old lady till the last second...I literally stepped over her.

Every culture has it´s rites of passage. Young Masai boys in Kenya have to kill a lion to become a man. We have Bahmitsfas (how the hell do you spell that?) for the Jewish religions. In Australia, they go on Walk-abouts. Apparently, in Spain you become an official "senora" when you get your first fur coat.

What really bothers me about this is not the senseless murders of all these furry creatures. While it isn´t exactly a bright spot in my day, I can live with it. What irks me is this...how can these women be wearing fur coats when I am walking around in a button down shirt. I´m tough, but I´m not that tough. It´s not like the temperature is below zero and I´m walking around with no jacket to prove a point. On 40, 50, 55 degree days you see these women huddled together for warmth wearing their fur coats like they´re climbing Everest and the temperature just dropped to negative 40 degrees.

When I see this it makes me realize something and begin to dread another. First, now I understand why everyone was wearing pants and no one was sweating back in October when I first got here and it was like 85 degrees. That´s chilly for them. It really makes me worry about the summer though. If my hunch is right, I´m going to be one sweaty bastard...