world geography

Guinea-Bissau is one of 4 countries with the name Guinea in it and this place might be the least known of them all. Not a whole lot of people know or have travelled to Guinea-Bissau but this place is the Kashew Kingdom.

For real. Cashews make up 85% of the jobs and $ for this place so get ready to toss a few back. On this episode, we go at little nutty  and discuss what the top nuts are and are cashews the top nut? Almonds?! Pistachios!?!?!?!

We talk about the ancient art of carrying HUGE amounts of weight on your head. Walking. For possibly miles. Which the women in this country do effortlessly. 

And speaking of women, this place also has a people that are a matriarchal society. One of the few in the world! 

Have you been to #Guinea-Bissau? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Malta is a tiny island country in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. While it is itty-bitty, it has quite the history and has been conquered by just about every nation under the sun.

Despite it's size, there is a WHOLE lot to see and do there. They literally have 365 churches so you have no excuse not to go drop some prayers while you're there. Malta has great weather and some pretty nice scenery too. If you're into that sorta thing. 

We go DEEP into the history of this place, including the legendary "Siege of Malta."
We talk about Popeye Village, a film set turned theme part. 
And we get into the very unique Maltese language that is a combination of several other languages.  

Have you been to #Malta? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Q-at-ar or is it Qa-tar? Who knows and apparently they don't care how you say it! I like this place already.

Qatar is a small country, about the size of the US state Connecticut, but this country is BIG in a whole lot of other ways. They have a ton of off shore liquid oil...which means they're got that money. They are developing at one of the fastest rates in the world. And they've hosted a World Cup which most other countries can't claim.

Qatar is a mix of old and new and we get into what makes this place unique. One unique thing, is they are super into falconry. You read that right, they love falcons and even have a market dedicated to this art. This gets us talking; what exotic pet would we have?

We also go over the House of Thani (Qatar royal family), the World Cup, and we get into ROBOT CAMEL RACING!!! Well, not robot camels, but regular camels with robot jockeys. Still cool. 

Have you been to #Qatar? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

On this episode of CountryBoyz, we take a trip down to South America to #Uruguay. Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America by land, but we feel like it's a pretty well known. As in we've actually all heard of this place! 

Many people say it's kind of like a mini-Argentina right next to Brazil...or is it a mini-Brazil across the river from Argentina!? You figure that one out. 

Uruguay is filled with flat farm land and known for several things that you need flat land to excel at; steak, soccer, and saxophones. Ok maybe they're not known for saxophones but DEFINITELY steak and soccer. 

Also known to have the longest national anthem in the world, we go into our own anthem as well as bite stories inspired by local Uruguayan soccer star, Luis Suarez. Dude likes to chomp. And for the first time in CB history, ONE OF US HAS ACTUALLY BEEN THERE!!! So we get first had knowledge from our Uruguayan professor, Jason. Give 'er a listen!

Have you been to Uruguay? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Tuvalu or Tu-VA-lu is the top (or bottom) of a lot of lists.

Smallest country by population
Least visited
Least developed country!!!

You really gotta go out of your way to get to Tuvalu, but seems kinda cool once you're there. If you're into livin' off the grid or not being around too many people. 

This place has a friendship pact where you can become relatives with anyone you want. Choose carefully though cause it's FOR LIFE. They also got pretty lucky and own the rights to the  ".tv" domain extension. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't have too much. 

They do have a runway though where everyone hangs out and plays games. Does YOUR country have a runway where you can hang out and party? Yah, didn't think so.

Have you been to Tuvalu? If so, and you aren't from there, congrats! You've done something almost no one on Earth has! Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

São Tomé and Príncipe AKA Saint Thomas and Prince is a tiny island off the west coast of Africa. They speak Portuguese & have incredible scenery but for some reason, no one really goes here. 

We can't quite put a finger on it. Sao Tome never really became a tourist spot, though you would never guess by looking at it. Looks pretty dang scenic to me but what do I know?

Maybe its too far away? 
Maybe the never developed it?
Maybe they just  DON'T CARE!?!?

We get into this mysterious country and also discuss how unbalanced the island of Sao Tome is versus the much smaller and more remote island of Principe. Kinda makes you wonder who is really pulling their weight in this relationship.

Also, this place has one of the most perfect climates for cocoa production. So YOU KNOW we go down a chocolate candy wormhole and come up with what our favorite bar is. 

Have you been to São Tomé and Príncipe? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

The island of #timor is split. The west side of the island is part of Indonesia and the east part of the island is...East Timor AKA Timor-Leste if you're speakin Portuguese. And East Timor is EXACTLY where were going to on our 20th episode!!!

Despite it being a Portuguese colony for over 500 years, they've only been on their own official country for about 20. So it's still a baby when it comes to the official legislative country UN whatever mumbo-jumbo. 

There are many things that make this place different than other Southeast Asian countries. They are Catholic. They eat pork. A percentage of the populations speaks Portuguese. They are kind of a fish out of water which is exactly what we get into! 

You know the feeling, where you feel kind of out of place and don't belong? Yep, that's kind of like Timor-Leste. 

We also get into eating sea mammals. Not that we condone ever eating a whale BUT if it was a life or death situation an you HAD TO eat a whale creature...some surely are more appealing than some others, right?! Maybe not. Who knows. 

Have you been to Timor-Leste? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Dominica, or dom-in-EE-ka as it's pronounced, might seem like every other run-of-the-mill Caribbean island. But it's a little different then the rest. 

First off, they are relatively untouched and some say that if Columbus were to go there today, it wouldn't be too much different than when he first arrived. It also has the highest number of volcanoes per capita at a whopping 10! Okay, that's not a lot but it is for this tiny, little island. 

It's also home to the largest population of ethnic Caribe people AND is one of the only countries with purple in it's flag. 

We go deep on this one, getting into what our own coat-of-arms would be, under what circumstances would we try another human, and even what our own country, CountryBoy Island would be like....*spoiler alert: we all concluded that we would probably end up eating Jason and making a raft out of his hair. Yup.

Have you been to Dominica? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Turkmenistan is a wild and crazy place. They have a giant city with tons of stuff to do...but most of the citizens can't/don't actually go there. They had 2 eccentric dictators in the past 30 years who created a ton of wild laws and monuments. And they love Guinness World Records which they have broken quite a few of. 

 Oh and we can't forget that #turkmenistan also has a burning pit in the middle of the desert that has been on fire since the 70s. Pretty neat. 

This is a place of contradictions and we get right into the ins and outs of this very...distinct country. We talk about what kind of crazy stuff we would do if we were a dictator and what kind of Guinness records we realistically could break. 

Have you been to Turkmenistan? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

Deep within the country of South Africa, we have another country completely inside, #lesotho.  Lesotho is one of the highest countries on Earth. Well by average height. The lowest point here is higher than the lowest point anywhere else. Or something like that. 

They have a lot of water...but unfortunately for Lesotho, they sell most of it to their neighbor South Africa. 

It's also a land famous for it's distinct hat...and boy do we get into a deep discussion about hats. Check it out and maybe you'll learn a thing or two! It's about time you did, right?

Have you been to Lesotho? Tell us what we missed or what we (hopefully) got right!

We have a very special backyard episode where we talk about the smallest country in South America, Suriname! 

As Suriname is a very mixed country, we get into what everyone wants to hear about: our favorite party mixes! Chex, Crispix, candy, nuts!? Are we nuts? Maybe. 

We then get into some outrageous dictators/rulers, the first time you dropped a cuss word in front of your parents and at the end we even try a few of the national dishes. Bojo and Pom.

Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

CountryBoyz are BACK BABY!!! Except for Matt. There were some renovations going on in our studio space but those are all done and we're ready to check out the mysterious Himalayan country known as Bhutan. 

None of us really knew too much about Bhutan but once we started digging, we found some pretty cool stuff. 

The government measures their success on Gross Domestic Happiness. They have a national dress code that all citizens must follow. They put a ban on smoking which can catch ya 3-5 years in the slammer. And last but not least, certain regions of the country have a weird obsession with the PENIS! Yup. 

Overall though, Bhutan is a pretty interesting country, unlike any we've been to before. Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

Kiribati is a cluster of islands in the Pacific ocean. Well, technically it's a cluster of atolls if you wanna be a big ol' nerd about it! 

This place is a real life version of the Kevin Costner movie Water World. They are experiencing the effects of global warming first hand and unfortunately might not be around for much longer. 

But while they are here...we talk about strange time zones, a bartering system they use called "bubut" (we think), and gangs of vicious dogs roaming the islands!!! 

Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

Shake, shake, shake. Shake Djibouti. Ok, we get it. It has "booty" in the name and that won't stop us from making that joke over and over! It's kind of hard not to. 

On this crazy episode, we are joined by guest host Champagne Shane! Djibouti is the third smallest country in Africa and is very strategic. It's located right by the Red Sea and the Gulf Aden so a lot of ships pass by here and a lot of world militaries are located there. We get into why this place is so strategic, the best strategy/board games, chewing khat and more!

We also talk briefly about Djibouti too, if that's your thing. 

Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

Belize is a bit of an anomaly. It's a Central American country that identifies more as a Caribbean island. It's a tiny place with a lot going on and a true mix-mash of different cultures. 

They got blue waters, they got pristine jungles, they got a top secret thumb-style handshake only known by Belizeans. Or something like that, you let us know. 

We get down and dirty on this episode, re-hashing Jeff's distain towards scuba diving. A lifelong  bet involving Sunny Delight. A wild tech tycoon who made his compound in Belize. And of course all the corny Belize/Believe jokes that you would imagine.  Just like the country of Belize, this is not something you wanna miss!

Find out about these crazy facts and more in the latest episode of CountryBoyz!!!

On this episode, we head to the Alps and the tiny country of Liechtenstein. This is a weird little place in between Austria and Switzerland with a strange history. We go through it all; an Olympian prince turned pop singer, a denture kingpin worth several billion dollars, and the national dish of Schwartenmagen - pickled meat in jelly or something like that. Yum! 

The Boyz all like Liechtenstein, especially Matt who wants to move there immediately and find a princess to marry. Check out the episode and be on the lookout for more CountryBoyz!!!