The good folks at Wiley, my publisher, just emailed me the names of the randomly selected winners.

The grandprize winner of the HD flipcam and Frommer’s guides is Melissa Markofski, a longtime follower of my blogging exploits. Congrats Melissa!

The runner-up winners of Frommer’s guides are Phillip Bohning and Simon Tatum.  Yes, the Simon Tatum of film-making fame.

Thanks everyone for entering. There were nearly 400 entries. Special thanks go out to Diana Bernardo and Larry Olson of Wiley for scheming up this idea and providing the goodies, and to all the awesome folks at Rule29, the best darn designers west of the Fox River!

Honduras

I visited Honduras in 2005 on what was to become the first leg of my “Where Am I Wearing?” adventure. I spent a lot of my time on the Mosquito Coast trying not to be killed by crazy biologists and deadly venomous snakes, playing soccer on a sandbar, and teaching an island village the game of baseball. In general, other than my brother coming down with malaria I had a lovely time in Honduras and met some great people.

But since then a lot has happened to me and Honduras.  My book was published, I got married, and a daughter followed. Honduras was hit by extreme flooding and a coup that left their president standing on a runway in his skivvies in Costa Rica.

I’ve fared much better than Honduras the last few years, so I thought I would give the country some love. It deserves it.  You have one little coup and people start canceling trips. It takes a long time to win back tourists after such negative press.  Ask Bosnia, which has amazing scenery and beautiful hikes. I just checked the State Department’s website and their aren’t any “don’t go” warnings.  So go.

If you go, you’re going to need a guidebook. I know that they sponsored the contest and I’m somewhat obligated to say this, but go with Frommer’s Honduras guide by Nicholas Gill.  I haven’t used it myself, but it’s new as of October 2009, I’ve used other Frommer’s guides and found them more than adequate and shiny, and I’m a big fan of the work of Nicholas Gill.

Go for the jungles (not the snakes or Malaria) along the unexplored Mosquito Coast. Go for the diving off the Bay Islands. Go for the Mayan temples.

I went because that’s where my favorite T-shirt was made and I had a blast.

I’ll announce the winners of the contest in the near future.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is it, the last clue.

I’m joined by my brother Kyle who accompanied me to the country you need to guess.

After I give the clue (the country in question is where my T-shirt was made) Kyle shares with us what it’s like to contract malaria in _____ and come down with it in France.

And if you’re not sure where my T-shirt was made, all you have to do is read this sample from “Where Am I Wearing?” (PDF)  to find out.

Wearing my favorite T-shirt in front of the factory (in the country you need to guess) that I write about in Part I of my book “Where Am I Wearing?” My wife hates my hair this long. Apparently so did the security guards at the factory.

Next Wednesday I’ll post the final video clue in which I’ll talk about my factory visit.

(Warning sponsor and self-pimpage!) Hey and if you’re looking for something to spend all those bookstore gift cards on you could do worse than a host of Frommer’s guides and of course a copy or 10 of Where Am I Wearing?

Could one of these kids be the next Julio Cesar De Leon?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Special Thanks to Frommer’s for helping support and promote this contest!

Face-to-face with the ultimate pit viper.  (cartoon by Geoff Hassing)

Next week I’ll share the story behind this cartoon.

> Wednesday Nov 11th – Picture Post
> Wednesday Nov 18th – Video Clue
> Wednesday Nov 25th – Picture Post
> Wednesday Dec 2nd – Video Clue
> Wednesday Dec 9th – Picture Post
> Wednesday Dec 16th – Video Clue
> Wednesday Dec 23rd – Picture Post
> Wednesday Dec 30th – Video Clue
> Thursday Dec 31st Sweeps End

And your bonus clue:

My brother Kyle says, “Better take your antimalarial meds here!”.