Think you've tried all the exotic foods? Visitors to the Mercado Republica de San Luis Potosi in Mexico will find a particularly disgusting option: rat meat served in a rat broth. Oddity Central reported that each bowl of rat broth includes vegetables and spices and a whole field rat for the low price of $5.80. The vendor, Jose Remedios Hernandez, inherited the booth from his mother; he's the last rat meat seller in the market. Rat meat is coveted for its flavor and alleged medicinal properties. It reportedly helps people with anemia, diabetes and cancer.
Boom!
Talk about explosive developments! In Holladay, Utah, authorities were summoned to a home on April 23 to advise a homeowner on how to dispose of "a lot" of explosives, including dynamite that was estimated to be 60 to 80 years old. KUTV reported that multiple agencies descended on the home, where it was determined that the explosives were not stable enough to be moved and would have to be destroyed in a controlled explosion. "The house will be uninhabitable at the end of this event," Tony Barker of the Unified Fire Authority said. The homeowner was allowed to remove some possessions before the detonation, and the neighborhood was evacuated. The detonation took place on April 24, causing damage to some neighboring properties, including blown-out windows and minor fire damage. The homeowner told police that her husband, who had recently died, had inherited the explosives from his father more than 40 years ago.
Golden rain
Mounrebus, one of three volcanoes on Ross Island in Antarctica, is quite active, United Press International reported, emitting plumes of gas and steam along with partially molten boulders. Scientists are particularly intrigued, though, with the sprays of tiny crystals of metallic gold — around 80 grams per day, worth about $6,000. Traces of the gold dust have been found 621 miles away from the volcano.
Worth all the work
Robert and Betty Fooks of West Dorset, England, were renovating their 400-year-old farmhouse when they decided to tear up the concrete floor to increase the height of their kitchen, the Daily Star reported. As Robert wielded a pickax, he came upon a treasure 2 feet below the floor: $75,000 worth of ancient coins. The currency, which dated to the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I, King James I and King Charles I, were in pristine condition. "I presume they were buried during the English Civil War and the person intended to retrieve them but never got the chance," Betty said. A coin specialist said the coins were probably left there around 1642.
A short trip
Twenty inmates of a prison in Maracaibo, Venezuela, didn't get far after tunneling out of their cells on April 17, Metro News reported. Waiting at the outside wall of the tunnel was a group of police officers who had been doing a training exercise. They had to help the prisoners out of the tight tunnel before returning them inside. The police commissioner said officials are investigating the breakout with the goal of preventing similar situations in the future.
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