the last post

May 15th
we arrived into cusco early at 8 am and made our way to the pariwana hostel in cusco. It is quite similar to the one in lima but a lot bigger. Because it was still early we couldnt check in yet so we decided to watch a movie, aka crash hard after a night with little sleep. Slept great and woke up and went to a awesome local market full of fresh harvests and best of all, live animals. There were the usual chickens, ducks, and rabbits but they also had cuy, which is guinea pig. Cuy is a very common meal in peru and people eat it like its not a big deal. After the market we went and did some shopping in another market that which had a really cool open air meat market. Having worked in a meat department, I found this really interesting while the girls did not really feel the same! We walked around the city for a while and discovered some great things there. Cusco is a beautiful city, with historic ruins and an amazing plaza. We came back to the hostel, ate, played cards and drank, and went out. Anya and Courtney were pretty tired so it was a guys night with sam and i. Had a really great time watching some live music and drinking lots of pisco sour´s.
May 16
Woke up and chilled out for the beginning part of the day but then hit the city. Walked all over and went into a lot of shops and restaurants. Still no cuy though, as it is about 20 dollars! We walked up this huge hill to go look at the ruins called ¨sexy woman´´. thats really not their name but it sure as hell sounds like it. We had to pay around 20 dollars to enter but a man came up to us and offered to get in cheap on horses through the back. Of course courtney and i wanted to because it was horses and it was cheaper. We took a 3 hour horse ride through some of the most beautiful country ever. Great horses although mine had a problem with eating other horses poop. Got off and looked at an old temple and then continued on to sexy woman. By the time we were there it got dark but the ruins were still amazing. 150 ton rocks made huge inkan walls which was part of a great city. Went back to the hostel, ate and drank, and went out together. One thing about cusco is that its quite touristy because of machu picchu. Therefore, being american makes for lots of attention and free drinks! Great time and after met this girl from pariwana and ended up talking culture until about 730 am. Great talk and really opened up my eyes to the world
May 17th
Woke up and chilled out for a while until we had to make our journey for the train to the city close to machu picchu. I was so scared because i feared we would miss the train because we were late after our bus gotted stopped by the cops. But we got to the station to find out that the time on our tickets were wrong by an hour. So we could all just chill and eat instead. We got on the train, full of backpackers, and played cards and chilled out. Got into Aguas Calientes around 10pm and went straight to buy tickets for the park. They cost around 20 dollars to enter machu picchu while the train cost 60 dollars round trip. Went to sleep right away becuase we would have to get up really early.
May 18th
Woke up at 4am to get our bus tickets to machu picchu. We had to get the counter by 430 so we could be the first ones to the park. We had planned to climb up the famous mountain wayana picchu, the mountain behind machu picchu. Everything worked out with our tickets and got to the park a little after 6. We entered and saw the ruins in the morning and made our trek up the mountain at 7. They only let up 400 people every day to climb it so thats why we had to get there early. We climbed the mountain, a really steep climb which took around an hour. Because the elevation is high, the climb was really difficult but completely worth it. Up on top of the mountain you could sit on rocks overlooking machu picchu and the high mountains. It was seriously the best view i have ever seen in my life! We hung out there and went down to see this great cave we had heard about. It was 45 minutes down to the cave, which was not very cool at all. Just a small cave with some ruins. We left the cave thinking we were close to machu picchu, but it turned out we had an hour uphill hike to get there. Being already exhausted from climbing the mountain, this hike was one of the hardest ever. The cave...not worth it haha. But we made it back up to machu picchu, chilled out for a while and then looked for a guide. Our guide Marcos was really knowledgeable about the site and everything about the culture that once was. I learned so very much about the site and was so happy we paid a little extra to learn about it. Machu Picchu is amazing. The views from it are the best in the world and the ruins are so well preserved, it is a must for all. We left the park around 230, exhausted and headed back for the city. We ate alpaca, which is a great lean meat and took a well deserved nap at the hostel. We got up around 8 to take our train back. The train ride was good, full of cards and reading. Got back into cusco at around 2am, when we found the first hostel and just passed out
May 19th
Woke up around 9 to get to the airport for our flight back to lima. Sam left earlier than us to go on a five day trip in Buenos Aires. Got into lima around 2pm, checked into pariwana there again, and chilled for a while. We ate and went shopping for our last things in south america and came back. From there we knew it was the end of our trip so we were all tired from all the traveling and lack of sleep. We watched a show called how i met your mother for around 5 hours. It was great just relaxing for a bit. We went to bed for some much deserved sleep.
May 20th
No alarm this morning so we slept in until 11. Got up and ate breakfast and read all after noon. Nothing much to write today, because thats pretty much what we did. It was great though. The girls left for their flight around 8pm. It is a strange feeling now to be all alone. But..I met some great people that night. I was sharing a room with a person from Israel, a guy from Brazil, and a couple from Argentina. We all talked for a while about culture and south america. Great conversations. Went to bed for he last time in south america.
May 21st
Slept in late and checked out and everything. Have been hanging out in Lima enjoying the culture and people watching in the park. Leave for my 10pm flight at 6pm and cant wait.

Leaving South America is going to be bitter sweet. I am so excited to be home with my family and friends but am going to miss it here in South America. I have learned so many things here and feel like I am a different person. I have learned to value those who are closest and to live in the moment. I have also learned so much about culture in general and maybe that america is not always the best that is out there. Its a whole big world out there, and its worth going out and seeing!
Hasta Luego, South America, its been real!

Peru!

May 8th
We left for the border of peru from cuenca early so we could cross during the day. We took a bus ar 10 that took 5 hours to get to the border town of huayquillas. Once we got there, we had to figure out how to actually get into another country. The city was crazy with hagglers and taxis and was annoying to get offered so many things. and we had all of our bags and money on us also. So we took a taxi to peru immigration and realized we never got an exit stamp from ecuador. So we left all the way across town and went and got the exit stamp and then all the way back to enter peru. A really long process, like 3 hours or so. From immigration we took a bus to the beach town of Mancora Peru. Of course right away our tire went flat so the trip there took 4 hours total. Got in around 8 pm and went to a beach hostel called angeles del mar. Not a very nice place but 5 dollars a night. Mancora is a great small beach town and is just being discovered for tourism. There are a number of tourists but everyone is around my age. We went out to the bars and took advantage of some happy hours but soon found out that peru will be expensive to be in. Nothing compares to the 70cents beers in venezuela! Got back to the hostal late and got really bit up by mosquitos. Long Day!
May 9th
Not much. Which was so perfect to hang out after a long day of travel. The beaches are warm and secluded and really beautiful. Drank beers and played cards for a long time and watched the sunset. Took some great naps on the beach. At night we bought a couple bottles of wine and chilled on the beach for the night. Also listened to some great live salsa in the plaza.
May 10th
another great day on the beach. A little too windy but got some great naps in nonetheless. More beers and cards. It seems that bringing a cribbage board was a great idea! We spent the day at the beach and caught a bus to Trujillo overnight at 10pm. The bus was a total of 9 hours. I popped a couple sleeping pills which was a great idea and slept the whole way!
May 11th
Got into Trujillo around 7am. Trujillo was just a day trip so we didnt have to bus all the way to lima in a day. Got a room in a hostal to put all of our stuff in for 9dollars in total. Trujillo is a bigger city of 750000 but still has a great smaller town feel. It has a really amazing plaza and historical district. I really liked the city better than cuenca which was supposed to be amazingly beautiful. Walked around and visited the supposed house of Simon Bolivar, the liberator of 4 south american countries. After we went to a really cool toy museum full of all kinds of old toys. After we visited a couple of amazing ruins. The first was called chan chan. It is the largest clay city in the world. It was something like 100 ad. Really well preserved and amazingly huge. Great courtyards and even a catacomb. After chan chan we went to another old temple where human sacrifices occured. Really well preserved and even older than chan chan. Came back and chilled and caught a bus for lima at 10pm. Took more pills and was out.
May 12th
Got into lima around 7am and checked into a hostal for 10dollars a night. We stayed in a neighborhood in lima called miraflores. It is a really nice safe neighborhod in lima. A little pricey to eat but really beautiful. We hopped on a bus to see the downtown. Lima is so huge at 7.8 million and the bus was long to the city center. We saw the main plaza and where the president lives. Really great historical center also in lima. Ah a side note. There is a soda down here that i absolutely love, Inka Kola. Its kinda like a cream soda but soo much better. We then went to a church called San Francisco. It is famous for is huge catacombs with thousands of bones. Really great but spooky tour. After we went to a spanish inquisition museum with real parts and pieces from the inquisition. After because it was our first night in lima we had to celebrate, so we all bought cigars and went to the casino. Lost some money on blackjack but really fun. After we went out to a more touristy part of town to go to a bar. Went to a bar called son de cuba. Had an amazing live salsa band and had some of the best dancers i have ever seen in my life. Great scene but really expensive.
May 13th
Decided to change hostal for a better scene and location. We changes to a hostal for backpackers called pariwana. Amazing hostal for the same price as the other place. Lots of great people, fooseball, cheap food, and just a great atmosphere. We hung at the hostal and played some cards. After anyas brother zach who lives in lima came to hang and go to the inka market with us. Saw some great stuff but am going to hold out for cuzco. After we came back and ate some great lasagna at the hostal for cheap. After we got ready and went to a party and then to a couple bars. Really fun night which included some drawings of us by an artist. At around 3 we went to get some street burgers which really hit the spot.
May 14th
Today was a pretty lazy day. Woke up late and chilled on the patio for a while. After we all got ready and went to a part of town called Borranco. Its the bohemian part of town where a lot of hippies and artists hang out. A really different part of town but amazingly chill. Went to the beach which was nice actually, to my suprise. After got some peruvian food in a nice fish platter and some sangria. Hung in borranco for a while but came back and played cards and fooseball. We are leaving to the airport to go to cuzco at 3am so we are just going to chill for the night
Until Next Time!

More equador!

Monday May 3rd
We got up pretty early in order to go explore downtown Quito. Alberto was nice enough to take all of our things into his office so we could leave from the downtown terminal. He also gave us a couple of taxi vouchers to get us around. We left his office and said goodbye and thanks for all he did. Alberto and his wife were so nice to us. They immediately made us a part of their family and worked around our schedules to help us out any way that they could. Anyways we hitched a cab to the historical part of Quito. Cabs around the city are pretty cheap at 2 bucks a pop. The historical part of Quito is amazing, partly due to the fact that is is protected so that no historical buildings get torn down. Therefore, all of the buildings look like from another time in history. We arrived at the main plaza which as all plazas in South America include the cathedral and the main government building. We were lucky enough to view a really great government music performance outside of the main building where the president lives. From there we toured three different churches, each spectacular. I have never seen that much gold before. There was this one church that I swear was almost completely gold on the inside. The reason for all of the gold is that there are so many churches in Quito and all were trying to draw people into them. Therefore by adding more gold they could attract more patrons. From the churches we headed up a big hill to where this giant vigin statue was. It was almost like the statue of liberty, walking up plenty of steps and arriving at the top rewarded a spectacular view of the city. I have come to realize that Quito is a city full of great views and that i really need to come back to see everything. From the statue we headed back down to go eat some of Ecuadors famous ceviche. Ceviche is seafood marinated in acidic things such as lime and lemon. We all shared, kalamari, conch, fish, and shrimp ceviche. From there we went to the Basilica National Voto of Quito. This church was so amazing and gothic looking, full with spires, stained glass, and bell towers which were all accessed by shacky ladders! From the basilica we headed to the bus terminal and took a 3 and a half hour trip to banos.
Tues May 4th.
We arrived into banos (yes just like the spanish word for toilet) a little after midnight. We grabbed the cheapest hostal called alcazar. For 5 bucks a person a night, it was a steal. Plus a very friendly grandfatherly man who gave us good advice! We slept and woke up and got some amazing breakfast. I had some pancakes loaded with fresh friut. From there we went and rented mountain bikes for 5 dollars a day. We went on a long journey starting at 11 and went on a very nice but rugged path to a city called puyo. Along the way we saw and got really close to two amazing waterfalls. After the second waterfall it started to rain really hard but we persisted on. Oh yes and also i jumped off a bridge along the way. A 45 meter bridge was all ready with equipment. Really amazing rush and completely safe. After about 2 hours of biking in the rain, my tire went flat. I was relieved because I was really soaked and cold, so we hopped a bus back and returned our bikes. So far it has been a little chilly in ecuador with rain every day. Anyways, we got back from the trip and took a much needed nap and shower and went to eat at this italian place with calzones 3 times the size of my hand! After we headed to a bar to get some huge beers and play cards and listen to 90s jams.
Wednesday May 5th.
Woke up to another awesome pancake breakfast at the same restaurant. We then headed to go ride horses at 10. Our horses were great, very calm but could really gain some ground. They did a good amount of cantering in the mountains which was really great! We were on them for around 4 hours and made a stop at the base of the volcano in banos. We did some hiking, found some volcanic rocks, and found a really neat spring that was full of great tasting carbonated water. We headed back and took a really long nap from lack of sleep and then went to the banos. The banos is a public hot springs which takes hot volcanic water to heat the pools. This water was just what we needed to soak our muscles. We were there for a couple of hours and then headed to a swiss bistro. I had an amazing steak while the others had pasta. After a big dinner, we were all tired so we headed back to the hostal to play some cribbage.
Thursday May 6th
The next morning we had our hearts set on jumping from another higher bridge. This time this one was 100 meters which is a pretty good ways down. Another amazing adrenaline rush and freefall. But i must say standing on the side of a bridge looking down is not something i would do everyday. After jumping, because obviously we didnt want to jump on a full stomach, we had a huge lunch. I had an amazingly huge double chicken sadwhich. From there we took an hour and a half bus ride to puyo to go check out some monkeys. The place we went was called paseo de los monos, a monkey reserve owned by two really friendly people. The reserve itself had 58 monkeys, a boa, and this crazy mix betweem an anteater,bear, and monkey. As soon as we walked in the man said put all valuables in your packs because they will steal them. Just as he told me a little monkey had jumped on my backpack, unzipped my zipper and stole my playing cards! These monkeys were so smart and would reach into your pockets to see if they could take anything to play with or eat. We played with the monkeys for 2 hours, full of monkeys on my head and monkey fights, and just seeing how smart those animals really are. The similarities they have to humans is just so crazy to see. We headed back on the bus, showered up, ate a whole chicken in a restaurant, and hopped on a 9pm bus to Cuenca.
I have never been so exhausted before. Banos was amazing in everyway, and everything a young person could want. Also as with all of ecuador so far, the city is very clean. A big change from venezuela, where trash and bottles litter the street. Ecuador even has a recycling system.
Friday May 7th
We headed for the city of Riobamba first, which was 2 hours away from banos. From there we had to catch a bus on the side of the road to Cuenca, another 5 hours away. Luckily I slept great, but eneded up being in Cuenca at 5am. We took a cab to the nearest hostal, which again was 5 dollars a person per night. I love the cheap lodging here, it really saves on cost. The name of our hostal is Hostal Majestic. The hostal is nice but the rooms are less than majestic. In the rooms there are two beds, thats it. Oh well, i dont plan on spending too much time there anyways. We re awoke at 9 so we could have a chance to explore the city. Cuenca is compared to old town Quito in charm and style. It is a beautiful city with colonial buildings and churches. We took a look at the cathedral and the main plaza. We also headed to the market where i had a milkshake of egg, papaya, carrot, tomato, rasberry, and alfalfa. Really good and good for my health! From there we headed down the scenic riverway and checked out an aboriginal museum full of all kinds of artifact. Then we went to have some good old Mexican food. Really hit the spot! From there we went to the huge and amazing bank museum full of everything ecuadorian history. This also included an amazing exhibit on shrunken heads! Well thats were I am now, but we are headed into Peru tomorrow to see where it takes us!

Quito!

Well I am offically in Quito, Ecuador right now and it is wonderful. So different than venezuela already.
Friday April 30th
We started the day off taking a taxi at 7 am to the airport in el vigia which is about an hour away. Our flight to caracas was at 10am. Flight was short and easy. We reached caracas at 11am and went through customs which took a ridiculous amount of time because of the sheer amount of people there. But we got our exit stamps and paid our fees. Luckily, I ended up having an excess amount of money which is only valid in venezuela soo we feasted on some american pizza and burgers which i really missed. Our flight out of caracas to quito was at 530pm. The flight barely had anyone on it, probably like 50 out of 250 seats filled. This was great because i got a whole row to myself, free drinks, and extra food. We arrived in Quito at around 745pm. In the airport, customs were pretty much the easiest thing ever and took around 5 minutes total. From there were received by Sams family friend Alberto, who we would be staying with in Quito. He speaks pretty good english but likes us to practice our spanish with him. He is in charge of a company that does lighting for concerts like guns and roses. We arrive at his house in the suburbs on Quitio called Tumbalo. This is a really nice neighborhood on a private drive. The house is absolutely amazing! giant beds and awesome showers really hit the spot. He lives with his wife gina and 3 year old son Juan Diego. Such a nice family and give us advice about what to do. They feed us a great dinner and we talk about what our trip will entail. We are all so tired and hit the sack.
Saturday May 1st.
We got us early at 7am in order to go to the town of otavalo. Alberto fed us an awesome breakfast and took us to the bus station. From there we took a two hour bus ride to otavalo. The town itself is not much to look at but has one of the largest markets in Ecuador. It was so huge, i found myself lost a few times. Amazing handmade things there. actually got to watch the workers make everything. Bought a little too much for myself because everything is great and pretty cheap.(bought some wool socks, slippers, sweater, and a really cool tapestry.) Side note, Ecuador uses the american dollar which is convenient for everyone because you never have to change money. The country is cheap but not as cheap as venezuela because of the black market. The market in otavalo was great. Lots of tourists. I havent heard that much english in a long me. After some time in the market we decided to go to a volcano called Cuicocha. We went to this inactive volcano at the crater at the top. Took a cool boat trip around the lake in the crater. Afterwords we were treated to a hot alchoholic drink called candeleza which i thought tasted a lot like apple cider. After that we headed back on a 6pm bus back to Albertos house. We hung there and ate and then went out on the town. Sam and Courtney, who are dating, have friends that are currently studying in quito from minnesota. It just so happened that the night was when everyone came back from their internships of 6 weeks. Needless to say, everyone was so excited to see each other and drank all you can drink beer for an hour for 7 dollars. Downtown was great, so much more modern than merida. Lots of white people which is soo crazy to see. Went to a couple of bars and ended the night with some delicious mexican food.
Sunday May 2nd.
Started the night a little later because of the night before. We headed around 11am to mitad del mundo, whihc is the center of the world. This is the place around 45 minutes out of quito where the equator is. A must for any tourist in Quito. The park was cool and full of museums about everything Ecuador and the equator. Got to take our pictures on the equator line and everything. But...The site we went to is not actually the real ecuator. Something like 200 years ago, a discoverer made the monument in the wrong place. The actual site of the equator is around 300 meters away but everyone goes to the other because of the monument and the line of the equator. Pretty touristy but still really fun and cool. After that we went to the teleferico of Quito. Really nice facility. Actually nice to take one because meridas famous longest teleferico has been broken for 4 years. The teleferico brough us all the way up to 4000 meters which is really high. Amazing views of the city, because quito is really long and narrow because it is located in a valley. When we got to the top, we were literally in a cloud and we could feel the moisture. We walked around a bit, but not too long because the elevation makes it so much more difficuly. Came back down and some dinner downtown in a place called the coffee tree. Had a really good roast beef sandwhich and listened to live salsa music. After we decided to chill and smoke some hooka at a bar. We were all so tired from the past couple days that we went home, ate some amazing food, and talked about what are plans our for the next couple days. Tomorrow we are going to see the old town of quito, full of churches and plazas, and then head to the adventure capital of ecuador called banos.
Well that is all for now. Unfortunately no pictures yet, but will try soon!

Last Venezuela Post

Well looks like I am out of here in less than two days. Papers are done and over, and looks like I am here to wait out my time, so I might as well reflect on my time here in Venezuela. Needless to say, this trip has been easily the most life changing thing i have ever done. From my own experience and from others experiences, all programs are the same way. Where else can you be thrown on your own and survive all on your own. I came into this trip not knowing anyone here and have come out with some amazing friendships. I have learned to be open to all people, throw away the stereotypes because they are just not worth it. Even if some people might get a little under your skin, its not worth getting into it or throwing them out to the curb. Also i have learned to use the time you have to your advantage. You may think you have so much time somewhere but it can go so fast, so take advantage to every minute you are given. Also, just because you afraid or unsure of something, as the famous nike logo says, just do it. There have countless things here where i have gone into them(canyoning, ziplining, moutain trek, or simply trying out a new bar) where i was aprehensive about, but turned out to be some of the greatest decisions i have made.
Another thing is to keep your integrity in tact. Mine has been tested here countless times and its the decisions you make in those types of situations where your integrity is truly measured. Stand up and take a stand if something is not right. One of the most important lessons i have learned is to not care if something is not right on plan. The Venezuelan method here is to usually never go with the plan. At first i couldnt take this. I am used to my ridiculously structured life in the states, and if something doesnt go to plan, i would get a little upset. After time here though, i learned that sometimes the best times where just winging somthing or just being spontaneous and figuring out something to do. Also, i mentioned this in an earlier post but, just dance. Who cares if you are bad or look like an idiot. Have fun and let loose.
Well, thats it from this country. But there will be more to come. The travel bug has made its way into me. I have already grow to love South America and will be back. But anyways, for the next three weeks I am headed to Ecuador and Peru. Will try to blog there if i can.

Canyoning Fun

Well this past weekend I went on a really cool adventure called canyoning. Its this special extreme kind of sport that can only occur in certain places of the world. We trekked up in the mountains and reached this river. From there we geared up in full wetsuits and helmets and traversed down this river. From there we reached spots where we had to jump in the water from cliffs and also a couple of spots where we slid down rocks and waterfalls to reach the next point in the river. Thankfully this trip came after about 2 straight weeks of rain, so that the river was really flowing well and fast. The coolest part about my canyoning trip was the big waterfalls. There were three waterfalls in total we made our way down. The first was probably around 60 feet tall in which you repelled down. The second was probably around 80 feet and that one consisted of fast roping down it. You pretty much had to move your hands as fast as you could to get down without being completely smothered in the gushing water. Needless to say my ropes got caught but made it to the side while they adjusted. The last one was the highlight of the trip. A 120 foot waterfall in which you had to repel down. You go over the edge having no idea what lies below but you just have to do it. It was so amazing and terrifying at the same time. Adrenaline just pumping. Honestly one of the coolest things i have done here so far. Unfortunately going through all of this water makes it a little hard to take pictures, but here is a picture from the waterfall in merida of someone else repelling down the giant waterfall.

Anyways, after the trip we headed back to merida and were treated pizza and pop. Really great day.
Classes are winding down here. In both of my classes all i have left is the final paper. Shouldnt be all that tough but i still need to put in a lot of work in order to pull off the grades. Sad to believe I have 9 days left here.

Los Llanos and beyond! pt. 2

So we get back to Merida and go out to this really nice restaurant. We each had fish which was really great. For an excellent meal and beer it was less than 9 dollars! The next few days I showed my parents around the city so that they could get an idea of what my life is like here. We went to my favorite places to eat and hang out, and spent alot of time in the plazas. The plazas here are great, surrounded by vendors and a great place to people watch. Our posada just happened to be really close to the two main plazas in the city. The days went on as we caught up and ate alot! My parents had a venezuelan burger (complete with ham and chips and absolutely huge) and ate at the famous guiness book of world records ice cream shop (that being for having the most ice cream flavors in the world). Something very cool was that on Thursday and Friday we attended the passion of christ play right in my neighborhood. I later found out that these are popular for holy week but the one we attended is the most popular in the country. That is for good reason because the plaza was packed with people and the production quality of the play was excellent. Great costumes and actors! On friday my parents got to meet my host mom here and see what shes like. That was fun even though the language barrier makes everything a little more difficult.
I really got to practice my spanish while they were here. Being a constant translator can really improve your Spanish! My parents headed out Sunday afternoon. We went to the airport to find that their flight was canceled. They couldnt help them out because my parents had to catch a flight in caracas at 8 in the morning. So...I had to work quick and arrange a 10 hour cab ride to caracas. Not a very easy thing to do especially late at night. But, they made it there fine and all was good. I really enjoyed having my parents here. It was great to catch up and for them to see how i live here.
Anyways, I have only 3 weeks left in Venezuela. Really sad stuff. I am gonna miss it here so much but do look forward to being back in the US of A again. Next weekend we have a four days weekend so i might go to the beach or take some kind of trip. Oh yes, and the rainy season has oficially started here. It rains like 3 hours a day now.
Well thats all i have for now.

Los Llanos and beyond! pt. 1

Well my parents came for a nice long week visit over easter break. Soo i took a taxi down to the airport to meet them in the airport about an hour and a half away. The plane of course was 2 hours late. Welcome to Venezuela Mom and Dad, haha. We took a taxi back to Merida, and arrived at our posada. It was called Posada la montana. Really nice place with plants all around and with a beautiful courtyard and balcony. From there we walked around the city and got some dinner down the block. Typical meal of rice, beef, and tostones(fried plantains). From there we headed back early because we had to wake up early the next morning.
The next day we headed to a place in Venezuela called Los Llanos (in spanish means the plains). We headed out of the mountains on a 10 hour drive to the camp. The transition between the mountains and los llanos was amazing. As soon as we left the mountains, the land was completely flat all around and not many trees. As we got farther into the countryside, the vegetation became more and more sparse and it seemed like you could see forever in all directions. It was very pretty and almost looked like the Savannah in Africa. Los llanos is known for their cattle industry, so we saw many cattle farms with thousands of cows there. On the way to camp, our guide spotted an anaconda, and got to hold it and learn all about them. We then got to camp which was really nice. Showers and good food, but really hot! During the day, it was probably 95 degrees out! I got to sleep in a hammock every night which was surprisingly comfortable. Mom and Dad had some troubles sleeping with the heat because of the extreme climate change from the cold of Wisconsin.
I dont exactly remember the order of the events of days so I will just give events. One day we headed out on horses and spotted a giant anteater. Very cool looking animal and we were quite lucky to have spotted it. Really fun to ride around on horses on over 500 acres of land! Another day we headed out on a canoe ride. Really amazing to see caiman (similar to alligators) all around us (sometimes a little too close!). Caiman are all over los llanos which is so cool because obviously in Wisconsin we dont have anything like them. Another day we toured around in a jeep and I got to sit on top of the jeep which was really cool! We saw foxes, deer, and some really cool burrowing owls. My favorite part of the trip was the long boat tour. We headed out on this river(which are actually hard to come by because it is the dry season. Everything was so dry but made it easier for us to get around) and saw over 40 species of tropical birds, freshwater dolphins, caiman, iguanas, and a really cool sidenecked turtle. Our tour guide was sitting in the front of the boat and all of a sudden he just jumped into the river. He came out with this huge prehistoric looking turtle! Also he caught a pirana and stuck it on a stick. He then tossed the fish in the water and a huge hawk came down and snatched it as soon as it hit the water! We also saw this owl that blended in so well with a tree that you could barely even see it! Photos will be up soon!
Anyways, los llanos was great. We went to this huge party that only happens once every three months with a famous Venezuelan singer (he just happened to stop by our camp). He really liked my dad and came to the party and bought beers for everyone. The party was fun. Typical Venezuelan drinking and dancing, but was different because there is a specific type of music that comes from los llanos called jorropo. It includes a hard, maracas, bass, and a four stringed guitar. They sing about the hard life on the farms and tending cattle and such. We left los llanos after our 4 day 3 night tour exhausted and headed back to Merida on another 10 hour jeep ride.

si dios quiere

well as more and more time passes here, the more I learn about culture and meet more venezuelans. the title of my blog, si dios quiere is one of my favorite slang phrases here. It translates into if god wants. They say it all the time here if a situation is uncertain. If they dont know if they are going somewhere they will say it instead of maybe. Religion is huge down here. With the population being 95 percent Catholic, it is pretty unavoidable. The church always has people in it, its crazy. Also they place churches here right by the main square so that its central to everything. Coming up is holy week here which is supposed to be really cool. They have practicing here for recreations of the passion. There have also been drummers practicing for some kind of procession. Cant wait to see what is all entailed and for my parents to be here for all the activities. My parents come tomorrow. From there, we are headed to los llanos to catch some anacondas and see some amazing wildlife. Spring break is here and could really use the break from school! I cant wait to show my parents around this beautiful city and more importantly eat some really good food!
On another note, registration for next semester is coming up. Very strange looking for classes while in another country. It more difficult because all communication with advisors is through email. Anyways, I am still continuing down the path of public relations. We will see where it will take me. I have been doing alot of thinking about switching into education. I have concluded though that the best thing to do is finish up my undergrad in 3 and a half years and figure it out from there. If all works out this summer i will land this job through americorps doing public relations for habitat for humanity. The nice thing about public relations is that you can work for any company or field you find interesting. If i stick with this i would love to work for a company like habitat. oh well we will see. si dios quiere.
-Alright this post is full of random things but oh well. Its crazy here that it costs more to buy a bottle of water than to fill up your gas tank!
-also if you dont know how to dance salsa you are kinda screwed. They breathe salsa down here and if you cant dance even a little bit, it is very hard to meet girls. All of them want to dance and if you cant, they will easily find someone that can. I actually love dancing salsa. I am not very good, but am slowly getting better. I have come to overall appreciate dancing more while being here. Honestly, why not dance when given the opportunity. It brings people together and is absolutely part of the culture.
-I love the way people greet each here. For guys you say something like epa chamo, which is like hey dude! when you greet girls or women, you give a kiss on the cheek. They are incredibly friendly with anyone they meet. Its such a nice change from the more reserved american style of greeting.
-Well thats it for now. Off to los llanos!!

Big Post

Another weekend gone in Venezuela. I have been in this country for almost 2 months and time is just flying by. I find myself really enjoying the culture. Spanish is coming along nicely. I find it pretty easy to understand most people and their conversations and can talk back pretty well. I have also found the magic of non verbal communications. I find myself using my hands so much more to try to get my point across. I really enjoy learning the slang of this language also. I feel like it makes you so much more less of a foreigner than you already are. However, my Spanish class Is pretty tough. I find it difficult to grasp concepts in grammar because there are so many different kinds of verb tenses here that we don’t have or use in English.
Anyways, this past Saturday I organized a camping trip about an hour out to this mountain lake called la laguna de coromoto. We took a 20 minute bus ride out to the next closest city called tabay. From there we took another 20 minute jeep taxi to this city and park called la mucuy. From there we take this trail to the lake that was supposed to take around 3 hours. Mind you, this trail was pretty much uphill and with all of my gear strapped on, this was no easy task. The trail was beautiful, gaining some real elevation and going through the jungle. The trail was very well maintained however, the signage was absolutely terrible. We reached a point around 3 times when we hit a point where the trail broke into a 3 way fork. Because there were no signs, we pretty much had to guess where we had to go. So needless to say we were pretty much lost in the andes mountains. We had to backtrack like 4 times and reached a point where Andrew ran up the trail to see if there was any chance of making it to this lake before it got dark. He was gone for around 20 minutes running up the trail. Meanwhile, the rest of us were sitting and taking a breather when it got really dark really fast and it started to rain. Andrew came back and let us know that the lake was nowhere to be found and that the trail doesn’t open up for a camping spot. Sooo, we backtracked yet again to see if we could find someplace to set up camp. It continued to rain and we were in a race against time against the darkness. We tried a couple other trails and finally found a spot to set up camp (consisted of an old slab of concrete). As soon as the tents got up, it started to POUR. I guess this meant no fire and no hot food. But…my friend Andrew and I worked to get a fire started for around 2 hours. With the help of a pair of sweatpants of my friend Kelsey, we finally got a fire going with wet wood. This meant all of us huddling around the fire for warmth with bottles of rum and slightly cooked vegetables. Overall if I had to do it again, I would. The trail was gorgeous, like something out of Indiana Jones, crossing waterfalls and running into people fishing with sticks. I love the mountains here and it is soo easy to get up there and spend just a night. The weekends are pretty packed from now on so the night time I get to go will be the last weekend here.
I am going to really miss it here. It has been such a blast. Sometimes I catch myself walking down the street and remembering that I am in Venezuela. But there is so much on my plate coming up. Next week I am heading to the colonial city of Coro with my roommate and some buddies. Then next weekend my parents are coming for a week and we are heading to Los Llanos ( a wildlife paradise full of piranhas and anacondas) and to the mountains. The weekend after that I am going to Catatumbo, a place on a lake where natural lightning occurs. The weekend after that I might take a weekend trip to Columbia..maybe. After that is the last weekend here. After the program is over, I am planning an epic trip through part of South America. My roommate Adam, my friend Nora, and I are going to Cartegena, Colombia for a week. After Nora and I are going to bus through Colombia stopping in Medellin and Cali, and then to Quito, Ecuador. From there were are going to spend a week on the coast of Ecuador. I am soo excited for the epic journey. I have 24 days total after the program is over and cannot wait to explore more of this awesome continent! Well that is it for today, but tomorrow I am going ziplining through the jungle!!

Slow and steady

Well wow, I guess i didnt realize that it has really been a long time since my last post. I am really starting get into this lifestyle and culture. Its kinda neat to know that I have been here for almost 2 months. I have learned so much already about myself and about other people. I feel like this is why they encourage students to study abroad. You can really only learn so much in a classroom. But to be thrown into a brand new culture with a language you dont really know and with no one you know is a humbling experience. I already feel different on the inside and am sure that it is for the better. But anyways, what have i been up to?
Earlier this week, my roommate adam and another buddy and I decided to go to a venezuelan casino. Everything was pretty much the same there except for one major thing....all the games were automated. There were no actual tables or dealers there. I sat at a blackjack table for a while that was an old sega game. too crazy. all video poker and slots. even roulette was automated. The wonderful thing about that place though is that they give you a bunch of free food and drinks. Its a cool feeling sitting playing bingo while eating hot soup and drinking some fruit juice. Free beer, soup, juice, even cake. Anyways, i ended up loosing only 20 dollars but was a great night overall.
Another thing I did this weekend was go on a super cool day hike. Classes on wednesday were cancelled because American supervisors of the program were here evaluating everything. So, me and some friends decided to make the long hike up the mountain to the first teleferico station. The teleferico is the longest cable car system in the world...but I am in venezuela so of course it is broken. Something like one time the car fell and everyone died. But anyways, there are something like four stops on the route before reaching some really high elevation near the top of this mountain. We kind of just wanted to see how long it would take to get to the first station. Its something like a 1000 meter walk total. The walk was strenuous and in the heat, it was no easy task. We made it something like 3/4 of the way there but decided to take a different route that led down to a river. This was a great decision because it was a great time there. We all climbed up this river, scaling rock faces and trailblazing the whole time. we found a series of waterfalls, soaked in a mountain spring, and found really cool walking sticks (the insects). Overall a great way to spend a day off.
Anyways thats it for now, but I will post again really soon.

Soaking up some Carribean rays

Well this weekend I decided to head to the coast with some friends to do some needed relaxing on the beach. So we set out from Merida at around 6pm. We purchased a ipod speaker before leaving which proved to be a great purchase for hotels and the beach. Nothing like drowning the constant sounds of Reggaeton with the likes of Bon Iver. So anyways we took our giant coach bus on a 12 hour ride. After a flat tire and two security checks, it ended up taking 14 hours to get to Valencia. After spending a couple hours in the Valencia bus station trying to get a bus ticket home, we set off for the city Chichiriviche, a popular beach city that has close access to a set of islands that is part of a national park called Morrocoy. The first day in Chichiriviche was spent trying to find a posada first and foremost. Because it was Carnival, many people headed to the beach so lots of places were all booked up or way too expensive. We eventually found this nice posada that ran us around 10 dollars a night. It was run by a family and had a gorgeous balcony that included a kitchen and a view of the ocean. We headed to a coastal beach and caught some waves and soaked up the sun. Needless to say, the water was perfect. Only a little nicer than the shores of lake michigan haha. After the beach we headed back to the posada to utilize the kitchen and made some plantains and pasta. The night was spent with stints on the beach and casual drinking and playing games.
The next day we decided to head to one of the islands. We went to the closest island (because of monetary reasons) called Cayo Sal. We hopped in a boat and went out to this island. On the island, we met up with some other people from venusa and set up our camp site. The beach and the island was great and beautiful but was packed with people because of Carnival. (This brings me to a sub point. With all the beauty that venezuela has to offer, they do a really poor job on maintaining the environment. These beaches were so pretty but were full of clutter. This has to do with a certain mindset that the people have. Even in merida, it is perfectly acceptable to throw trash in the street. Also, there is no pollution control, the cars and trucks exhale so many deadly fumes into the air. It is a really sad sight sometimes.) We spent the day playing frisbee and volleyball and just relaxing. Once it hit around 6pm, most of the people that werent staying on the island had left, it became so much more peaceful and beautiful. We headed out to a a series of tide pools to look at crabs, fish, starfish, and the works. While we we there we had the pleasure of experiencing a beautiful island sunset that was just perfect. We headed back to the camp site for some cards and fun for the rest of the night.
The next morning we headed back on a boat to the mainland. We had to pay extra for a new boat driver because our driver that was supposed to pick us up never showed. On a sad note, my tent was stolen by this boat driver. We put our backs in the back of the boat by the driver and his helper and they must have removed it from my pack. They threw our packs on the dock and pulled away before i could even notice it. Sad :( We then proceed to take an hour bus ride to another beach city of Tucacas. We searched for another Posada called Posada de Carlos, and well Carlos was kind of a jerk, but his posada had rooms and was cheap. This posada was pretty gross, damp and had a distinct smell, but we made the most of it(and it did have A/C). The day was spent throughout the town looking around and taking advantage of american movies on cable. The majority of the people in our group were not feeling so good, so we decided to take it easy for the day.
The next morning, we spent the day at the beach. This one was also crowded but was beautiful. It was surrounded by mangrove trees and had lots of coral. A funny thing happened there. We were in the ocean when this lady started to me. She asked if she could take a picture with me because of my blond hair. I went back to the beach with her and proceeded to take pictures with her and her whole family. They really love blonde people out here because it is soo rare. We chilled at the beach and collected some seashells and headed back on a bus back to Valencia. From Valencia we took a 12 hour ride back to Merida. The long trip busses are ridiculously cold but are pretty nice for the most part. (they have bathrooms and tvs also) Made it back to Merida all in one piece. I think i am going to take advantage of the last night of Carnival here tonight!!

It had to come sometime

Well i know that it has been a while since my last post, but there is a good reason. I was pretty sick from around tuesday of last week til monday this week. Im not exactly sure what it was (most likely some form of parasite from the food or the water), but i saw it coming. It was seriously a countdown of when it would happen, mostly because almost everybody else in our program has gotten it. Well needless to say it was not fun, and was in bed for the entire weekend while everyone else got to go out and have fun. But it is done and over with and shouldnt have to worry about it anymore because now i am used to the food and water here.
On another note, I did go out on thursday night even if i was a little sick. I had to check out this club. Its called club racing. It is actually quite similar to clubs in the states. It had a racing theme and was jammed full of people. It turned out to be a really fun night with lots of dancing and singing to the few american songs they played. It was interesting though, because a couple venezuelan friends had to try really hard to get into the club. In a country where i think a lot of people look the same, there is a good deal of racism here. The clubs prefer to let in people that are lighter skinned( obviously i had no problem) and are much more picky about letting in those who are darker skinned. Its crazy to hear and for me its hard to tell the difference. As much as some people here do not like americans, they try pretty hard to be like them. A classic case was when my friend tim was at a mcdonalds(by the way, not nearly as good in the U.S. and also REALLY expensive here) and some venezuelan uttered some words as he was leaving about him being a stupid american or something along those lines. But it was so ironic because the guy said that while in a mcdonalds. How much more american can you get? Too crazy.
Another off topic random fact, to fill up a tank of gas here it costs around 3 dollars their currency. That turns out to be around 50 cents american dollars. This is why taxi drivers here make some big money. But it does confuse me because with all of Venezuela's abundance of oil, they still find themselves in an energy crisis. Sometimes the logic here makes no senese...
But on a lighter note, this weekend is Carnival here, which means lots of drunk people in the street...so i will be heading to the beach with some friends for around 4 days. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and soak up the rays for all of you that are suffering in the snow and cold back in the states :)

Pictures

Finally some pictures..

Wild horse in Parque de los Sierra Nevados

The view from the kitchen window in my home stay

Me ontop of my horse Loco. This was in Parque de los Sierra Nevados. By the way, i only paid around 5 dollars to ride. It was so fun!

A pork and tuna arepa. Arepas are seriously the national food of Venezuela.

Myself, Zach (lives across the hall), and Adam (roomate) with the Andes in the background.

Its going down/ living the good life

So it turns out i have been here for over two weeks. Its kind of a crazy feeling, like the honeymoon is over or something like that. It finally hit me that I will be here for a very long time, and that this trip is a little more than a vacation to hang out with friends. It has been hard to get acquainted here due to the fact that the whole school thing has not been happening as it should. Some background: Here in venezuela, they are in a heavy dry season. This lack of water makes for rolling blackouts throughout the country. For the past couple weeks, power goes out for around 3-4 hours a day. This doesnt exactly make people happy here and many blame it on the government and that these blackouts are punishment in this city because it is a huge student city, which means most here are liberal and against the government. So, with these blackouts, many people protest the outages and the government by blocking off big intersections and burning trash and garbage in the street. One night it hit a high and two students from merida died. This caused an uproar in the city and made things just worse. Because of all these events, we didnt have class for three straight days this week, which is nice but makes it hard to get used to how things are going to work here. Also, all of the classes that were missed have to be made up on friday's, which we usually have off every week.

But hey, it was kind of cool not to have school. I spent lots of time at pools here. These pools are usually in really nice hotels and you pay around 5 u.s. dollars to enter and stay as long as you want. Needless to say though, i am quite sunburnt as the sun is much stronger here because of the altitude. Other things i have found myself doing is working out, which i am so happy to have found a place here. The gym i go to is oddly enough in a garage of someone and i only pay around 8 dollars for. Its not the nicest thing in the world, but i have always found working out to be a giant stress reliever. Its critical to find stuff to do here because the school nights can be really boring. Because the home is more of a private place here, you cant exactly have people over or go to someones house and hang out, so i have fond myself on the internet(thank god for wireless) and reading a ton.

So for the weekend, Friday was nothing spectacular. Went to a bar but was really crazy because it was the final game of the venezuelan world series. It was neat though to see, they adore baseball and was cool to see the whole city alive and watching the game. As for Saturday, we ended up going to a place in the mountains called Aguas Termales, which is a hot spring in the mountains. A group was organized through our school through a tour company, but being alternative some friends and I decided that we were going to do this on our own without a tour company to save money. So we packed up some bread, chips, and some rum and headed for the springs. It worked out well because we actually got a ride from the tour company for a small price and went with the rest of the group. The hike was strenuous to get there and took about an hour straight uphill. We arrived at camp and set up our tents and such and then headed for the springs. We spent all day in the springs and when it got colder, started a fire and hung out there. Add some food and some rum and you have yourself a pretty good night. Except for one thing, it was freezing! And yes i did mention about being alternative, we figured we would only need two sleeping bags for 6 people in the mountains. Yah, that didnt work out so well. Lets just say i got really close with the people in my tent. But what a fun trip, and i was overjoyed that i got to use all of the camping gear i had purchased for this trip! Good times good friends, and gorgeous country. Its never a bad thing to go to bed, as cold as it might be, surrounded by moonlit mountains and the sounds of wild horses.
Well thats all for now, until next time.

Gringos

Well another blog for a couple of more days in Venezuela. Im starting to get more used to life here and all that it throws at people. Had my first class on Thursday. It was a Spanish class for intermediates in the language. Its kinda tough and oh yah its all in spanish. Everything in that class is spanish. All speaking writing..all of it. It is a cool class because there are only 5 of us in there. Lots of one on one from the teacher and great times to practice spanish. As for the spanish, its going better for me and I can communicate pretty well with my host mom. Its a really good feeling. She slows down her spanish for us and once and in a while i have to break out my dictionary on the spot haha.
The past few days have been pretty relaxed but pretty fun. we dont have any classes onfridays and a three day weekend really hits the spot. Yesterday I finally got my phone to work. It was pretty slick, because they just put a venezuelan sim card in my phone. Others had to buy a whole new phone and i saved lots of time and money because my phone was compatible. Last night we had a fiesta at my school and also a program called nuevos encuentros (new encounters). Its a program designed so that we americans can talk and practice our spanish with venezuelan students at my school that are studying english. Its a really cool program for us to practice the language. After that we had a barbeque with chorrizo and steak on the grill along with a cabbage salad and potatoes. I met a venezuelan student named edgar and i talked to him for like 2 hours. It was awesome because he had the same level of english that i have spanish. We talked all about our lives and a decent amount about government and President Chavez.
As I have been here for only a few days, I have noticed that people either love or hate chavez. Those that are for chavez are called chavistas and those that are against chaves are anti chavistas. Merida is a college town, so therefore it is a little more liberal of a city and contains more anti chavistas. Edgar was so passionate about how much he hated chavez and even went to the extent that he wanted to kill him. It hit me hard and was shocking. There is no middle politics in this country, only one side or the other. It seems like chavez will stay though, because he has control of the whole government and the police and military, so no one wants to mess with him. Today in Caracas there were huge anti chavista marches due to the frequent power outages in the country. In response chavez organized his own chavista marches to counteract the others. I will come back to this subject at another time.
Well off for the night and going to hit up a club with some buddies.

First Days in Venezuela

Well my first full day in Venezuela proved to be very exciting and interesting. I started the day with an arepa(a pancake kind of dish filled with eggs and ham) and some very sweet coffee. I can already tell the language thing is getting better and can understand alot of what my host mom is saying. My roommate Adam, my host mom and I traveled from our apartment to the trolly( regulated city busses that run for only a few hours a day) to venusa my school for the semester. A side note, time is not a factor in venezuela. Our orientation was supposed to start at 9 and ended up starting at 10 and a tour at 3 that ended up at 4. Anyways, we have the orientation deal and meet some other cool american kids and hang and play pool and cards. After that, we had a lunch break. I was luck enough to meet Zack, a guy that had already been in Merida for a semester. He took me and a few others on a buseta(privately owned buses that cost around 25 cents) closer to the center of the city for some food. We ended up finding a small restaurant that served empenadas. I had a chorrizo and a fish empenada along with some of the best fruit juice ever! After that we came back to venusa and hung out a bit until our walking tour of the city. We took busses to the center of the city and walked around. Another side note. The traffic in Merida is absolutely crazy. Prett much no traffic laws. Everyone drives how they want to and is not afraid to cut people off. Its crazy crossing the street because there are no walk signals, you just have to time it right to cross the street. So anyways we took a walking tour with around 40 white people around the town. Needless to say, we received some pretty strange looks from venezuelans because they are not used to seeing so many white people in one place. Our last stop was a heladoria, an ice cream shop that is in the guiness book of world records for having the most flavors in the world. I had a cone with polar, which is the local beer, and a ham and cheese scoop with actual bits of ham and cheese in them. The beer one was actually very good but the ham and cheese was a little gross. We headed back to Venusa to go back home but was difficult because of riots on the main street. Motorcyclists were protesting a law that makes them wear reflective vests. Anyways, we got back home and had a steak and rice dinner with vegetable soup. Luckily for my roommate adam and i, there is two other venusa students across the hall, steven and zack. We ended up going downtown and going to a bar downtown and having some great rum and cokes and some beer. It was really fun especially the power outage in the middle of our time there.
Today was a long day but very amazing. We took about a three hour bus ride up to el parque de los sierra nevados, a national park in the andes. We made a couple of stops on the way up to the top. Got some more arepas(tuna, onions and pork) and some fresh pear juice. We then bussed to the top which was really high up(like 8,000 feet!) The altitude took a toll on me and took some getting used to especially when hiking uphill. We finally made it to the park after a long bus ride and trekked around the park. Beautiful lakes and streams and wildlife. We saw free grazing cows and also wild horses! The coolest part of my day by far was being able to ride a horse in the andes. Me along with four others rode horses on trails for around 4 dollars. It was such a blast trotting and cantering around the mountains. My horses name was loco, which means crazy, and was the leader of the horses so it was always in the front and aggressive. We walked around the park and I drank from a natural spring which was some of the best water ever. As we were walking the clouds surrounded the mountains and we were engulfed in the clouds. It was such a cool effect to literally be in the clouds. After we got on the bus and headed back to Merida. Pretty tired tonight and not going out. Need to catch up on some sleep. Pictures soon!

En Merida!!!

Well I guess this is my first blog post and unfortunately it will be filled with lots of complaining about the length of my travel. Oh well. I left the Milwaukee airport safe and sound at around 5:30. Tiny little continental plane that actually really smelled. Arrived at the Houston airport around 8:30 and had lots of time to kill until the midnight flight. I ended up walking around the airport aimlessly in search of a McDonalds and finally found one. Pretty awesome that a lady gave me a free meal voucher and ended being the last one to be served before mc ds closed. I went back to the gate and ended up meeting up with Steve, a fellow american studying in Venezuela and we played cribbage(great packing idea) and talked. From there we met up with others flying from Houston and boarded the overnight flight.
The flight itself was only 5 hours but was longer because of the time change. Needless to say I did not get any sleep. The group finally entered Venezuela to extreme confusion on what to do about bags, customs(which were seriously a bit too easy), etc but eventually found our way into the airport. Thus began our 10 hour layover in the Caracas airport. There was five of us in the airport and one (Adam) turned out to be my roommate in Merida. The layover was really long and consisted of telling plans for the trip, cards, and trying to get some sleep( still on about 30 minutes of sleep the past day!) We had our first sketchy experience with exchanging money illegally to get a better rate under a staircase while one of our friends who was good at spanish translated and helped us change money.
After the exchange, it gave us local Bolivares for money and now we could buy a celebratory beer. (little bottles like half a regular one!) We ended up leaving caracas at 4:30 PM that day and took the hour flight to El Vigia, a city close to Merida. I slept a little on the flight and am learning that my spanish is terrible! it is so hard to communicate and understand because everyone speaks soo fast!
After the plane landed, it is another 2 hour bus ride to Merida in the dark. We can see the shadows of the mountains in the background and the lighted up houses on top of them. It is soo beautiful already. I arrived at VENUSA, the school we will be studying at in Merida, to host parents awaiting their students. Adam and I are fortunate to have a wonderful host mother who is so energetic and full of life. Even though it is hard to communicate sometimes, i already find myself becoming better and better at it, even after one night!
Now off to bed for much much needed sleep and an eventful orientation tomorrow morning at 9!