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.