Venezuela!

Hi all!

Wow. So here I am, in Caracas, Venezuela. I’m taking a break from all the craziness that’s been going on the past couple days. It’s really interesting and hard to describe life in port. Basically, I’m learning real quick how to get things done. I’ve found that making plans with people means close to nothing because people change their minds every two minutes, and things get canceled. I had about 10 different plans with different people from my trip and all of them have either been changed or canceled, and I missed out on a lot of cool opportunities. I almost wish I was a guy, because then I would feel safer traveling alone. I have been tempted to go by myself here because it would be much easier!!!
Well, enough of the complaining, haha. Let’s see what I’ve done the past few days. The first day here I went on Semester at Sea’s “Grand Introduction to Caracas.” We first went to this cemetery monument thing where Simon Bolivar is buried. He is the most important man here in Venezuela (you can look up the history) and there are monuments to him everywhere. Also, every park and central square in all of Venezuela has been changed to “Simon Bolivar.” The currency is called Bolivares….you get the point. These people are obsessed I tell you!
Next was my favorite thing. We took a “gondola” ride (see pictures) up the biggest mountain in Caracas. The ride took about 12 minutes each way. Every time we went up a mountain and thought we were done, another mountain was in front of us, and we just kept going higher and higher and higher. The view was incredible! To be honest though, I was a little freaked out because those who know me realize my fear of heights and moving things in the air…hahah. But I made it. I really enjoyed the 5 or so other kids in my gondola, and we got a chance to know each other fairly well in the 12 minutes we had together. At the top I walked around with my two friends (Mom - the girls from the hotel). We got this awesome churro filled with chocolate – mmmmmmmmm. I’m posting a picture, but the main attraction on the mountain was an abandoned hotel. One year the gondolas broke down and the hotel went bankrupt, so they just left it there. I think they should re-open it, I’m sure they’d get great business now.
After the gondola ride back down the mountain (which was even scarier because it stopped a few times in the middle!) we went to lunch. We had a traditional Venezuelan lunch that was pretty tasty. Later that day we went to a colonial art museum and that was my least favorite part of the day. There was not much to see, but mostly I felt nauseous. I never thought I’d feel sicker on land than on sea, but MAN did I feel horrible! And it continued throughout the next day and a half. Things are still swaying for me, but at least I don’t feel like throwing up anymore. Many other people complained of a similar problem. I really hope I don’t feel this way every time I get to port!
On Sunday we left at 5:30 am for Barlavento, Venezuela. Barlavento is about a 2 hour drive from our port. First we stopped for breakfast at this shack. We ate cachapas – another traditional food, but this one I did not like. The coffee was good though! After breakfast we stopped at a Simon Bolivar plaza and saw a church and took pictures while waiting for our tour guide. It was kind of funny, we literally just drove into this little, unsuspecting town, and 60 mostly white, North American kids jump off with their cameras and invade. It was a sight to see. I felt pretty bad invading a town in that manner. I’ll have to get used to it though – because every port we go to will be invaded by 700 students who want to take pictures of “ethnic” people, buy little chatchkis, and then leave. Hahahah. Man.
Well, after our “invasion” we went to this man’s farmhouse. From there the groups were split into two – my group went to another Simon Bolivar plaza and the other group stayed at the farm to learn about the cacao (chocolate) plants. It’s a good thing my group left because I heard there were lots of nasty mosquitoes on the farm. We don’t want Lisa Motenko near mosquitoes – no, no we don’t. Too bad for the mosquitoes though, they would have had a feast!
The second Simon Bolivar plaza was neat…it was Sunday so people were in church. We arrived just in time to see their procession with the Holy Sacrament around the block. I got some neat videos of that, and I’ll show everyone when I get home. That was definitely a highlight.
Later we went to our drumming workshop – the main event of the day. You see, Venezuela has been largely influenced by African people and culture. The village we visited is one of the last standing Afro-Venezuelan drumming communities. Unfortunately, one of the band members was killed in a car accident the day before, so we got a make-shift group of drummers while the others were at the funeral. Hearing the music was still great though, and I got some videos of that also. They got the Semester at Sea kids dancing all kinds of traditional dances and it put a huge smile on my face watching them. I’ll see if I can post the videos, but I don’t know how to work computers…
We stopped for more food on the way home – this time we had a dish called Paveon Creiollo. MMM. Then we walked around Caracas a bit and had some beers. I’ve found myself drinking a lot of beers here, they keep them ice cold - so they feel nice going down!
I spent the rest of the night on the ship. I met another Jew who is very similar to me in terms of religious interest and past Jewish activities. We talk a lot, and I love having someone who understands me in a way that most kids here never will. So, Adam and I chilled out on the ship deck and played guitar. More people joined us as the night went on, and I really enjoyed myself. I met two other really nice guys and hopefully we will all do something together in Brazil. It was also nice meeting BOYS because they make up only 33% of our trip! It feels very unbalanced with so many girls and so few boys on the ship.

Ok, I took a break and now I’m writing again a few days later. I’m going to make this really short because I have to run.
The last two days in Venezuela were not quite as exciting….the 3rd day many of my plans fell through, and I ended up spending the whole day in the port city. My friend Victoria and I went to a restaurant by the beach, which was nice. The most exciting thing I did that day though, was go to the grocery store. It was quite an experience because when we were in line buying food we ran out of money. Soon a huge line was building up behind us with many angry Venezuelans. We had trouble communicating, and it took forever to sort out the money issue because they do not have such developed checkout systems and had to hand-write the stuff we wanted to take out of our bags. It took about 10 minutes and people were pissed!! It makes for a good story though.
The next day my friend Adam and I went in search of synagogues in Caracas. We found many of them, but only visited one. It was huge! And great! After going through heavy security, we took a long tour inside. We were not allowed to take pictures, so unfortunately I do not have any posted, boo. Afterwards we went to a mall and he bought a “cuatro”, which is a Venezuelan instrument (much like a guitar, but with 4 strings, and small). We ate at a Mexican restaurant which was exciting for me because they played all my favorite Spanish songs and had great food. Then we went back to port. Later that day we went to an internet café and walked around. I bought some CDs for two dollars! Yay for cheap Spanish CDs.
Anyways, it is time for me to go! I’m posting some pictures of my time in Venezuela! Enjoy!