Random things about [northern] South America
-In Peru and Ecuador, there are no beans. At least not in food you get when you eat out. Then all of a sudden, when you get to Colombia, there's beans!
-Venezuela has the most unique words for fruits. Banano = cambur, papaya = lechoza, sandia = patilla
-In Peru and Ecuador, ironically, all the coffee is instant. If you want real coffee, you have to ask for cafe pasado (passed coffee, as in it has passed thru a filter.)
-In Venezuela, people use the English words "full" and "fuck" the way we do. It's really quite strange...!
-Even in the most tiny rural villages of Peru you will see women wearing the most ridiculous heels, glittery jeans, and tiny halter tops. So crazy.
-There is processed food and junkfood everywhere.
-Arepas are a common food in both Colombia and Venezuela.
-"Paisas", people from the "coffee region" of Colombia, are the nicest people I've met.
-People are very willing to help you figure out how to get places.
-There is margarine in everything.
-There is a lot of sugar in everything.
-People ride lots of motorcycles.
-Colombian pizza has bocadillo (candy-like guava paste) in the dough.
-Colombian cheeseburgers have pineapple sauce on them.
-There is a lot of litter everywhere. People just throw their garbage out the window while driving or in a bus...kinda like the U.S. 15 yrs ago.
-In all the countries I went to, there are great buses. Lots of different bus companies and you can usually bargain prices, at least in Colombia. Buses are very cheap in Peru and Ecuador, more expensive in Colombia (due to the oil situation), and then cheaper in Venezuela.
-In Venezuela, oil is cheaper than water. It would cost you about 15 cents to fill up your tank.
-In Venezuela, Venezuelan citizens have a really hard time getting dollars. They have to fill out a lot of paperwork and a lot of times their requests are rejected. Therefore, people are always trying to buy dollars. This works out perfectly because the official rate for trading dollars for bolivares is 1 to 2, which greatly undervalues the dollar. So people usually sell dollars in the "black market".
-Chavez does cool things. Like making public hospitals where anyone can get treatment for an emergency for free. He also does really crazy things. Like move time back 1/2 an hour just for kicks and giggles, or coming on every single radio station to talk talk talk. Or coming on during soccer game halftime to tell jokes and sing songs.
-A lot of people are very pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez, and there are in-betweeners but not many.
-In all the countries I went to, you can get a fixed lunch for under 4$ This = a soup that consists of some salty broth and a plate of food which consists of a pile of white rice, some weird piece of meat, and a limp vegetable. Accompanied by a sugary juice.
-Natural juices are pretty cheap everywhere. Awesome.
-Colombia has the most bicyclists.
-In Bogota (capital of Colombia) there are a few female taxi drivers. (big deal)
-There are stray dogs everywhere. I saw the most in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
-Food is pretty fricken expensive in Colombia.
-Venezuela has the most unique words for fruits. Banano = cambur, papaya = lechoza, sandia = patilla
-In Peru and Ecuador, ironically, all the coffee is instant. If you want real coffee, you have to ask for cafe pasado (passed coffee, as in it has passed thru a filter.)
-In Venezuela, people use the English words "full" and "fuck" the way we do. It's really quite strange...!
-Even in the most tiny rural villages of Peru you will see women wearing the most ridiculous heels, glittery jeans, and tiny halter tops. So crazy.
-There is processed food and junkfood everywhere.
-Arepas are a common food in both Colombia and Venezuela.
-"Paisas", people from the "coffee region" of Colombia, are the nicest people I've met.
-People are very willing to help you figure out how to get places.
-There is margarine in everything.
-There is a lot of sugar in everything.
-People ride lots of motorcycles.
-Colombian pizza has bocadillo (candy-like guava paste) in the dough.
-Colombian cheeseburgers have pineapple sauce on them.
-There is a lot of litter everywhere. People just throw their garbage out the window while driving or in a bus...kinda like the U.S. 15 yrs ago.
-In all the countries I went to, there are great buses. Lots of different bus companies and you can usually bargain prices, at least in Colombia. Buses are very cheap in Peru and Ecuador, more expensive in Colombia (due to the oil situation), and then cheaper in Venezuela.
-In Venezuela, oil is cheaper than water. It would cost you about 15 cents to fill up your tank.
-In Venezuela, Venezuelan citizens have a really hard time getting dollars. They have to fill out a lot of paperwork and a lot of times their requests are rejected. Therefore, people are always trying to buy dollars. This works out perfectly because the official rate for trading dollars for bolivares is 1 to 2, which greatly undervalues the dollar. So people usually sell dollars in the "black market".
-Chavez does cool things. Like making public hospitals where anyone can get treatment for an emergency for free. He also does really crazy things. Like move time back 1/2 an hour just for kicks and giggles, or coming on every single radio station to talk talk talk. Or coming on during soccer game halftime to tell jokes and sing songs.
-A lot of people are very pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez, and there are in-betweeners but not many.
-In all the countries I went to, you can get a fixed lunch for under 4$ This = a soup that consists of some salty broth and a plate of food which consists of a pile of white rice, some weird piece of meat, and a limp vegetable. Accompanied by a sugary juice.
-Natural juices are pretty cheap everywhere. Awesome.
-Colombia has the most bicyclists.
-In Bogota (capital of Colombia) there are a few female taxi drivers. (big deal)
-There are stray dogs everywhere. I saw the most in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
-Food is pretty fricken expensive in Colombia.
Awesome! So glad you started a blog. I look forward to coming here every and catching up on your adventures and uninque outlook.
ReplyDeleteAgain, sounds like a beautiful trip, and I'm sure I'll look through more carefully when I head down to S. America in the next year or so... or more likely, and I'll look when I get back and wish I did before ;-)