Venezuela - Sept 2009
Me crossing the border from Colombia to Venezuela!!!
Merida
After crossing the border safely, I made it to Merida where my friend and her brother were waiting for me as my bus arrived. My friend, Iraida, is such a sweetheart. Her and I met on a website created to practice languages. We have been in contact for over 4 years now. I stayed in her beautiful home in the only mountains in Venezuela, with her 2 kids and her parents. Her mom always cooked delicious meals and I really had a nice time there in her little town.
Maracay
Wow...my time in Maracay was so awesome I don't even know where to begin. Well, Maracay is a little town that is the gateway to the Henri Pittier National Park. So, Sierra and I arrived in Maracay and our couchsurfing host Maribel picked us up from the terminal. She said that we could stay with her for the night, or we could go to the beach and stay at her friend's hostel (and we wouldn't have to pay). We decided to go to the beach since it was so damn hot in Maracay. By the time we arrived to el Playon, it was pretty dark. We called her friend, and he said he would come pick us up. We waited and waited, and he never came. We tried to call again, there was no coverage. We didn't think it was a good idea to wait any longer, so we found a hostel. The unfortunate thing was that I left most of my things-including most of my money-at Maribel's apartment. So, we barely had enough money to pay for the hostel and a bus back to Maracay. Anywho, we stayed the night in a weird hostel and then hung out at a really crowded beach the next day. We had enough money to get us back to Maracay. As soon as we got back, we called Maribel and told her what had happened and she felt so terrible. She picked us up from the terminal with her friend and they both felt so bad for us. Then she drove us to meet her friend Jose, who hosted us for a couple days. Jose was great---he let us stay in his father's BEAUTIFUL home while he was out of town, and Jose lives with his mom.
Basically my few days in Maracay were spent at the beach during the day and hanging out with Jose and his friends in the evening. Sierra spent 2 days there with me, and I spent another 2 days there without her. Jose and his friends were awesome, so warm and friendly.
Caracas
Because I everyone was telling me how dangerous Caracas is, I decided to only spend one day there, and it was only because I had to fly out of there. It truly is the most dangerous city in the western hemisphere, but fortunately I did not spend any time in the bad parts (and there are a lot of bad parts). I stayed with a really nice couchsurfing host and his brother in their nice little apartment in Santa Monica. I ended up spending a little bit of time in the town center with my host, Gabriel, which was very interesting. I got to see all the pro-Chavez people in the Plaza de Simon Bolivar...which was very cool to see firsthand. The Chavistas hand out newspapers, free coffee, give free workshops and classes in the plaza all day, and are really friendly. There was a little socialist collective called "Esquina Caliente" (Hot Corner) where Chavistas-mostly old folks-would dress in red and sit down under the awning and watch Chavez talk on TV for a good couple hours. Then, there are other parts of Caracas (mostly wealthy white ones) which are very anti-Chavez.
I went to a bar with some CS-ers in Caracas. Then, I went back to my host's house. I hung out with him and his brother, had a little bit of excellent Venezuelan rum, and then went to bed on the hammock on their porch. Even though they had a bed for me in my own room if I wanted, I preferred to sleep outside for my last night in South America. All in all, I had a great last day.
Merida
After crossing the border safely, I made it to Merida where my friend and her brother were waiting for me as my bus arrived. My friend, Iraida, is such a sweetheart. Her and I met on a website created to practice languages. We have been in contact for over 4 years now. I stayed in her beautiful home in the only mountains in Venezuela, with her 2 kids and her parents. Her mom always cooked delicious meals and I really had a nice time there in her little town.
Maracay
Wow...my time in Maracay was so awesome I don't even know where to begin. Well, Maracay is a little town that is the gateway to the Henri Pittier National Park. So, Sierra and I arrived in Maracay and our couchsurfing host Maribel picked us up from the terminal. She said that we could stay with her for the night, or we could go to the beach and stay at her friend's hostel (and we wouldn't have to pay). We decided to go to the beach since it was so damn hot in Maracay. By the time we arrived to el Playon, it was pretty dark. We called her friend, and he said he would come pick us up. We waited and waited, and he never came. We tried to call again, there was no coverage. We didn't think it was a good idea to wait any longer, so we found a hostel. The unfortunate thing was that I left most of my things-including most of my money-at Maribel's apartment. So, we barely had enough money to pay for the hostel and a bus back to Maracay. Anywho, we stayed the night in a weird hostel and then hung out at a really crowded beach the next day. We had enough money to get us back to Maracay. As soon as we got back, we called Maribel and told her what had happened and she felt so terrible. She picked us up from the terminal with her friend and they both felt so bad for us. Then she drove us to meet her friend Jose, who hosted us for a couple days. Jose was great---he let us stay in his father's BEAUTIFUL home while he was out of town, and Jose lives with his mom.
Basically my few days in Maracay were spent at the beach during the day and hanging out with Jose and his friends in the evening. Sierra spent 2 days there with me, and I spent another 2 days there without her. Jose and his friends were awesome, so warm and friendly.
Caracas
Because I everyone was telling me how dangerous Caracas is, I decided to only spend one day there, and it was only because I had to fly out of there. It truly is the most dangerous city in the western hemisphere, but fortunately I did not spend any time in the bad parts (and there are a lot of bad parts). I stayed with a really nice couchsurfing host and his brother in their nice little apartment in Santa Monica. I ended up spending a little bit of time in the town center with my host, Gabriel, which was very interesting. I got to see all the pro-Chavez people in the Plaza de Simon Bolivar...which was very cool to see firsthand. The Chavistas hand out newspapers, free coffee, give free workshops and classes in the plaza all day, and are really friendly. There was a little socialist collective called "Esquina Caliente" (Hot Corner) where Chavistas-mostly old folks-would dress in red and sit down under the awning and watch Chavez talk on TV for a good couple hours. Then, there are other parts of Caracas (mostly wealthy white ones) which are very anti-Chavez.
I went to a bar with some CS-ers in Caracas. Then, I went back to my host's house. I hung out with him and his brother, had a little bit of excellent Venezuelan rum, and then went to bed on the hammock on their porch. Even though they had a bed for me in my own room if I wanted, I preferred to sleep outside for my last night in South America. All in all, I had a great last day.
Comments
Post a Comment