Venezuela!!!

Me writing with condor feather

This is my first time blogging since I got to Venezuela. I have been writing in a journal for the week while I have been here because I have had a lot of time on busses… I´m talking hours! So.. I am going to type here straight from my journals. If it sounds like I am presently doing something it is because at the time I wrote it I was :D I hope that makes sense! Some of it might be past tense… anyway…. Just know…. This is me typing what I wrote :D

The National Gas Chain Peh-Deh-Vesa

When I got to Venezuela 10/24/2010 the kid at immigration told me to wait and he would change my money for me. I was really excited because I had heard about people at the airport who will exchange money on ¨black market prices¨. The current exchange rate in Venezuela for a dollar is 4.3 Bolivars Fuertes. But the Dollar is actually worth around 8. Due to the government here… there is this weird rule where citizens are only allowed to purchase $2000 US dollars a year to travel and spend outside of Venezuela. Anyway… that is what has created this ¨black market¨ for money… people want to spend more than $2000 outside of the country each year. So this guy takes me into the back room and tries to give me 400 Bolivar for my $100 US. No way I told him! I want 800 Bolivar! He wouldn´t do it… he was trying to scam me…. Anyway I found a taxi driver that gave me 7.5 per dollar… so 750 Bolivar for 100 dollars… not bad! There were no busses out of the city (Valencia) that night because it was like 1 AM when I got away from the airport. I asked the driver to take me to a chap hostel/posada… but he wouldn´t cause he said it was dangerous… so he took me to a hotel. It really wasn´t that bad…. Only 150 Bolivar for the night… so $20 US. He drops me off and I go in and wow!!! This place was big and nice…. And for some reason the walls were covered with mirrors. I found out later I was staying in a honeymoon hotel…. Haha…. So… that´s why there were mirrors… I was scared though because my mirror had a volume knob and buttons… it looked like it was taken from an old police station… haha

the bus to Merida!

I wanted to go to Angel Falls but there were a couple problems. 1 It was in the opposite direction from Colombia… more in the Amazon by Brazil. 2. I heard that once you get to the nearby city you have to take a charter plane to the falls. I heard that from multiple people so I decided I´ll see that another time since I have very little Bolivars and no way to get more US dollars to exchange.

So Now I´m on a bus headed to Merida. I have been having really good luck! The first guy I talked to told me that if I got on his bus that there would be another bus at his final destination that would take me to Merida. I got off the bus walked in front of a couple other busses and right in front of one that was trying to leave and guess what the sign in the window said? MERIDA! Perfect! It has been a pretty long ride… I think it is 10 hours. But it has been a great 10 hours! I´m driving through the Andes Mountains right now and they are HUUUUGE! I can´t even see the tops because they are in the clouds. I´ve seen lots of rivers and waterfalls… currently in ¨las piedras¨… so I didn´t get to see angel falls ¨salto angel¨ (the tallest waterfall in the world) but I have still seen some really beautiful ones. :D I am gonna return to Venezuela some day and go treasure hunting! I know there´s lots here I can feel it! When I was younger me and my friend used to build forts in the mountains and we would go up into the mountains and find caves and break rocks looking for gold haha…. I know a little more now about finding caves, following rivers, etc…. so I would love to give it a go down here where ancient civilizations lived….

This bus driver is fearless! Driving really fast right along the edge of the cliffs like it is nothing!

Zeus!

At first when I looked out the windows I thought ¨What an ugly country… everything is dead! But then I realized there is dark tint on the windows… I opened the windows and everything is lush and green and beautiful!!!

There are farmers here using oxen to plow their fields with wooden plows!!! There are also calla-lilies that cover the hillsides which makes me happy and sad… lol…. For anyone that knows why that is… :D

Last night I had a dream that I was taking a bunch of tests to join the Army. But I kept mentioning the air force to my recruiter. I was happy… and going to become an officer… Maybe that is a sign? Yesterday was the first time I have prayed in awhile. I´m always a little scared of going to a new country. So… I prayed….. I also prayed for guidance… and then I had that dream… anyway…. I have lots of dreams….

The drivers here are crazy! Passing on curvy mountain roads and really barely avoiding crashes!!!

Day 2 in Venezuela

Ok so on Day 2 …. (The day travelling to Merida) I went from Valencia to Barinas and Barinas to Merida. On the way to Merida I met Anais and Jonas from Belgium. They took me to the hostel/posada where they were staying called posada Aleman. I have made a bunch of new friends here… people from all over…. Canada, England, Germany, France. There is a guy here named Graham from England… he started in 2008 on a motorcycle in the U.S. and he´s been all over the western U.S. Down through Mexico and Central America…. Down through every country in South American and now he´s on his way back to the US. He has some pretty amazing stories… he does a video blog on face book and YouTube… twitter… called brainrotting really cool guy… here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmXxLdRenug

I went to the zoo in Merida with a German couple I met… their names are URS and Felicita. URS means bear in German. From the beginning I told them I would show them how to turn a regular zoo into a petting zoo :D I grabbed turtles and rabbits… fed this weird water pig thing but the best experience I had was with a small red titi monkey (that´s what they said it was called) He was lying there looking so so sad… (Like all animals in zoos…. Zoos are kind of sad places… its cool to see animals up so close… but its like putting them in jail… hah… anyway…. I paid to see the animals so I really have no room for criticism) I noticed that there was no water in his cage so I tempted him with my water. When he reached for it I started petting him… then I let him drink from the bottle… Afterwards he was so happy climbing around swinging by his tail and when I would walk by his cage he would follow me and jump around.

I have had some great meals here for dirt cheap prices…. Also gram cooked up a goulash type of a dish and me him and Anna (from Germany) ate. We listened to great music….. watched the English version of the office (the first one) and told stories…. It was great.

Tomorrow I am going to an area called los llanos…. I´ll be gone 4 days… should be great!

¨Los Llanos¨

• LLANO (noun)
  The noun LLANO has 1 sense:

1. an extensive grassy and nearly treeless plain (especially in Latin America)

  Familiarity information: LLANO used as a noun is very rare.

The way I would describe los llanos is like… swampy… marshy… and plains…. A lot like the everglades of Florida.

So far this has been one crazy trip… and that´s the best way for me to describe it.

Day 1

We were driving to see the ¨capilla de piedras¨(stone chapel) We were about 2 miles from our destination when BAM! We slam into a bus going around the corner. Car accident. Keep in mind we are all in the back of a Toyota Land Rover sitting sideways with no seatbelts… Crazy! So the police show up and I just walked to the stone chapel cause I didn´t want to wait around. Venezuelans are crazy drivers! I now know where my friend Lucas learned to Drive.

So then I go to this national reserve for condors in the Andes. It was less than spectacular…. Haha! I get there and they have 3 condors in Giant dome cages…. So… that was sad because it was like being at the zoo but it was coo to see them up close. One female only had one wing. She started a mating dance while we were there. It was funny that she only had one wing….. but female condors all have beautiful deep red eyes! The males have a brownish eye… The male did his mating dance… very cool to see! Did you know Condors belong to the vulture family? Their wingspan is over 3 meters (about 10 feet) it takes them about 7 years to perfect the art of flying… but when they do…. Wow!!! Most south American countries feature the condor on their National Seals… it is a symbol of freedom like the Bald Eagle in the USA. They were extinct in Venezuela for a time because they were labeled as a ¨bird of prey¨ and farmers would kill them to ¨protect¨ their animals. Now it´s recognized as a kind of vulture that feeds on dead carcasses. And every year a few more show up in the Venezuelan Andes.

1500 years ago the Condor was discovered by South American Indians was considered a God. When a man would die his soul would live on eternally as a condor. They can live up to 50 years.

After the condors I hiked along a couple lagoons. I´m thinking about going back there and camping and hiking some mountains! There is a mountain top called ¨Pico Bolivar¨ that I want to climb but everyone says you can´t do it without a guide… and it is way way way too expensive.

We drove for hours and hours after that to a town called acequias by the river acequias. Drove down a rocky dirt road for 8km and stayed at a posada. That night I taught Urs, Felicita, and Patrick how to play cribbage. And did a few magic tricks for them 

Day 2

We woke up early and went rafting with a local named Carlos. He is on the Venezuelan National White Water Rafting Team…. He was a really cool guy. We had a great time and even stopped half way to do a little cliff jumping… 15-20 feet is all though… nothing compared to the waterfall in Guatemala that I jumped off of 

After hours of Driving we got to a remote area.. a little village called el palmar. We didn´t stay in the village we stayed in the country way way down a dirt road. I´m sleeping in a hammock here on this farm. The family here is really nice and they are great cooks. We went out hunting for ¨caymanes¨ which to me were crocodiles  We got a small one, I went after a big one but it got spooked right before I grabbed it and scurried into the water. The technique for catching a crock or Cayman is to shine a bright light in their eyes…. It is all they will focus on… and while they are looking at that you grab their neck and later their mouth… well it all depends on how big they are 

capybaras

Day 3 – 2^nd day in los llanos

caraca

Arepas for breakfast… getting kinda tired of them. Don´t get me wrong… they´re good… but I miss my comfort foods that I grew up with  We went out into the swamps this morning on boats and saw tons of different species of birds! We saw these giant gerbil things called capybaras, fresh water dolphins (they have really weird fins) and turtles…. We also caught this supposedly prehistoric turtle… it was pretty crazy looking… I´ll try to find out what it is called… there were tons of piranhas in the water and crocs too! The local guide Ramon Perez was amazing! The guy did everything barefoot…. Rode horses…. Hunted anacondas, and hunted cabman… all barefoot… very cool guy.

For lunch we ate Venezuela’s traditional dish called Pavellon. The family told up that the food had a story behind it… this was one of the best meals I have had in my travels. Mexican food is still my number 1… but I have not had one bad meal in Venezuela… Unlike Guatemala… terrible food there!

We just got back from hunting for our dinner! Piranhas! The piranha in this picture is pretty big for a piranha… a caught a bunch and so did the others…. But this was the biggest!

heron

Prehistoric turtle

HAWK! and fish....

regular turtles :)

We also went out looking for anacondas. Everyone stayed in the care while the local guys went into the water with rubber boots and sharp sticks poking around for anacondas. (I shouldn´t call it poking… because they are thrusting the sticks into the ground like spears!) There are also piranhas and caymanes (crocodiles) in the water. The idea is to find anacondas lying deep in the water or mud… stab them with the stick… then they surface and you catch them. There weren´t any more rubber boots but I´m not one for watching so I grabbed a sharp stick and went in too!

caymanes!

Let me tell you! This was one of the scariest feelings in the world. My boots were sinking into the mud… I´m surrounded by piranhas… there’s crocodiles everywhere… and I´m trying to stab a giant water snake with a stick! Hahaha…. To make it worse the guide said to me that very few slither away and that most of them attack you if you stab them. I was so torn! Half of me wanted to be the hero who found the snake and the other half was praying with every stab I took at the water that there would be no snake. We searched for an hour and a half and found nothing! Maybe tomorrow!

Came back to camp and there was a large group of people who showed up… they were mostly from Europe… playing salsa music… so we danced salsa for awhile then I went to sleep.

Trek day 4- day 3 in los llanos

I´m going back to Merida today but before I do I went out horseback riding with a local and the others. I was running the horse and herding cows! So much fun to make 250 cows run in a straight line in one direction… I know it doesn´t sound that exciting but oh what a feeling… hahaha!

I know what you´re thinking… Did you find an anaconda!? YES! The only disappointment was that it was a male…. It was about 7 feet long… the females are the big ones that can grow over 35 feet long! And the females are much wider too! But hey… the important thing is I grabbed it´s tail…. I went for its neck and it lunged at me! Haha! Scaaaaary! Then the local guy said it looked like it had just eaten…. And if I grabbed its neck it would probably get scared, vomit its food, and then really fight me! So I settled for holding the tail 

Well…. That is that … I’m headed back to Mérida now through Barinas. It will be nice to have a hot shower, bed, and less bugs! Don´t get me wrong… the hammocks and the adventure was great… but I´m getting sick… so it´s time to rest and relax!

Got to Merida really late and really sick… went out with Dieter and Graham and some friends from Australia. Grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the pharmacy… it cost me 30 Bolivar… $4… for Antibiotics! I love not having to go to the doctor! Even though my doctor is a cool guy 

Day 7 in Venezuela …. Halloween!

Last year at this time I was having the time of my life with friends on a cruise ship to Mexico… this year…. Still having the time of my life…. October is a good month for me  It´s weird because it doesn´t feel like a holiday. I wish I could be in the US for a day and go to a costume party. I know I could go to one here but the only costume I have is a backpacker 

This morning I decided I was going to take the aggressive approach at my sickness… I took a pill drank a bunch of water and went running… Merida is in the mountains… I ran down some steep switchbacks to the rio Chama… and then back up… Did some push ups and Ab work (Belly work in my case… ha) And I sweated my butt off! I feel great! Still sick but I feel much better.

I just talked with some friends from Argentina here at the hostel and they drew me a map and listed lots of places to visit in Argentina… I´m sure the Costanzi family will have a lot of suggestions too  They just left though… I´m sure I´ll meet up with them again. I need more sleep… I´m really sore from horseback riding… and I hate being sick!

my favorite friend from los llanos... 6 months old... lost her mom... to a jaguar.  So sweet.

me and maya... little french girl... she loves the ipod :)