A Venezuelan Story of Epic Proportions

Disclaimer: This is a ridiculously long entry. It took me three hours to write. When I started this blog, it was never my intention to do this type of ridiculously long entry. And, I feel like I’ve still left so much out. I know that some of you won’t be interested in all these details so I was thinking of chopping this down. But at the same point, I know there are a few who would love the details. If you’re not one of them, skim through, if you are, then here they are. Also, I’m keeping this blog in place of a journal, so I want to make sure it’s good for me to look back at later.

Hola!!! We departed Venezuela last night at 2300 hours (we use military time around here). I stood on the port side of the bow of the ship with friends and watched the beautiful lights that dotted the mountains disappear into the darkness as our floating city sliced through the dark waters with the melodic sadness and beauty of bagpipes being played nearby as our departure soundtrack. The beauty of the surrounds compiled with the electricity of the energy of all that everyone on the ship experienced in Venezuela, made it one of the most gorgeous things that I’ve ever experienced. I have to admit that I didn’t have terribly high prospects for Venezuela, but my expectations were far exceeded and I had the most amazing time. I am actually a little nervous that the next eight ports just won’t be able to compare. Although, I’m sure that I’ll feel that way after each port. As it stands, I still feel like every day is so great that it can’t be topped, but then I always seem to top it the next day.

Day 1 – Exploring Caracas

Arriving in Venezuela
We docked in La Guaira around 7:30 a.m. on September 3rd (Wow, it took me a long time to figure out the date. I couldn’t even remember the month. I had to look at my calendar to see the day we arrived.) Anyways, I wasn’t expecting the port to be so pretty and vibrant looking. From the interport lecturer we had been warned that La Guaira wouldn’t be very nice as it had been destroyed by a mudslide from the hills above just six years ago and 20,000 people had been killed. So, when we arrived, I was surprised at how pretty the area really was. I mean it was definitely a poverty stricken place, but we were surrounded by hills on all sides with thousands of brightly colored shanty houses dotted up and down the hills.

We had a brief briefing by representatives of the American Embassy regarding safety and other logistics. Then around 9:30 a.m., the ship was cleared by customs and we were allowed to disembark.

English language school and the trip there . . .
At the last minute the night before we arrived, the interport lecturer had announced that he had arranged for 20 students to visit an English language school in Caracas. I decided that since I really didn’t have any plans for that day other than to take in some culture, that would be a good way to do it and meet some local students. So, I signed up with another girl. The group of us going to the language school had met up and left the ship together. However, once we got out of the port terminal, I broke into a smaller group of two guys and three girls to find a cab to the school. Caracas, the major city in the area, is about an hour drive away from La Guaira where we docked. Somehow it became decided that our group was going to take the public bus into Caracas rather than take a cab, which we had been strictly warned against by SAS. So, the trip to the school was rather adventurous. First we took the bus, which cost around 75 cents U.S. Then we got off the bus and took the metro, which cost around 50 cents for two rides. Then we walked about ten minutes. And, finally we arrived at the language school only half an hour late. Now keep in mind that we speak little Spanish if any, they speak little English if any, and we really didn’t have great instructions about how to get to the school. It was a little scary, a little crazy, but a fabulous adventure just getting there. Trust me, there were no other tourists on the bus or metro with us.

When we got to the school, they broke us up into small groups to go sit in classrooms. My class was intermediate/advanced students. There were four of us SASers, eight students, and the teacher. Since they were more advanced students, we really just sat around talking so that they could practice their English. The teacher was thrilled to have us there because he said they never have a chance to practice their English with people who speak English as a first language. Since all the students were right around our age,we had a good time cracking jokes, teaching them American slang, and hearing what they had to tell us about Venezuela and their lifestyles. This was a great opportunity for us to learn a lot about Venezuela and Caracas.

Meandering around Caracas
After about an hour, the students had a fifteen minute break and one of the girls we had met earlier who was training to be an English teacher at the school offered to use her break to walk us to one of her favorite restaurants. So, a group of maybe ten of us went to this wonderful local restaurant for lunch. It looked really upscale and it was filled with locals, but it was inexpensive and very good. I had a Solero (brand of beer – around 75 cents U.S.), a smoothie (around $1 U.S.), and I split a chicken cachapa and arape with someone else (around $3 each). We split the bill so that we each paid around $5 U.S. The food was excellent.

Anyways, after that, I broke off with a smaller group again and we walked around and explored. This was my first time really being on a trip to a place that doesn’t cater to tourists. There were no souvenir shops, most people spoke no English, and there were no foreigners except for us. It was really interesting to just walk around the city and take in the culture. I was a little upset at first that I couldn’t find souvenirs to buy, but then I started thinking about how great that actually was that I was somewhere so untouched by tourism and stopped worrying about it. The one thing that threw me off a little was that there were many American companies there (Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, etc.) and they gave so many things American names (American Deli, Montana Restaurant, New York Street, Texas Dallas Hotel), however, nothing was catered to tourists. I’m used to going to places that have a lot of that touristy crap, but when I really put two and two together and figured out that it wasn’t for our benefit and had just seeped into their culture without even many tourists, it just freaked me out a little bit. It brings up the issue of globalization that we were discussing in Global Studies. *See I am paying attention in class. Anyways, we just meandered around the city for the day checking things out, stopping when something looked interesting.

The Night Life
Some SAS kids had told us earlier in the day that a bunch of people were meeting our interport student, Christian, at a certain place around 7:30 to go out on the town. So, we met back there around then. I would say there were about 50 SAS kids there and I was excited that I recognized so many of them. It was so fun running around to different groups and seeing what people had been up to and where they were going. People broke up and went into a few different directions. I went to a bar with about 20 others. We had to pay about $3.75 U.S. a person to get into the bar, but we got five beers a person for that. They brought huge paint pails of bottles of beer to the table. So, we sat around and drank and had an awesome time for a while.

Then, I somehow got myself mixed up with a group that was heading to a club. We paid $5 U.S. to get in for a full open bar. The club filled up fast and soon the dance floor was filled with SASers and Venezuelans dancing salsa. I don’t really know if I can dance salsa, but I’ll tell you, I really felt like I could that night. I was having an amazing time twirling around in a long twirly skirt on the dance floor. However, comically, I “tried” to salsa with one of my SAS friends and he was so beyond bad that he actually ended up punching me in the eye when he was trying to spin me. It was just so hilarious really. It really hurt though. I seriously thought I’d have a black eye. But, I didn’t. There are lots of bad dancers out there, but how many are so bad they actually injure their partner. I try not to mention names in this blog, but I’ll tell you – it was A.J. from Texas. So, if anyone knows him, give him hell. Haha. Next time I’m dancing with the Latinos.

Anyways, it was getting late, and I really hadn’t planned to stay out so late since I had to get up the next morning. SAS told us not to take taxis back to the ship in the middle of the night (as in the wee hours) because it’s too dangerous. But, it was only around 12:30 and I really didn’t want to have to sleep in town and come back to the ship super early the next morning. So, I recruited a couple other people and went in search of an “official” city cab. A couple cabs wouldn’t take us, which made us just a little nervous, although I think it had more to do with the distance than safety. But, we found an official guy who would take us, assured us it was safe, and agreed to roll up the windows and lock the doors and not stop. It turned out that the drive was fine. There were plenty of other cars on the road and we made it back to the port just fine. I got to bed around 2:30ish just filled with excitement over my amazing day really doing nothing or accomplishing anything but just experiencing the culture of Venezuela and Caracas.

Days 2-4 - The Orinoco Delta – Loco in the Noco

Day 2 - The Journey to a Jungle Oasis
My alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning. I showered and tried to make sure I had everything I needed. Luckily I had done my packing the night before we arrived in Venezuela. We met in the Union at 7:45 and headed out at 8. There were 41 of us including one very cool adult passenger and one also very cool residential director who was our trip leader. Our guide, a Venezuelan named Mario who I can only describe as a Venezuelan Rambo of the jungle, met up with us after our flight. We took a short bus ride to the airport, a fifty minute plane ride, an hour and a half bus ride, and then an hour long boat ride to arrive at the lodge we would be staying at for the next two nights in the middle of the rainforest.

If you were to imagine going out to the jungle in your fantasies for an exotic adventure, this would be the lodge you would imagine. The boats pulled up right to the main open air palm thatched roof building. The huge room had a sitting area, dining tables, and most importantly a tiki type bar with cheap drinks (*wink, wink, I am not an alcoholic, just a college student (who is well over 21) who has just found herself in the middle of a jungle paradise). We stayed in little bungalows that you got to along a wooden bridge type trail and were lit by tiki torches lining the path at night. Our rooms were amazing. They were exactly what you would picture. Little huts with palm roofs and the top halves of the walls only enclosed by mosquito netting so that you can see the jungle on the inside (even in the bathroom). The room that I had (with my trip roommate), had two small beds with pretty little thin purple and gold comforters, a little sink and mirror, a small bathroom, and a table with candle sticks (because the generator is turned off at 11 and there is no light until the morning). The lodge also had several pets. There was a parrot, cats, and dogs that just roamed through the property and main building at their whim. However, there were also more exotic animals which were fenced in – a jaguar, tapier, crocodile, and puma. So, I hope that I’ve painted the picture of how unreal being in this lodge was.

After we tossed our things in our rooms, everyone came back to the main building for drinks and “lunch” (it was around 5 p.m.). We had a wonderful traditional dish of rice, black beans, and shredded beef for lunch. Then we headed out for a sunset boat ride and swim. The sunset was gorgeous and almost all 41 of us jumped into the river almost the moment the boats stopped. We were all just so excited and in awe of the fact that we were actually in the middle of the Venezuelan rainforest swimming in the Delta at sunset.

After our swim, we headed back to the lodge and got out of our swim suits. Then everyone met up again in the main building for our evening entertainment (i.e. beer, rums with a splash of coke, socializing, dinner, and the most amazing star gazing ever). Dinner was a wonderful pasta and chicken dish. After dinner people just socialized and checked out the sky. At eleven, they turned all the lights out and it was pitch black. You could see the outline of people, but you wouldn’t know who it was unless you recognized their voice or asked. It was pretty funny stumbling around asking who you were talking to. But, the stars were magnificent. You could physically see the milky way like a hazy veil that covered a ribbon of stars in the sky. The night sky looked so much different than any I had ever seen. We had a great time trying to figure out where the constellations were since they were arranged differently than we’re used to. Anyways, the party broke up around 12 or 1 and everyone headed to bed. I had one last adventure before I went to sleep. When I tried to go to the washroom, I found a frog in there. But, the great thing about having open air cabins is that you can just call for the guys in the cabin next to you to come get it out. So, I just called out to my neighbor who I knew had been looking for frogs all day and he came over and grabbed it. Everyone was happy. I slept surprisingly well and deep for knowing that there were probably tons of creepy crawling things crawling all over me and my bag.

Day 3 – Getting Dirty in the Jungle
The next day, Mario woke everyone up at seven for our full day adventure away from the lodge. We had a breakfast of eggs (not me), corn bread, jam, ham, and cheese. Then we all picked out rubber boots for our trek in the jungle. Most people’s were knee high, but since I have such small feet, I ended up with kids boots which were short. We took a long boat ride on the delta stopping to look at trees, monkeys, and fresh water dolphins. We took our boats off the main delta into a very narrow part of the delta. You know you are in the jungle when you get to a place in the river where there is a fallen tree blocking your path and your boat drivers pull out their machetes to cut through it. It was really surreal, but they showed that tree what was up and we proceeded on our way deeper into the jungle. We made another stop to look at some birds and a snake and for our boat driver to climb up a tree and cut out some fruit to show us.

Finally, a couple of hours after we left the lodge later, we made it to a little open air hut that was the take off point for our hike through the jungle. We all donned our long sleeved shirts, pants, and rubber boots and set off with our guides. The first part of our trek was so muddy and everyone was getting stuck. It came to your knees in some places. Some girls got stuck so badly that they needed two or three guys to pull them out. It was really really really funny. I got stuck really badly once, but I got myself out. After that I was a little nervous, but luckily, the mud wasn’t as bad after that little stint at the beginning. Our guides showed us different trees and plants and told us the medicinal uses.

We got to try water that came out of different parts of trees that Indians drink when they’re in the jungle. Any of you who think that I’m “girlie” would have been impressed as hell with my jungle trekking skills/attitude. I was covered to my waist in mud, getting stuck, falling over, being covered by bugs, and I was smiling and loving it and being tough as hell. Actually, two different times guys tried to scare me by telling me there were bugs in my hair and I was like “ok, are you going to get them out or just point and tell me about them.” They were all very disappointed by my reaction. I guess they thought I was going to freak out or something. I don’t know why people always assume I’m a wuss. I showed them. Anyways, my point is that you would all be very impressed at how well I toughed it out in the jungle.

After our trek, we reconvened at the hut. Everyone was filthy, but most of us had brought some form of other clothes to change into. Was I ever glad that I did. So, a little while later, they put out lunch for us. It was watermelon, cantaloupe, bread, and tuna salad. There were also some Indians who had prepared a large cat fish that they had caught and let everyone try some. I would just like to point out here that we all used hand sanitizer before eating, don’t worry. Hand sanitizer is like gold on this trip. *Thanks Danielle for the set up. It has been awesome.*

After a while, we got back in the boats and headed to an Indian village that we were going to visit. Of course it started pouring and the boat was going so fast that we were absolutely pelted and it actually hurt. This actually went on for about a half an hour. But, we were all so happy that we were just laughing even as the situation occurred. I Actually did pull a girlie move and leaned behind the guy sitting next to me so that I wasn’t getting pelted in the face. Come on . . . . it really hurt. And, what was the point of both of us getting pelted in the face.

Anyways, the rain stopped just as we arrived at the Warro village. It was a large village of about 150 Warros. I would guess that 100 of those were young children. There were children everywhere. And, they were the most beautiful happy group of children I have ever seen. We walked around and observed the lifestyle and culture. It felt rather intrusive. Pretty much everyone seemed to feel that way. But, at the same time, I realized that the Warro were getting compensated for us being there. Whether that actually helps them or not is another issue. They were able to sell their goods to us and the lodge that we were staying at actually runs the local school for the children. So, it’s not as if we’re just invading their space. This was the deal that they made.

I enjoyed looking around at the open air huts and common buildings, however, I did not stare at the people or take pictures of them. I tried to communicate with some of the more outgoing children, but it was really hard. Other places there were tons of SAS kids on our trip who knew Spanish, but since the Warro spoke their own language, no one but our guides had any idea how to communicate. The only pictures that I took were with no people or from the boat on the way out that captured the overall scene and not just a family portrait of people in their home who I couldn’t even communicate with. There were gorgeous, deep pictures to be had, but I couldn’t bring myself to photograph the people like they were an exhibit. Some students did, most didn’t.

After visiting the Warro, we had a repeat of the night before – a sunset swim, back to the lodge, put on dry and somewhat clean clothes, dinner (a beef a chicken mixture, fried potatoes, and cauliflower), drinks, and star gazing. I helped close down the party at around three and headed off to bed. Of course, I found a lizard when I got there, so I had to call my neighbor again. Ok, I am a little girlie. But, I was tough in the rainforest. I don’t want creatures crawling on me when I sleep. That’s where I draw the line

Day 4 – The Last Day
Our wake up call was at 7 again. Ok, waking up wasn’t a total blast, but I did it and I rallied for the day ahead with the spirit of the true Amazonian explorer that I am. We had a similar breakfast to the day before. On the agenda for the day was paddling in canoes and fishing for Piranha. I went out with a group of three others for a short ride in the canoes. Luckily everyone stayed dry. Then we went off fishing for piranha. I was very happy that they took us to a different part of the river to finish for piranha than we’d been swimming in. We each got a fishing pole which was made with a stick, a line, a hook and bait. Even I could handle this kind of finishing. You just stick it in the water and wait. Unfortunately no one caught any piranha on the trip. However, when we returned to the lodge, some people fished off the dock and caught a ton. Boy am I glad that we didn’t decide to go night swimming.

So, we had lunch (meatloaf, veggies, and rice), packed up our smelly damp belongings, and said goodbye to the staff. Then, we boarded our boats and headed out on our long journey back to the ship. A boat, bus, and plane ride later we were back in Caracas. The plane ride was really nice. We saw the sunset on the plane and we got a nice snack and free alcoholic drinks. Although, I just had orange juice, really. I felt bad for everyone else on the plane though. We must have been the smelliest bunch of Americans ever. I couldn’t smell much because I have developed a small cold and had a stuffed nose, but everyone else said we reeked. Most people hadn’t showered, many were rewearing clothes they’d worn several times, and some guys forgot deodorant. We were a rough group. Someone told me the stewardesses were holding their noses when they passed us. It was hilarious.

Anyways, we had one last adventure left, the bus ride to the ship. Now had it been a normal bus ride, everyone probably would have passed out, but no, we got, the party bus . . . Our bus driver cranked up the music (and I do mean cranked) and people were dancing in the aisles. It was seriously like a moving club. It was so much fun and got everyone all riled up again. When we got back on the ship we were so giddy about our awesome trip and the awesome people that we’d spent the last three days on the most amazing journey with that we were out of control rowdie. We were running around the ship screaming something every time we saw other people from our Delta trip. Something someone came up with was “Loco in the Noco.” We had to be the trip that had the most fun. We were just insane excited when we got back. At one point we were sitting out on the back deck and whenever someone came out we would just yell to them in a very loud and obnoxious way. I felt so badly for the people who were trying to study or have normal conversations. We were just completely out of control with excitement.

I know that I’ve babbled forever and ever. But, we’ve come to closing now. I said goodbye to Venezuela last night and am on my way to Brazil right now. We’ve already done almost 300 nautical miles since last night. We’ll be arriving in Brazil on Tuesday, September 13th. Until then, I have a lot of homework to catch up on (as in I haven’t really done any this trip yet). And, tonight we have an activity fair and community college (forums and lectures on interesting topics) starting. So, I will probably do a couple short updates during the week, but nothing terribly exciting should happen before Brazil. I still don’t have definite plans of any type. But, I have lots of time to get stuff figured out with other people. So, Chow! Best wishes to everyone. All my love. And, thanks for reading this far.

P.S. I just have to mention that I won the prize for the most mosquito bites. They loved me. I was completely eaten alive. I used my bug spray a million times a day and wore long pants. They still got me. So, I’m a little itchy right now. *Danielle, again, thank you for the itch relief spray*

P.S.S. Mrs. Snow. I got your e-mail and I did happen to meet your son Jon on my trip in the Delta. We had a great time and I told him about your e-mail. For any other parents that wrote me, I will try to keep the names in mind and hope to meet them all. There are a lot of people on the ship though. So, it may take a while.

Words that I can say like a native in Spanish (but can’t spell)
Hello
Good morning
Please
Beer
Rum and Coke
Water
Mineral Water
Thank You
Thank You Very Much
Your Welcome
Girl (I heard that one a lot)

I never had a desire to learn Spanish before getting to Venezuela. But, I was so impressed by how many SAS kids knew at least enough to get them by. And, I really wished that I could have communicated. I’m a slow learner, so I didn’t pick up much. But, I’m still running around the boat saying Hola and Gracias. I think my enthusiasm makes up for my lack of skill.