Los Andes

Last weekend we took a short bus trip (4-5 hours for us) to some parts of the Andes mountains.  This was our first big trip and was absolutely breathtaking.  Our ears were popping the entire journey there and the majority of people there looked like they had never seen a person with white skin before.  We stopped at a local zoo and got to be inches away from some monkeys and parrots which was pretty cool.

We constantly stopped to take pictures, went to a big lake in the mountains and then went on a hiking trip through trip through the woods.  It was a fun day although almost everyone got sick afterwards.  

Everyday is a new adventure here.  Classes are not too hard because my Spanish is constantly improving.

I took a taxi to a Chinese restaurant in Merida today because I was dying for some food I actually like.  A common stereotype of all Latin American countries is that they all have the typical Mexican food.  Thats pretty much not true at all.  They don't even have salsa here in Venezuela, much less burritos, tacos, nachos or even fajitas.  Everything here is made of corn and arepas.  They don't even have basic totilla chips at the grocery store.  The water is so biologically unsafe also its tough to choose what to eat at times.  We can't eat anything on streets or a lot of new, exotic food.  Locals have an immunity built up to the bad water while the few foreigners here need to only drink bottled water, brush teeth with safe water, not eat vegetables unless washed in vinegar, etc etc.  

Rare chinese food at a restaurante here- wontons and chicken

First week

Every morning at 5 or so in the morning I have woken up to the roosters here.  Then all the dogs bark in the morning.  The past week/weekend there have been nonstop fireworks all the time.  And by fireworks I mean ones ten times louder than the United States.  The kind that are probably illegeal in our country.  They are so loud that they set car alarms off all day long.  Kids have been setting them off for some kind of holiday.

Today is the weekend and we took a long bus ride to the Andes.  We went up pretty high for a three or four hour bus ride stopping occasionally to eat or take pictures.  The Andes are absolutely beautiful and the pictures don't do justice.  A lot of us got sick from going up so high and our ears popping so much.  On the bus rides here they blast music obnoxiously loud so we got to jam out the whole way.

Pictures just don't do justice

Homestay

I live in an apartment with a mother and her daughter.  I have a roommate and we share a small, basic room.  It takes some getting used to.  We live about a 20 minute taxi/trolleybus ride away from the VENUSA school that we go to.  Here are some pictures of our place, the view from my bedroom window, our family, and of our school VENUSA.  Also the other day we exchanged with our home stay moms for Bolivar Fuertes (the currency here).  We exchanged $100 USD for 1500BF so we had some fat stacks on our hands.

Racks on racks of Bolivares

Eating some lunch at the Mercado Principal

Bedroom window view

Sign inside our school

The garden/ a part of the lounge at our school

View of our school from the street

In our school there are many hammocks so many students take naps or just chill in them.  Hammocks are very popular here in Venezuela.

Banner in our school

First Post- The Journey to Venezuela.

So I am a terrible writer and am going to make this mostly a photo blog with paragraphs here and there.  We had a grueling flights to make it to Venezuela.  I flew from Milwaukee to Atlanta to Miami then met up with everyone.  Then we flew to Caracas, Venezuela and then to Merida.

At the airport in Caracas we had a lot of downtime and I got to have my first legal beer!!!!!!!  So that was awesome.

From the airport by Merida we had a two hour bus ride to our home stays in the city.  On the ride it really hit me I was in a third world country when we had to stop at times because there had been landslides that day and there was lots of rocks and gravel on the roads.  Merida is classified as a third world country but is very close to being a second world one.  Also the city of Merida in Venezuela is smack dab in the middle of the Andes mountains and is absolutely beautiful.  

Our trip is from January to May for the semester through a school called VEN-USA.  It is a special program through the U of M and has its own school in Merida.  The school is pretty nice and has a lot of fun things like hammocks to lounge around in.  The school is for American students studying Spanish abroad and Venezuelan students studying English.  

On another note, the exchange rate here is insane.  The official rate for U.S. dollars is 1-4.29 Bolivar Fuerte but the black market rate is $1-15.  From what I heard the rate last semester was 1-9 but it has since rose because of the election.  So basically everything is incredibly cheap here.  The socialist dictator of Venezuela, Huge Chavez, sets a limit on how many American dollars Venezuelans can get which explains why ours are so rare.  So for instance most lunches are from $2-7, Cab rides are 25BF or $1.50.  Bus rides are typically 2.5BF or 2.5/15 a dollar.  Beers here are dirt cheap for us Americans.  At most bars they are 10BF or about $ .70.  So its nice to be able to not worry too much about spending.  

A couple funny facts about Venezuela are that everyone drives crazy but are all touchy about car care.  There are no stop signs here.  Only speed bumps everyone.  People cross the street blatantly all the time and cars rarely slow down.  They also have their hands glued to their horns.  Although a big edicit thing here is not slamming car doors because they are fragile and can break.  Stray animals here are very common along with there being potholes everywhere and little road construction.  The water here can only be drank by locals because of biological problems so we have to only drink bottled water.  Venezuelan people are usually really generous and friendly to Americans here.  Which is a big contrast to how Americans treat foreigners in the States.  In Merida we are pretty much the only Gringos (Americans) and are stared at like we are on the red carpet.  I have yet to see any tourists or other white people here.  So it definitely feels like we are out of place.  Also I live 20 minutes from VENUSA by trolleybus at an apartment home-stay with a Mom that cooks for me.  I share a room with a roommate.  The food here is very different but a little bland.  American food has a lot more flavor, so does Mexican food.  So it is taking some time to get used to.