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.
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