School and First Weekend Here!

School has started and it is dificult. The classes are really interesting and the professors are amazing to work with. I understand almost everything that is going on in the class but when it is my turn to talk I feel like my mind goes blank. It will take some time to get used to all Spanish all the time. I am loving the school, it is so much fun. We also went into the Andes this past weekend for a trip to Mucubaji, which is a national park where we hiked until it started to rain. On Saturday we went to a party in the Andes because it was a friend from schools birthday and he rented out two cabins for us, we had many drinks, lots of swimming, and lots of food!

Mucubaji

The view from our cabin

Fun in Isla Margarita amd Merida

Saturday August 21, 2010


Snorkeling was really fun minus the fact that everyone on the bus got money stole from them. *sad* We went on a boat for about a 20 min ride to an island where we first got out to snorkel. We had about an hour there then we headed for lunch. For lunch we ate grilled chicken and fish, coleslaw, bread, and rice. Then we sat for a while drinking our cup of coffee (which is the size of a shot glass. If you order a coffee anywhere you will get a shot glass size. Nothing ever larger than that.) We sat resting and then went to another cove to snorkel. We saw sea urchins, plenty of colorful amazing fish, and a lion fish! I don’t think my body has ever taken that much salt water in haha. We got to know the people on the boat really well, they were so nice. There was a fun German couple, some people from Argentina and some from Venezuela. The two people pretty much loved Mark and I. They told us that they wanted to play volleyball and swim some more, as if we hadn’t been swimming all day. But we said we would love to, then after playing volleyball with Rafael and Jennifer, they said they would take us home, instead of us paying for a taxi.

Sunday August 22, 2010

Today was another awful day of crazy travels. First we got up and had a cab waiting for us at 7:00am we went to the ferry where I had to wait in line almost an hour to get our tickets. Then we had to wait for another hour just to get on the ferry. Once we finally got onto the ferry we had to wait in a HOT HOT line by where the cars park. We were sweats bullets like no other. When we got to the front of the never ending line, we found out we were in the wrong line the whole time. When we got to the correct stairs we went up them to find out we were on the worst level. I would compare it to the cheapest level on the titanic. It was HORRIBLY hot and we were sweating non-stop. After the 4 hour ferry ride we went to the bus station where we told a completely coked out man that we needed a ticket to caracas on the next bus leaving. After yelling with this man he wrote us tickets for supposedly 4:00 so it would be any minute that the bus would be pulling up. Well when we talked to him again he booked us on the 12:30am!! Bus. After getting our money back we went to the next station where we got tickets for the correct next bus. We had a 6 hour CRAZY bus ride, definitely thought we were going to tip over, he was a horrrrrible driver. When we arrived in Caracas we got a hotel and spent the night, ready for our trip for Merida en la manana!

Monday August 23
We took a taxi to the Caracas airport to meet up with the rest of the group. We were so excited to have the group with us. When they finally arrived we took a smaller plane for one hour to a closer city. Then we had to get on a 2 hour bus ride to the city of Merida! It was so exciting pulling up to the city. When I met my host family, they were so inviting and amazing. I got very lucky because I have my own room, my own bathroom, we have wireless internet (which is rare). I look outside and in our front yard is a mandrain tree, a platain tree, and an alvacado tree, it is surreal! It's nice waking up in the morning to go to school and realize that you are surrounded by the Andes mountains. All is well here!

The First Few Days

We arrived here and are safe. We have not had internet at all or any way of


getting a connection. So let me tell you what we have been up to. We

arrived at the Simon Bolivar airport at 12:40am, a little later than was

expected. As we walked through customs, there was Hugo, a HUGE mural of him

welcoming us. Then we were waiting for our luggage….and waiting…and

waiting….until mine showed up! Yay both are here and heavy and safe with

me. Unlucky for Mark, we could not find his. SOO we had to stay quite some

time at the airport looking for his luggage, then talking with the lost

luggage guy, and he told us he will look for it on the next flight in from

Toronto…which is Friday. So luckily he has his toothbrush, some clothes,

and a swimsuit. By the time we left the airport it was 2:15AM, we got a

taxi and were on our way to hotel la parada, we got there and the taxi

driver tried really hard to rip us off..thank god we are not that stupid

and know how to bargain. They happened to be booked so we had to have a

taxi to another hotel. Not going to lie I was quite nervous to the area we

were going to, and there was a gate going into the hotel and all. A bit

sketchy, but we were so tired and needed sleep, since we had a long day the

following day. We talked with the guy from the hotel who hooked us up with

a cheap taxi into Caracas so we could catch a bus to Puerto La Cruz. He

said we had to be to Caracas by 8 if we wanted a good bus. So we decided to

get a wake up call at 6:30am….mind you we did not get to bed until 3am.

When we woke up we were all ready and the taxi guy picked us up…who

happened to be the hotel owners son. They said it would be about a 35 min

ride to Caracas… after an hour and a half the boy driver told us he did

not know where he was going and that it was his first time driving in the

city. So a 35 min ride turned into 2 hrs. and 10 min. Mark and I were

currently very frustrated, lucky for us it was a flat fee, and not by the

minute or mile! We arrived at the bus station in Caracas at 9:10am (only

six hours after we had gone to bed) We got tickets on the 11:00am bus to

Puerto la Cruz. We had time to spare and neither of us had eaten a thing

yet so the best we could get at the bus station was I got a yogurt and

water, he got Doritos and water…(little did we know this was all we would

get to eat until 10PM!!) We finally got on the bus and it was a nice bus

with really reclining seats, WE PASSED OUT SLEEPING. We were told the bus

ride would take about 5 hours. We couldn’t believe it because it was

technically only the distance to door county! Well our bus did go a high

30mph the whole way. We stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom or grab

food. The food did not seem very good for us Americans to eat, so we passed

on that, but we did hit the restrooms, where I had to get a bucket of water

(MYSELF) to flush the toilet. The toilet that did not have a seat and that

we cannot put toilet paper into. Mark and I kept checking the time, our

“5” hour bus ride was really 6 ½. We finally arrived to Puerto La Cruz

at 6:40pm. Where we had to take a ferry to the island we are staying on for

the next 3 days. While in line at the ferry station we heard that a ferry

was going to leave in an hour and a half. Perfect timing for us! Well we

wait and wait and wait in a pretty short line and our 8:00pm ferry was

dwindling from our dreams. At 8:10pm, when I was told the next ferry was at

2am Mark got to sit with the luggage while I finish up in line. After lots of bickering

and help of some really nice people around me, they got us on the 8:00pm

ferry. By now it was 8:22pm and they told us to run. We got on the ferry

and finally sat down to a ham sandwich, it was amazing, since we were so

hungry. We made it to Isla Margarita and we took a really sweet taxi to the

a 20$ a night hotel. Haha. (then again we have no toilet seat, there are

geckos in the bathroom, the shower curtain barely stays up) but it was

20(US dollars). In the morning we went to La Playa Agua. (the beach) We

laid out all day, which we could do because it was a bit cloudy and was not

always sunny and hot. We ate a yummy seafood meal, played in the waves, and

then got on a bus to head back to our hotel.