Most of the news channels are currently interviewing citizens about their voting experience… Everyone is saying that it is an easy and fast process, and that it is a truly democratic process for Venezuelans and that everyone should exercise their right to vote! Everything works perfectly,everything is muy bien. I’m sure the actual process is easy, its an electronic ballot, but the lines are long. My host dad just got back and said that he waited 4 hours to cast his ballot. Will there be riots after the winner is announced? In [...]

It is finally election day, the day all of Venezuela has been anxiously awaiting for weeks. My host sister is currently singing snippets from Capriles campaign songs, and saying ”Caprilessss” in a whiny, but honestly yearning voice. I have seen both Chavez and Capriles rallies in the past couple of weeks. Chavez supporters are strong. They support him with their heart, and with their belief that he understands them and will work to improve their lives. But Capriles fans are passionate. They feel that their country is heading in the wrong direction and they are [...]

So this is only about a week late, but I was a bit distracted with school work and a parasite. Everyone’s getting them. Anyway, I thought I was going to be hang gliding, like this:   It’s way faster and way more dangerous. But I actually went paragliding, like this: That’s not me, but I did take the picture! There’s a lot of wind up there, and it’s a bit chilly but I really enjoyed it. You are literally sitting down and taking pictures the whole time while your guide sits [...]

A few interesting things happened today that I thought were noteworthy.. First, I was waiting at my bus stop today and a man walked across the street, cutting off several cars in the process.  It’s fairly normal here to cut off a few cars in your attempt to cross in the middle of the street, so I didn’t think much of it. The taxi driver that the man walked in front of however, did. He honked at the man, a reasonable reaction, and the man gave the taxi driver the arms [...]

Today I drank coco water! A coco is an under-ripe coconut; you can’t eat the fruit part, but you can drink the water. It tastes like sweet/tangy water, not like coconut at all. It’s supposed to be good for your stomach. Our bus driver told us that if you drink coconut water every day for about a week, it would coat your stomach enough that you’d be able to drink the Venezuelan water. If you’re not from around here, you can’t drink the water because you’ll probably get a parasite. [...]

Went to a Venezuelan mass today. It started with music and clapping, and ended with a mariachi band. Apparently the band is not typical, but sometimes they’ll come to church when there has been a miracle… at least that’s what I took from the conversation with my host mom. This time two of the members of the band were sick, then they went to Mexico to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and they were healed. So they came to our church to celebrate!  I’m beginning to realize that in Venezuela, you do [...]

Today is Saturday, and I finally have some time to chill out! The past two days were so much fun, and we saw so many things; but I’ll try to keep it all in one post: Thursday: I danced the salsa with Venezuelans.VENUSA is a school for us to take classes in Spanish, but it’s also a school for the local Venezuelans to learn English. So there’s a program called “Nuevos Encuentros” or new encounters. All of the Spanish-learning students and a lot of the English-learners come together and practice our [...]

1. It’s an election year, and everyone’s talking about it. “El gobierno contra la oposicion” (The government vs. the Opposition.) The opposition’s name is Capriles, but everyone just calls him “the opposition”. They think Chavez might cheat if he doesn’t win, and there is the possibility that he will ask the army to come in if he doesn’t win. Fortunately the army has been asked to step in before, and they respected the vote and said no. As far as I can tell, everyone in Merida is against Chavez, and they’re [...]

I arrived in Caracas at 11 in the morning, and my flight to El Vigia was scheduled to leave at 7:15 in the evening. Luckily that gave us a lot of time to figure out boarding passes, checking our luggage, and lunch. One of the guys from VENUSA met us at the Miami airport and helped us out in a big way the entire time. He has a friend who exchanged our money for us. Legally the rate is about $1 to 4 Bolivares, but since the government puts a [...]

I can’t believe it… My study abroad trip is ending today. This is my last day in Mérida and I will miss it with all my heart! Things that I will especially miss: 1. waking up to the sun rising over the mountains 2. eating arepas for breakfast and drinking café con leche 3. receiving surprise letters in the mail from my grandmas 4. my silly 8-year-old host brother asking to play with my E-POP (he means ipod) 5. the crazy buses blasting Bob Marley 6. speaking spanish and drinking [...]

Yesterday my friends and I went on an adventure up to la culata (the valley) about a 45-minute drive up into the mountains from Mérida. I’ve been up there before, and I love the drive up because it gets colder by the minute. You get in the car wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and then about 20 minutes up into the mountains everyone is putting their sweatshirts on. Another 20 minutes goes by and the windows are rolled up and some people are getting out their gloves. We stopped in [...]

I literally had my head in the clouds all day. My friends and I spent our day climbing a mountain (if you asked me which one, I wouldn’t be able to tell you…Venezuela is covered in them). Anyway, it was beautiful. We left in the afternoon with a bag of rations – pan de guayaba (sweet bread filled with guava fruit) and pan de queso (cheese bread), and we drove up into the mountains a ways and parked the car. From there, we didn’t know exactly what we were getting [...]

I’m not sure if Venezuelan turkeys exist or not, but regardless of whether I’ll be eating turkey tonight (or just more arepas), I’m excited for my untraditional Venezuelan Thanksgiving dinner experience. This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family, so it does make me miss them, but I’m so thankful that I’ll be coming home to them in one week! Actually, I have exactly one week left here in Venezuela as of today, because I’ll be leaving for the airport early next Friday morning. It’s hard to believe [...]

I fell asleep to the sound of rain last night – heavy, crashing, stormy rain who’s sound envelopes your whole body, compressing your eyelids, filling your ears, and forcing you to sleep. I must have had a thousand dreams. I woke up early this morning to the sound of a rooster crowing. I stretched and pulled back the heavy curtains covering my open window, the only thing separating me from the gorgeous mountain view, fresh air, and clear blue sky. The morning sunshine flooded my bedroom. I love mornings here, [...]

I can’t believe that it’s November already. I’ve been in Venezuela for 11 weeks now and I have 4 weeks to go. Since I decided that writing is some sort of “reflective therapy” for me, it’s about time that I start looking at the big picture and reflecting on my experience here in Venezuela as a whole. I came here knowing nobody. I sat in the airport with a steaming vanilla latte in my hand, read Julie and Julia and looking up from my book every three seconds to see if the person [...]