Venezuela!!

Photos to come soon!!

By the time we arrived at port I was really ready to get off. Three days being cramped up in a boat was harder than I realized. I can't be caged like that. I'm afraid to know what it will be like on the times we are at sea for 6 and 8 days!! But on to Venezuela...

Que país bellísimo! It turned about to be a lot like Colombia, which I adore, so it was perfect. My friend Paul, who I met before the trip and is Colombian, had an acquaintance in Venezuela. It was the parents of a girl he had met at a club in Colombia once for a few hours. He had never met the family and it turned out that the girl was actually vacationing in Europe, so it was only the parents that could meet us. They picked us up from the airport and took us out to eat some amazing venezuelan food. Arepas, cachapas, juice, plantains. It was just like Colombian food, so it brought back some amazing memories. Venezuela in general, was a lot like Colombia.

I was so happy being able to speak Spanish. I was able to speak a lot better than I thought I would be able to. I spoke a lot with the family that showed us around. They were really amazing people. None of us had ever met them before, yet they were treating us like family and within a few hours, we were already joking around. We took a gondola up to Mount Avila and got a spectacular view of the town. Also, driving around town I got to see some amazing street art. There are murals on all the walls and they are filled with bright primary colors that made me happy. Even the subway had bright colored stripes along it's side.

Later on, we checked into our hotel downtown. The area we were in was pretty sketchy, so we couldn't really go outside and just wander around. The room next door was making a lot of noise so we went to see what was going on. The door was open and a bunch of Venezuelans were singing, dancing, and drinking. They invited us in and we found out that they were all part of the Venezuelan reality show similar to American Idol. It was a pretty intense experience and I was even given a private serenade. They were sad when we had to leave to go out, but experiences like that seem to be stronger when they don't last very long.

We went out to this club called Azucar, which means sugar, to dance salsa and merengue. It took me a little bit to get back into it, but after a few cervezas and some practice, it all came back to me. Some of the dancers there blew my mind. I would go into a trance, watching their bodies move as if they were possessed by some dancing spirit. What I would give to have even half that ability. It really runs in their blood. A live band also played this fusion of rock and salsa that I really enjoyed.

The next day we visited this German colony called colonia de Tovar. Even in the places that were out of the way, we somehow would run into lots of SASers. We also went to this mall, Sambil, which is the largest mall in all of South America. I mean, this mall was MASSIVE. 3 movie theaters, at least 20 different restaurants, more than a 100 stores, and a BOWLING ALLY. Later that evening, we watched the Colombia vs. Uruguay futbol game, but sadly Colombia lost, which I think means they wont be in the world cup. Que triste!

That night, we went out to this place called Centro San Ignasio, which supposedly was the place hang out. They had a bunch of bars, clubs, and restaurants there. A lot of the places even had outside seating with super nice looking couches. I never seen anything like it! They were so clean, too. I don't know how they did it. There was this big crowd gathering by one of the clubs, so we went over to check it out. It ended up they were have open bar college night at this place called the "Ronería". For those of you who don't know Español, that means the place were you get rum. We got in and the place was packed with locals. We plowed our way to the bar and got a few rum and cokes(though there wasn't much coke). The open bar only lasted until 11PM so one of the SAS guys gave the bar tender $15 to have him make our drinks faster. The DJ did some awesome mixes of North and South American music. We danced and danced until about 2 in the morning. After we left we found this place to eat, since none of us had eaten since lunch (which probably wasn't the best idea). We went back to the hotel in the most run down vehicle you could ever imagine. I didn't think we'd make it back.

On the way back to the port, one of the guys wanted to stop at a liquor store to get drinks. They don't allow you to bring any kind of open bottles or alcohol back on the ship, so the only way was to sneak it on. This guy came up with the idea to get a pack of water that was partially wrapped in plastic, take a couple bottles out, fill them with vodka, and put them back inside the plastic packaging to make them look like nothing had ever been open. His idea ended up working... boy the alcoholics on the ship really go through a lot.

As for me, I have been avoiding the party scene while on the ship and instead celebrate in the countries of port. I enjoy my time meeting new people, playing the piano, and reading for my classes. I went to the SAS student groups fair and ended up overcommitting myself like usual, signing up to for the ship TV station, website designer, Hip-hop class, students of service (volunteer group), and sports. I guess sitting around just isn't my thing.

I saw the most amazing thing today. The ship photographer came out side and said there were flying fish outside. Everyone rushed out to see them. They were tiny little grey things and looked like rocks skipping across the water.

Next stop... BRAZIL!