Winding down...

Well, its been awhile, and I figure its time for an update. Its hard to believe that I´ve only got a few weeks left in Venezuela. Things have been tranquilo lately for the most part. Oh my gosh, I´m watching the replan of the Auburn v. LSU game right now and Jerraud Powers almost just took that fumble to the house, that was awesome I´m about to cry. Ok, back to Venezuela. One day last week some local guys had stacked a truck high with boxes of cabbage that they had just cut. They were on a dirt road that goes (TD Carl Stewart, war damn!) through some of the fields. Now, the fields are really steep, I´d guess they´re at least 45 degrees. And because in the mountains it rains a lot, these dirt roads stay pretty soft. Well, part of the road gave way and the truck rolled down the hill, killing one guy. It was a really terrible accident. The pictures in the paper the next day were pretty graphic, its just another one of those little cultural differences.

On a more positive note, I went to my first baptism celebration recently. (Another positive note: Auburn´s wide receiver play) I don´t know about you, but I can´t think of a better reason to have 100 drunks at your house than the dedication of a baby to God. In fact, I´m not really sure the party had anything to do with a baptism. I mean, somebody mentioned something to that effect, but it could have been another game of ¨mess with the gringo¨. Which reminds me, my friend Alfonso convinced me that he and his sister-in-law have a one year old son together….Alfonso does not in fact have any children. Anyways, it was a good time. Also, my friend Coro came home from school this past weekend, so it was good to hang out with her again. (side note: congratulations to Quentin Groves).

I realize this blog entry isn´t full of excitement…..so if you´re reading this in hopes of living vicariously through my indiana jones adventures, I owe you an apology. But this is entry is more indicative of life in Carorita. What it lacks in excitement it makes up for in quality time with quality people. I´d be lying if I said I was never bored here, but at the same time I wouldn´t trade the experience for anything. That being said, having a lot of free time is condusive to being pensive, so here´s some blog points:

• Last week as I was returning from Valera, I was again delayed in Mendoza (see previous blog entry). There was a funeral going on, and I guess the procedure is for there to be a slow town-sized procession up the middle of the highway for a mile. The result of this is the continuous honking of hundreds of delayed people. This is another one of those subtle cultural differences. I don´t know about you, but I´d rather the predominant emotion at my funeral be something other than irritation.
• Has anybody else noticed how ugly LSU strong safety Craig Steltz is? I hope for his sake that ESPN just has a bad picture of him.
• Wendy´s frosty´s are equally delicious no matter where they are eaten.
• Did you know that Enrique Iglesias sometimos records the song in both English and Spanish? Man, what a talent…

Ok, I´m taking a trip to the coast soon so check back for pictures and whatnot.

Mérida y Los Llanos

Sorry I haven´t written in awhile, but I have been on a little vacation. Can I call it that? I mean, can you take a vacation from what is in a way already a vacation? Either way, I was out of town.

I took a trip to Mérida and to Los Llanos (¨the plains) for a week. I saw some really cool things and met some really nice people. Mérida draws a lot of foreign tourists as a sort of base for a lot* of different outdoor activities. (*as this is Venezuela, ¨a lot¨ is a relative term ; it would probably be better to say that Mérida draws some foreigners period) It also has the worlds highest cable car, which unfortunately was closed. But I enjoyed the town itself and spent one day watching a cool mountain bike/motorcycle/paragliding competition.

After two days in Mérida, I left with a tour to Los Llanos. The crew consisted of 4 Germans, 3 Basques (apparently very different from Spaniards, which is what it says on their passports), 2 French (C'est la vie!), and 1 American (that would be me). It was a good trip with good people and good food. We went rafting, rode horses through the plains, went fishing for piranhas, swam in a river with freshwater dolphins, and saw a ton of cool animals and birds. The anteater is by far the strangest animal I´ve ever seen not on tv, its got this huge fat tail and a really long skinny snout, and its tongue is at least a foot long. I took lots of pictures, you can see them by clicking on the picture below.

Mérida and Los Llanos

Here´s some blog points:

• According to the World Tourism Organization, Americans receive on average 13 vacation days per year. In contrast, Italians recieve 42 days, Germans 35 days, and Canadians 26 days. America is a wonderful place to live, but I´ve got to say that I think those other folks might be on to something. My German friend Leo suggested that maybe this explains why he never meets American travelers on his trips.
• This past weekend was significant for several reasons. One, Auburn won. Two, the first day of October means that I´m 75% through with the year of running every single day. Three, I went 4 days in a row without eating an arepa. ¡Bien hecho!
• I´m not sure if its a political party, or somebody´s initials, or another type of organization, but somebody is spraypainting the acronym F.A.R.T. on rocks and walls and such in a town between here and Mérida.
• What was the most popular song that was played in the bar one night in Mérida? Not a salsa song, or that 1 damn reggaeton song that I hear 3 times a day......no, it was easily a 50 Cent song.
• If you´re ever sick, call me and I´ll let you borrow my DVD with all 4 Die Hard movies. Trust me, a big dose of John McClane is the best medicine.