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Published: January 22nd 2008
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Hotel Tamaca
The sign at our hotel in Margarita For anyone who was concerned....yes, I am still alive! And if you were worried about the story getting boring...fear not...it´s like a fine wine and only gets better! The only problem is that I haven´t written in so long that some of the details have gotten fuzzy or mixed together. Plus, I hate to write super long entries because I feel that they get boring and monotonous...but look at me now...wasting precious words.
After waiting for Yaneth´s second brother until the Tuesday after the Saturday that he was supposed to show up the three of us girls decided to head to Puerto La Cruz and meet him there. He ended up screwing us in the end...just like the other brother...and we ended up heading back to the island alone. I had a very embarrassing moment while on the island. Julio, the baseball player, had invited me to his game and said we´d go out afterwards. So, I went to the game and waited for him outside of the stadium afterwards. Wish I had a picture of my face when I saw him walk out with his girlfriend...what an ass! I got an introduction to her and everything.
Oscar and
The Tasca Bar
A waitress, her Norwegian "friend" and the bar tenders at the tasca bar outside of our hotel. This Norwegian guy was a piece of work. Eva had plans to go to the island so I waited there for them and headed back to San Antonio once they decided to leave. It was great to finally be with sane people who knew their way around. They´ve purchased a 15 passenger van so we rode back in comfort. I stayed with them in San Antonio for a week or so and then we headed to Tucupita for Christmas. Christmas was another interesting adventure. I saw my ex-boyfriend Darwin for the first time in almost three years...he's changed a lot. While seeing him there made things a little awkward, I still had a blast with the rest of the family. We arrived to Damiana's house. Damiana is the mother of both Eva and Darwin. They've done a lot of construction on it and though it is still small, it is double the size that it was the last time I was there. Before arriving to Tucupita, all Oscar could talk about was this 60kg pig that he had bought for Christmas dinner. So, upon arrival, I got to see the famous pig....right before they killed it. I'm glad I walked away from the window when I did. Not
Julio
The guy on the left is Julio Salazar, the baseball player I met. Couldn't get a good face shot...but trust me, he was hot five minutes later, I heard a loud..."thwak! Thwack! THWAK!" with some pigs squeals intermingled. Yup...the pig was killed....with a baseball bat. After that, they brought the pig into the kitchen and scalded it with hot water to remove its hair....you realize (if you know me at all) that I had to leave the house at that point. Just a little too graphic for me.
Christmas in Venezuela was really nothing like Christmas in the states. To me, it didn't really feel like Christmas. I'm used to something that resembles cold weather and lots of Christmas commercials and commercialism in general. Christmas music helps the ambiance as well. It's not that they don't have Christmas music here...in fact, they do. It's called Gaita and originates mostly in Maracaibo (far western part of the country). It's very unique and has that latino flare to it. But to me, Christmas music doesn't have "flare". I was glad it wasn't a normal Christmas though. I didn't come here to experience my own culture...I came here to experience another...right?! The main dish for Christmas dinner here in Venezuela is something called an hallaca (think I spelled that right). The "h" is silent and the
Bravos Vs. Caribes
The Bravos de Margarita won...Julio's team. It was pretty entertaining actually. "ll" sounds like a "y". It's like a giant tamale but it's filled with everything under the sun! We chopped up potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, raisins, pork, and all kinds of spices to fill them. They make a masa, which is spanish for dough, out of fine yellow corn flour...it's almost exactly like what they use for tamales in Mexico. They spread a bit of the masa into a giant banana leaf which has been cut into squares, fill the masa with all of the stuffing, and then roll it up and tie it with string. Afterwards they boil the hallacas in a big pot and once everything is prepared, the family sits down to a dinner of hallacas and pan de jamon. Pan de jamon simply means "ham bread". It is bread that has been filled with ham, raisins and green olives. I don't know how that sounds to you, but to me it didn't sound apetizing at all...but once I tasted it my opinion changed quickly...it's quite delicious! I ate two hallacas and a piece of pan de jamon and was ready to explode! They have a huge family so it was very intertaining to sit amongst all
Oscar and Eva
My beloved Venezuelan parents all dressed up for a nice dinner. of them and listen to the various conversations. Venezuelans are generally very loving and family oriented and they love to have a good time! As always, they took me in as part of the family and I felt very welcome.
My last full day in Tucupita I went with a bunch of the family members out in a boat on the Orinoco River (yes, like the song). That was another fun adventure. We spent three or four hours on the river driving around, picking people up, dancing on the riverbank, and of course....drinking whisky. I had fun talking to some of the young girls who are learning English.
After about 5 days in Tucupita we headed back to San Antonio de los Altos because they had to pick up their daughter-in-law's parents from the airport. I've decided to cut this entry into two different parts, so I'm going to leave you hanging at this point. Consider this to be continued...
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Gayla
non-member comment
Christmas Fun
Hey girl! I'm glad you had an overall good Christmas! I really enjoyed seeing all these pictures. I want a toucan! Can you buy me one and ship it to me?? LoL Anyway, I miss you! Rachel had her baby.. he's a boy. She had some difficulty with it and almost died and the baby was in ICU for 5 days but both are doing well. Jenny had her baby also. It's a boy also but he is a premie. He is only 4 lbs. She can't get him around crowds or anything for 2 months so I haven't gotten to see him yet! Just thought I would let you know! Anyway... hope you continue to have a great time and please be good!!! LoL Love you girl... Prayers going your way, Gayla