Learning to Fly

Another weekend…another adventure…
Thursday after class, four of us decided we would try to find something to eat. I haven’t spent much time in El Centro yet, so I was excited to go downtown and eat at a true Venezuelan restaurant. Two of the girls I went with had asked one of their professors for suggestions on where to eat, and she told us a name of a great Italian restaurant in an area we were all pretty familiar with. So after class, we took the bus to El Centro and started on our search for the restaurant. After walking for about twenty minutes in the same general area and getting bombarded by hippies trying to sell us their jewelry, we decided to ask for directions. The directions we received were the same as the ones we already had, meaning they did not help us at all. We finally realized that we had walked past the building we were looking for at least five times, but it was closed! It’s one of the most well-known restaurants in town and was closed on a Thursday night at 7pm! In Latin America, the most important meal of the day is lunch, so most of the restaurants do not receive much business after mid-afternoon. We decided that this means that the majority of the restaurants and stores close around 4 or 5 in the afternoon on weekdays, leaving our only choice to be a pizza place we had never heard of. We tested our luck and tried the restaurant. There was only one other family in the whole place, so we sat down and looked at the menu. After ordering two amazing pizzas at less than 20 bolivares fuertes (less than ten dollars) a piece, we started a discussion about what we want to do with our lives. It was amazing to me how the four of us all have something so strong in common, but have completely different life and career goals. We ended the night by indulging in the most amazing cheese pizza I’ve ever had and stopping at a small shop for a scoop of ice cream!

On Friday, a few of us decided to put aside our studying and take a bus to the edge of town. At the far north end of the city is Mérida’s Zoo. Before Los Llanos, the idea of going to the zoo and seeing all the exotic animals was thrilling. But on Friday, we realized we had already seen most of the animals, but in the wild rather than in cages! Still, there were many different animals- jaguars, lions, bears, toucans and parrots. There were also snakes and monkeys, and our favorite of all: the peacock! I have seen peacocks many times before, but this one was special because we had Susie with us. Susie is one of the girls from Minnesota who decided to show us a side of her we had never seen before. After watching the peacock walk around for awhile, we decided we wanted to see it with its feathers up. Susie took action before any of us knew what was happening and started making the craziest noise I had ever heard- attempting to imitate the peacock’s call. Within a few minutes, a decent sized audience had gathered- mainly because Susie was screaming at the top of her lungs- and slowly the peacock began to raise its feathers. I don’t think we really bettered our name that day, but we did give the Venezuelans a show, and it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.

Saturday was a day hat a lot of us had been looking forward to for a while. We had set up another trip with our guide from Los Llanos to watch a silent lightning storm. Eleven of us packed into another jeep and left early in the morning. We headed to Rio Catatumbo, a six hour drive from Mérida. Once we reached the river, we separated into two boats and started on our way to Lake Maracaibo- the largest lake in Venezuela. It is actually a salt/fresh water lake, since it has freshwater inlets and is also connected to the Caribbean Sea. On our trip down the Catatumbo, we again saw many wild animals. My absolute favorite wasn’t seen until we reached the actual lake. There were dolphins everywhere! We tried to get close to them, but to no one’s surprise, they were afraid of the boat and kept swimming away. We cruised across Lake Maracaibo for a little over an hour until we reached another small river. We wandered through its passages, surrounded by water lilies and forests. There was one point in the river that was home to about ten houses, each occupied by a family. A lot of the families were outside catching and selling fish and playing in the water. We stopped at one house where the father was cutting up freshly caught fish. We bought a few fish from him to cook for dinner and promised we’d return the next day to buy more.
After buying the fish, there was only a short distance to go. When we reached our house for the night, we were all in shock. It was in a small city that looked like a tiny version of Venice, but with houses made out of tin siding and wood and situated on stilts. It’s shockingly home to nearly 400 people, most of which were more in awe of us than we were of them. We took a small boat tour of the city, saying ‘hi’ to the locals and watching as they went about their normal routine. Normal to them, crazy to us. There were young children directing boats through the ‘streets’ and women hanging their laundry out to dry. There were chickens roaming around the small cement patios that individually surrounded several of the houses. There was even a young boy paddling through the brown water in a small green pail, presumably used to wash clothes.
We arrived at our house at dusk. Our house was actually the local medic’s office. Apparently, Chavez was kind enough to make sure small towns such as this each have a doctor on staff at all times. The doctor doesn’t necessarily live in the town; I think the one that was there Saturday night had come by boat earlier in the day. Since we were basically invading the town’s doctor’s office, we got to see a few patients that night. One man had a tooth infection that was too severe for the doctor to cure, so he was given some natural antibiotics and sent home. A little girl also visited the clinic while we were there. She had been stung by a sting ray earlier in the day- over 12 hours prior to her visit- and was becoming very ill. The doctor was able to help her, but our guide informed us that in many cases where the sting is left untreated for a while, children and small adults will die without much warning. This being said, the doctor was a true blessing to the family of this young girl and to the rest of the community; and despite what most people say, Chavez does actually have some good ideas and intentions.
At our house that night, we ate a dinner of salad, fish and meat. We also had boiled potatoes and yucca, and wheat rolls. Unfortunately, the only student that ate the fish that night ended up getting extremely sick and required a vaccine from the doctor to keep her from throwing up more and to allow her to get some sleep. Gratefully, the vaccine worked within twenty minutes and although she had to miss the lightning show, she slept through the night without a problem. While she slept, the rest of us sat on the dock and looked for lightning. The sky was somewhat cloudy, making it harder to see the lightning. We watched for a few hours, and decided to go to bed. I hopped into my hammock on the other side of the dock and covered myself in a mosquito net. Before I knew it, I was awoken by voices. It was 3am and there was a great lightning show going on to the north. I got out of my hammock and joined the others on the dock once more to watch the silent storm. Although it was not as brilliant as I had imagined, it was wonderful in a calming and peaceful sense. I was the last to go to bed that night, and even as I laid in my hammock, I kept my eyes open as long as I could, enjoying the lightning and thinking about everything my mind would let me.

We woke up Sunday morning a little before 8am. It was the latest I had slept in weeks, and it felt amazing to wake up and be able to look across the water at such a simple, peaceful town. The boat drivers and our guide cooked us a great breakfast of eggs and arepas, served with marmalade, watermelon, and cantaloupe. I ate more that morning than I knew was possible, but it was so good I didn’t want to stop.
After breakfast we headed back down the river. On our way out of town, we stopped at a little church in the center of town. At first, we were surprised to see a church in such a unique town, but then we realized that the people really did have a lot to be thankful for. We waved goodbye to everyone making one last stop at an old man’s house who was playing with his pig in a boat. It was one of the most awkward sights I’ve seen, but one of the best things I’ve learned here is not to judge; no matter how wonderful or disgusting or crazy you think something is, there’ll always be something else to beat it. Nevertheless, we stopped and talked to the old man and his pig for a while, and he tried his hardest to get the pig to pose for pictures for us.
We stopped at the same house we had bought the fish at the day before, just as promised. The family was outside again, waiting for us. The mom and dad were sitting on the edge of their front porch, and their child was standing closer to the house. Upon pulling up to the dock, we all immediately noticed two things we hadn’t seen the day before: the orange Twins cap hanging from the crib, and the little monkey on a leash. The monkey looked just like the one on Pirates of the Caribbean, and the little girl timidly held him up for us to look at. The Twins cap wasn’t actually that surprising. The Twins are a pretty famous team in Venezuela; probably tied in popularity with the Yankees (I believe Johan Santana is to thank for that). After buying 12 kilos of fish from the small family, we kept cruising down the river and back into Lake Maracaibo. Within minutes, we saw fins skimming the water fairly close to us. We had found more dolphins! We were able to get closer to them while still keeping our distance. The Caribbean sun was shining so brightly and the dolphins seemed so happy that it was impossible to start the day off with anything but positive thoughts.
Good thing, because our positive thoughts were about to help us out a lot. After getting off the boat we all piled back into the jeep; but this time covered in a wonderful cologne we made by mixing suntan lotion, bug spray, and sweat. It was truly amazing and comfortable (said with the slightest hint of sarcasm). We stopped for a quick lunch and drove for a few more hours until we reached our final destination of the weekend: a mountain!
Some of the other students from Venusa met us at the bottom of the mountain in another vehicle. We crammed as many bodies as we could into our jeep and drove about 50 meters…where we saw what we were up against: a steep, skinny, gravel path leading to the top of the mountain. We worked our way up the mountain in the jeep, ‘assured’ by our driver that he had already driven on the road ten times. We were hoping for a larger number but at that point, anything would help. Halfway up, we were greeted by a terrible smell. Soon after noticing the smell, we ran into a few horses (not literally). Thinking they were the source of the terrible smell, we kept driving. We were thankful that we wouldn’t be taking the same path back down. But once we reached the top, we realized the stench was much stronger and definitely didn’t belong to a few horses. Looking out the windows, we saw a pile of rotting pigs laying on the edge of the mountain. Without much hesitation, our driver threw up out the window. The smell was ridiculous and absolutely horrific. We all rushed out of the jeep and ran as far away as we could. Luckily, the furthest away we could get was the mountain’s edge. And it was at this exact spot that we had wanted to reach the whole time. We were so happy to get out of the jeep that we didn’t even have time to be nervous for what was ahead.
Pretty soon, other people started showing up. Some came empty-handed, and others carried packs larger than their bodies. Once enough people had shown up, we all gathered in a circle and were assigned a partner. After meeting my partner, he left and said to be ready in an hour. Unfortunately, I had to wait longer than an hour because the wind picked up and the clouds began to look slightly dangerous. Just when I thought I was going to go back down the side of the mountain in the back of a jeep, past the terrible smell and through the windy roads, we got the go-ahead. My partner gave me directions and strapped one of the huge backpacks onto me. He was my pilot, and the pack was to act as my seat while flying through the air!
When it was our turn, we walked to the side of the cliff and set up our parachute (?). As soon as he told me to, we both started running toward the edge. The wind picked up, pushing us backward as we were trying to go forward, but we eventually got lifted off our feet…right toward a small tree. I tucked my feet and arms in and let my body squeeze between the branches. It wasn’t what I’d consider a smooth take-off, but there were definitely worse that day. As soon as we cleared the tree, we were home free. My pilot had complete control of our flight, and all I had to do was sit and enjoy the view. It was, like so many components of my trip, absolutely indescribable. I set my camera in my lap and took a few pictures and videos, but mainly enjoyed the spectacular once-in-a-lifetime view. My pilot and I barely talked the whole trip. I was too stunned to say anything and didn’t want the feeling to ever go away. At that point, nothing mattered; I had no cares. I was not in control of anything and for once in my life, that was a great thing.

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