Venezuela

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My oh my, what a trip! It has been a little over a week here and I have been exposed to so much. The culture is completely overwhelming. Things in the city move so incredibly fast. On a personal level, people in general are very kind, however, they dont seem to honor spatial relationships, and are so sharp with the tongue.
I have weather torrential downpours- like in biblical terms- I have spent a night with a social revolutionary group- a hair raising experience- called the furs, and I have seen the parts of the andes that are completely indescribable. I find it amazing how the vegetation changes so dramatically with a change of 100 meters. We have been going in and out of rainforest along roads that are nauseating, at elevations cars dont normally go. Amazing.

So While we wait for permits to continue our research - nothing happens during the entire week Semana santa- the country virtually shuts down- we decided to go to Merida- a town in the andes. THe town is much more relaxed and the towns further up the roads are beautiful. the drives are along rugged one lane-converted to 2 lane roades along the andean cliff bands through dense rain forests. You can watch the clouds race down the valleys in the morning and retreat in the evening.

Today we did a bit of caving- crazy enough, and climbing. Both were amazing. THe cliffs and caves were formed by a river that carved out the limestone. Since it is relatively dry now, we were able to get down in the caves and up on the rock. Saw some Andean parrots and macaws and some vultures. The insects are pretty spectacular- more butterflies than I ever imagined existed- the problem is they are usually resting on baby diaper which kind of kills the aesthetics of the pictures.

The food- interesting on one end, and unhealthy on the other. It seems to me another example of us products merging with socialism. Straws go with everything- I mean everything. All food seems to be deep fried and coated in sugar, they love sodas, and a store will not survive if it doesn't sell candy.

I find it interesting how easy it is to pick out elements of the country that can be directly attributed to chavez. for instance- yhe light bulbs. He evidently got a bunch of energy saving light bulbs as a gift from Cuba (who got them from russia) so... light bulbs for all. That was 2 years ago, but the places that have lights all have the chavez lights, or they have burned out bulbs in the sockets. THe gas is another one- incredibly subsidized, virtually free- the pepsi is more expensive- by a long shot. Or the chavez subsidized aerapas- a mineral and vitamin fortified corn pancake that is a staple here- it seems to be the only food not affected by the crazy inflation.

I am sure I have much to learn, and i look forward to it. The crew is getting super antsy to work, and i am certainly in that category. i will attempt to keep this thing mildly updated as the days roll on.

Where ever you are, i hope things are well.

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Comments

[perica]

About the food ask for Hervidos,sancochos and the tremendous variety of arepas,looks like you are only getting Venezuelan style of fast food!As you are near Merida,eat at the big market .