Blogs from Andean, Venezuela, South America - page 5

Our journey to Merida was one of the longest we´ve endured in South America (so far that is.... wait until we get to Brazil!!!). We were up at 6am to get a flight from Quito to Caracas and we were hoping once we arrived in Caracas that we would be able to get a flight from Caracas to Merida....... but no such luck. Caracas airport was a bit mad too! Loads of guys roaming around trying to get you to change cash or purchase some tour! When we found out there was no flights it was time for plan B.... an overnight bus :-) We managed to get a taxi (after a bit of haggling) to take us to the bus terminal for our night bus to Merida. When we arrived we bought tickets on a ... read more

So I set up this blog, thinking that I would use it to post my pictures so everyone at home could see them. I figured it would be a good way to stay connected to everyone at home, and have them enjoy the same things I’m enjoying. I figured I would write every day, or at least every other. But today is the first day I’ve actually had time to sit down and write! But that’s a good sign- it means I’m busy! I’ll start at the beginning, but I know that know matter how hard I try, no one else will be able to understand exactly what’s happening here. I arrived in Venezuela on Monday (May 19th) after an overnight flight. Flying solo wasn’t too bad. The only thing that worried me a little was ... read more

Well, another week of interesting and exciting events has passed since my last update. I was originally going to write about my weekend in the mountains, but I have since been provided with much more interesting information. As many of you will know, the country of Venezuela is experiencing a lot of political unrest right now. For those of you who don't know much about what's going on, I'll give you a little bit of background information. Chavez (the president) is in the process of trying to reform the constitution. This is a fairly common occurence in Venezuela. But, it's obvious to me that he has alterior motives...and anyone who actually reads these reforms would HAVE to agree. I'm not going to say that they're all bad...no, in fact, I think many of them are excellent ... read more

This past weekend passed fairly uneventful, but I haven't updated my blog in a couple of weeks so I wanted to write. I haven't been traveling at all really since my last adventure. Homework, tests, and presentations are keeping me planted here at "home" in Merida. Which is cool because I learn more and more about the city every week. There is always someone staying here with me and we always find some way to entertain ourselves. This usually involves going to new restaurants or clubs. One of my favorite places to go is a place called Sushi Tei. It's expensive for a restaurant here in Merida, but cheap when you look at it on the exchange rate. You can go and eat a LOT of sushi, drink a few glasses of wine, and have a ... read more

After four weeks of being here, a few of us have decided that there is not quiet place in Venezuela. Yesterday was an adventure of a totally different kind. I had decided not to go anywhere this weekend because I just wanted to relax and get some work done. Most of the group went camping in the mountains and I just wasn't ready for another night on the ground/floor. So, after lunch Sharlene and I headed out for Cafe' Croacia, and cute little cafe' about half a mile from our neighborhood. We had some coffee and chilled there for a little while and then decided to head to the centro to look for some of the libraries we'd been hearing about. We wanted a nice quiet place to go and study or read and hadn't found ... read more