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Published: February 12th 2012
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Hellooooooooo
So it has been quite some time since I've blogged or whatever. Never really seems like there's much to say, but I suppose I should give it a go!
I left off in November I think before the awesomeness that was Britney. Awesome it was! The Zuelans are mental at a pop gig! Hilarious. Epic journey to get there, one where we genuinely thought that the taxi driver was taking us somewhere remote to kill us. Nice. Got there safe and sound, however, and had a great time. Ignore the reviews, she's wonderful. End of.
Christmas term brought lots of rain to Caracas, flooding the roads and meant that school was shut for about a week. The mighty Chavez decides that if one school has to close due to flooding, then we all do! Happy days for us. It was NOTHING in comparison to Samui floods. Like, genuinely, NOTHING. A little bit of tropical rain...but with actual drainage system in place meaning that you could leave your apartment and not have to wade through thigh high water with snakes and god knows what floating around! Anyway, Caracas is lovely at Christmas time. There's a Santa Claus who
stands up on the main road every year and waves to everyone. Heehee. The decorations (some of which have STILL not been taken down and, incidentally, my favourite thing about this country - the sheer inability to let go of Christmas!) were beautiful, lovely little Christmas markets etc. Unfortunately, this time of year coincides with everyone receiving their "utilidades" payment - a sort of a bonus thing - which means that crime escalates so after 2 of our boys got mugged, we were all a little reluctant to go out. That, coupled with a massive shoot out at the pharmacy 3 minutes walk from my apartment, left most of us a little apprehensive so we didn't venture out too much.
After Christmas hols, I was in a bit of a homesick, hating Caracas state. It was so lovely to see everyone and so I got a little bit down and wondering why I'm here sort of... However, things have improved drastically. It was really good to get back into school and see the little monsters...who are MONSTERS...but whom I love. Haha. Bob and I joined a running club so that has been nice, and meant that we can expand
our social circle a little! I also go to yoga over on the plaza which is somewhat challenging...trying to understand anything the instructor is saying and see what she is doing, among about 100+ people...challenging!
I had a Burns Night party at my apartment too! 3 of the boys had brought their kilts over so it was somewhat authentic, complete with both real haggis and the veggie stuff (handmade by myself - whoop!), and a wee toast to the haggis. Hooray!
We went to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to a few weekends ago. We stayed in a place called Chichirivichi and then took a little boat over to the islands of Morrocoy. It took us 6 hours to get there...oof...10 of us and Bob. The posada was really cute and had a lovely swimming pool and the girls surprised me with a birthday cake. Haha. We took the boat in the morning (Bob wasn't allowed to come to the islands we were going to as it is a National Park - v sad) and it was all going well until we hit "Open water"...dear god. Now, as some of you may know,
I love the sea and have grown up canoeing and the like so a fear of boats was never something I had to contend with. Then Cambodia happened. Fairly certain most of you know of THAT unfortunate incident...so now, it would appear, I'm terrified! NOT cool. Wee tiny wooden boat pelting across the high, high waves and slamming down again. It was an experience but not one I feel I must repeat. We stopped in a little bay where there's no beach, you just get out the boat and wade around in the very beautiful crystal clear water. There are men going around with floating cool boxes of seafood, cerviche (YUM!) and stuff as well as "boat bars" - do you like pina coladas?? Then off we went again to another beach where we had a little wander before ending up on the main one, Sombrero. It was a lovely day, chilling, reading, drinking and such. Then back on the boat of hell and back to the posada for more of the same and perhaps some drunken flying down the slide into the pool etc. What can I say, I'm in touch with my inner child! The next day we
went to a much closer beach and Bob could come! Hooray! He had a lovely time on the CALM journey on the boat to the most beautiful beach ever. Absolutely stunning, clear blue water, not too busy, absolute perfection and somewhere I will definitely be visiting more often. So...a brilliant, relaxing weekend at the beach and a whole different outlook on life in Venezuela!
This weekend some of the girls and I went to Sabbana Grande, apparently one of the most dangerous places in Caracas according to the Lonely Planet. So that's at night. During the day, it's just a nice part of the city with lots of shops, places to eat, and open air entertainment. We weren't too sure what was going on but a man was chatting a lot, there was some music and girls dressed up in white flamenco dresses! Fun! One of the best things about Caracas is walking down a street, or in the shopping centre or whatever and looking up and having this incredible view of the Avila. It's amazing. My intention next week is to go up one of the more popular routes in the Avila, called Sabbas Nieves. It's apparently a
killer but with excellent views over the city.
This weekend is Carnaval. We didn't managed to get booked to go anywhere so it will be us and probably about 5 more people left in Caracas! Haha. There's a lot going on here though so it should be fun. We have to dress up on Friday for school...I wanted to be Dorothy and bring Toto but I have left it too late to get my costume made and I think there will be too much going on at school without bringing the pup in! Haha. I will keep you updated...
Oh, Bob and I have found a fun sort of park that we can go in where he can run about. Hooray! It's still not perfect as it is on the road still so I get a bit freaked out that he'll run on it but so far so good and the wee pup has such a great time running like the wind so it will do for now. Happy Bob.
Next stop is Colombia for Easter! Whoop! A few of us are going and we are booking this week to do a trek of The Lost City...our
friend at school says it's all Indiana Jones, crossing rivers and such! Better get my fit on before that...
I will try and upload some photos just now but my internet is really slow so if not, I'll do it tomorrow at school.
Hope all is well!
Love and pink sparkles
Maz xxxx
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