Margarita AND Bust

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It´s been an interesting week of ¨vacation¨here in Venezuela. I only wish I had some pictures and video to go along with the story...it really deserves illustration.

I hopped on the buscama with Sharlene and her girlfriend Yaneth on Friday, November 30th and headed to Puerto La Cruz. It was about a 20 hour bus ride so we got comfortable and waited patiently to arrive. The scariest part of the trip was that the National Guard stopped us three times to check everyone for identification and look through our bags. It seemed like everytime I fell asleep only to wake up with an AK-47 in my face. Very annoying and a little bit scary I might add. The second time we were stopped really made me nervous because the guard was quizzing me about how long I had been in the country and what my purpose was. Anyway, we finally arrived to Puerto La Cruz and the real fun began.

Three of our friends (Mary, Shannon, and Emily) had arrived the day before us and were waiting to meet us on the island. They arrived early because they had to leave on Monday December 3rd and wanted a bit more time to chill on the beach. So, we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and decided to buy tickets for the faster ferry. It´s quite interesting actually...they have a new ferry and an old ferry that you can take. It´s about double to price to take the new one, but you arrive in 2-3 hours rather than 4-5. While on the ferry, I met an interesting fellow by the name of Julio. He´s a professional baseball player and invited me over to his table and bought me a beer. I´ve never met anyone quite like him...very interesting indeed. By the end of the ride, he had his head in my lap and was telling everyone I was his girlfriend. My friends were having a good ole time laughing at me from their table as they watched the look of uncomfortable embarrassment pass across my face over and over again. It was pretty funny...

We had decided to take the shorter ferry because we really wanted to spend time with our friends before they had to leave. However, when we arrived we discovered that we weren´t going to be able to get into Yaneth´s apartment until around 6 or 7 pm because her brother was out of town and hadn´t expected us to arrive so early. This caused a bit of a problem because my suitcase was (and still is) extremely heavy. Literally, it ways about 60-70 pounds. I packed a lot of stuff because I wasn´t sure when I´d be heading back to Mérida and didn´t expect to have to drag it through the broken streets of Margarita Island. But, drag it through the streets I did. We hopped on a bus and took a 30 minute ride into the city of Porlamar where we were supposed to meet Yaneth´s brother at 6. We were all starving so we ate at Wendy´s because it was close to the place where we had to be. It was around 4pm at this point so we just decided to sit and eat and then wait. We arrived at our meeting place at exactly six on the dot...but of course the brother was nowhere to be found. So, we sat and waited patiently which was hard...especially due to ¨la ley seca¨. Here in Venezuela, no one is allowed to sell alcohol the day before, on, or after an election...and Saturday just happened to be the day before an election. So, we sat there and waited without beer to console us. At 10pm when the jerk still hadn´t showed up and wouldn´t answer any of our phone calls, we decided that it would be best to find a hotel rather than sleeping in the streets. So, we found a fairly cheap place to stay and our other friends came and met us there.

The next day, election day, we headed to the beach...La Playa Juventud...to catch some rays and have a good time. It was very fun and relaxing and a great way to spend our other friends´last day in the country. We ate lots of raw oysters that were fresh from the sea and drank a lot of beer and rum (the beach restaurant was selling it illegally). The oysters were about $1.50 a dozen and a beer was about .50-.75 a bottle. Fun times! Our plan was to chill at the beach all day and then meet up with Yaneth´s brother later that night. So, we stayed at beach until the sun set and decided it was time to head back. Before leaving the beach we met these two guys (Nelson and Lufret) who offered us some of their beer. We accepted of course and talked to them for a while while we waited for Luis the taxista to come pick us up. Nelson had a motor bike and offered to give Sharlene and Yaneth a ride...so Lufret got in the taxi with the rest of us and we headed back to the hotel. When he dropped us off, Luis told us to give him a call later if we wanted to do anything. After that, Nelson and Lufret walked with us to grab some grub while Sharlene and Yaneth waited for the brother to show up with the keys. Once we got back from eating, we discovered that the brother had supposedly been by the hotel three times but we weren´t there. Since we weren´t there, he headed back to Juan Griego which was an hour away from where we were. At this point everyone was pissed but we decided it would be best to just stay in the hotel for another night. We decided to call Luis and see what he was up to and he decided to come pick us up after he got off work. Not all of us could fit in the taxi, so Sharlene and Yaneth stayed back while the rest of us went for a ride. He took us to a cliff by the sea and we all sat on the cliff and looked up at the stars and listed to the waves crash on the rocks below. The girls had a bottle of pepsi and some vodka, so they were drinking that having a good time. The best part of the night for me was getting to drive the taxi. I jokingly asked him if I could drive and couldn´t believe it when he said yes! I only got to drive for a couple of miles...but it was still fun. It was a manual transmission and I hadn´t driven one of those in a long time. Plus, I hadn´t driven a car in over three months...I haven´t been that long without drivng since I got my licence over ten years ago!

The next day we got up at 6:30am so that the girls could get ready and go to the airport. I waved goodbye to them until I couldn´t see the cab anymore and then waited for Yaneth and Sharlene to get up. I ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant and sat outside writing in my journal until noon when the girls finally got up. We were supposed to go meet Yaneth´s brother at his work but had to wait for him to come back from lunch. He was supposed to come back around 2pm so we decided to wait at the hotel until then. As we were waiting, I got a call from Nelson...he wanted to come by and say hi. So, he did. He ended up waiting with us until 4pm...yes, two hours later than the brother was supposed to be. Are you noticing a pattern yet??? Nelson invited us to stay at his house if we needed to, so we decided to just go wait at his house rather than sitting at the hotel all day. Once we got there we found out we still weren´t going to be able to get the key from Yaneth´s brother and decided we would sleep at Nelson´s house. He and his friends were really nice and Nelson had a bed big enough for the three of us to sleep in.

The next day we decided to screw Margarita and Yaneth´s brother and head to some of her other family´s house. So, we got back on the ferry Tuesday night and headed back to Puerto La Cruz. Our second ferry experience was even more interesting that the first. We opted to take the cheaper longer route back and what a big difference there was! The newer ferry was much nicer, everything was totally clean and enclosed. The old ferry however was the total opposite. There was even a totally different class of people on the old ferry. It was amazing to see the difference. We met some guys that had sangria and scotch and decided to pass the time with them. I was having to fight them off from giving me shots because I didn´t want to get drunk with a bunch of dudes that I didn´t know and I had a feeling that Shar and Yaneth didn´t have any qualms about that. Good thing too...because I was right...as usual 😉 Shar ended up passing out on the ferry.

We arrived to Puerto La Cruz at about 1:30am...tired, drunk, and just sick of waiting around. We had passed four days of a lot of waiting and doing nothing and I was just tired of it all. To top it off, Yaneth hadn´t paid for anything and wasn´t really helping with decision making. Shar was passed out and basically good for nothing at that point. I had been under the impression...or actually been TOLD...that the family we were going to visit lived in the city of Puerto La Cruz. So, when I heard that it was another 2 hours from the city I got mad. I lost my cool when I heard that the bus wasn´t coming that early in the morning and that we were going to have to pay 30,000 a piece to take a cab to el Tigre. I´m sure all of the taxi drivers went home after that and had a very funny story to tell their families...because it was hilarious I´m certain. We all got into a big fight in the middle of the street at 2am. Shar was drunk and crying, I was past being pissed off, and Yaneth was giving us both the silent treatment. No one could make a decision, so I ended up deciding to go it on my own. I caught a cab and told him to take me to a cheap hotel in a half-way decent area of town. I just wanted to be alone, sleep, and figure out what the hell I was going to do.

The next day, Wednesday, I woke up, took a shower and headed to check my email and find some food. On my way to look for food I ended up running into Sharlene and Yaneth...it was a sign I guess. I was across the street from the restaurant where they were eating and reading the sign to see what they served. I was about to walk on when I heard someone yell, ¨Hey! Are you blind!¨ It´s weird to hear English in these parts, so I tend to look when I do. I ended up eating with them and we decided that we would all head together in a taxi to el Tigre. We´ve been here ever since.

Yaneth´s family is golden...they´re really great people as so many Venezuelans are. They´ve fed us and given us shelter and a whole lot of beer. And even though they don´t have much, they won´t let us pay for ANYTHING. They even buy cigarettes for us. We were supposed to leave with a different one of Yaneth´s brothers on Saturday to head back to Margarita and look for the brother with the keys, but as is normal here, the dude hasn´t shown up yet. He keeps changing his mind about when he´s coming. I probably would have packed and left by now if I didn´t need to exchange money with someone. I´ve only got american dollars right now and don´t want to have to pull money out of an ATM because the official exchange rate eats my lunch.

In other news...I´m seriously considering quitting school and just finding a job here. The school is so expensive and I can learn the same stuff...more actually...with the people on the streets or working with Venezuelans. I just have to get enough guts up to do it.

Well, my internet access is very limited here, so I´m not sure when I´ll be able to write again. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season!

Love Always,

Lynn

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Comments

[Gayla]

Wow!
Hey girl! Sounds like you had a run for your money. I'm glad, for the most part, that you are having a good time! I think you made a wise decision not wanting to get wasted with a bunch of guys you don't even know! Glad you got somewhere safe and sound also. Hope you continue to stay safe and have a great time! I'll pray that you make the right decision with the school situation! If you can learn the same things and make money instead of spending it, why not?? Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!! Wish you were home to spend it but I would probably rather be a whole continent away also! LoL God bless you! Love and prayers, Gayla P.S. Everyone says hi and they are praying for you and miss you! Rachel is due in like 2 weeks and Jennifer Teasley is pregnant also!