country or death?

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the best thing i saw today, without doubt was a poster of big man chavez. it was him, with a massive grin on his face, holding a baseball bat as if he was about to swing it. glorious. today was also the 2nd time i had walked into a chavez rally of sorts. venezuela has elections coming up, and in plaza bolivar today there was a live band and whatnot, with pretty much everyone wearing red tshirts. hilariously enough, today i wore a red tshirt as well. today was certainly the right day to wear red in caracas. so yes, this band were pretty darn fun, and the call and response with all of the followers was pretty immense. i felt a little out of place, due to still being the whitest man in latin america, but it was all good. either way, if anyone approaches me and asks something in spanish, i´ve taken to replying in russian, as nobody will mess with the russians. except the georgians i guess, but we all know how that worked out. (too soon?).

anyway, back onto the subject of hugo chavez. he gets a pretty massively mixed public reaction in the western world, either being lauded as a fascist dictator or the leader of the undermined world. personally, from what i´ve gathered from being here, i think he´s doing a good job. well, by good, i mean a lot of things are massively not right, but then there are things that are very right. every neighbourhood here has a pharmacy, and that is the law. i cant see a way that that is bad. plus, more importantly, look at the mans face! he has a wonderful face! that and his seeming lack of a tie collection.

one thing he has got massively wrong however, is rubbish collection. or should that be no rubbish collection, hah! (that was entirely for ash). yes, one negative thing about caracas is the sheer volume of garbage all around the place. caracas itself is situated in between 2 sets of hills, and on these hills are small communities of extremely poor people, the areas being called barrios. at night, these things look awesome, as they are just big hills covered in lights, which is pretty beautiful. however, in the day time a different picture is shown. on various parts of the hills are massive, massive, massive piles of garbage. obviously its pretty hard for a garbage collection truck to get up the hill, but still. francisco tells me that people just dump it, and the people further up the hill dump more, which in turn gets knocked down the hill when it rains, which is pretty often. we went through a barrio on our way to colonia tovar yesterday, and its the same inside them. they have bins, but the bins are full and next to the bins is more and more garbage. basically, the point im making is that mum and dad, dont ever tell me my room is a mess again. hah!

i actually sounded 16 then. anyway, colonia tovar. colonia tovar is a little town about 2 hours outside of caracas, up in the mountains. this all sounds pretty normal, until you realise that colonia tovar is pretty much a german colonial town. they have places called ´hotel frankfurt´, ´alt wien´and other hilariously german things. they sell strudel. they have an oktoberfest celebration coming up as well. it was a beautiful place, but good lord i was confused. look it up, i promise you, its bizarre.

i leave caracas tomorrow morning, heading for maracay. i originally planned to spend only 3 days in caracas, which has now turned into 7. that seems like a very latin american thing, or so im told. you shouldnt plan too much ahead, because it just isnt going to happen. this hasnt stopped me planning lots and deciding to be in santiago for christmas, but still. anyway, in the week i´ve been here, i have learnt some pretty good things. i´ll list them here, because lists are ace.

: dont believe everything you read in lonely planet. in lonely planet, it warns against starting in caracas because it is a slap in the face. it also tells of the dangers of caracas, etc etc. now dont get me wrong, it is a dangerous place, but i feel safer here than i do on breck road. i think if any person who is travelling isnt prepared to be met with masses of chaos and traffic when they start, then they probably shouldnt be travelling. i dont see the point in being hand held into it all.

: i´m not as shy as i make myself out to be. come to think of it, im not as boring as i say i am as well. i am actually pretty damn funny sometimes. couchsurfing always makes me realise this.

: i am however, the least latin american person there could be. latin american people have a certain freedom about them, a carelessness. they have fun in their souls, dancing comes naturally and they are willing to talk to anyone about anything. i like organisation, i care too much about, i have yugoslavia in my soul, dancing is probably the thing i enjoy least in the world, and i will talk to anyone about anything i like. still, its making for some pretty interesting situations.

anyway, this is a long again. no pun title from francisco this time, as the last joke he told me was pretty rude. by the time the majority of you read this, i´ll be asleep or on the way to maracay. i now wear a headband and im still one pasty boy.

ps: happy birthday for yesterday helena brodie!

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Comments

[John Adam]

John Boys Back
Hello John Boy good reading your blogs keep it up hope you are enjoying yourself sounds like you are lots of love xxxxxX

[Toria]

Greeeeeen
with envy. All sounds absolutely fantastic, I am so jealous, but so pleased for you!!! You sound right cheerful Mr Bills, these are a joy to read! :o) Xxx