“And all the answers that I started with turned out questions in the end. So the years role on by, and, just like the sky, the road never ends. And the people who love me still ask me, when are you coming back to town? And I answer, quite frankly, when they stop building roads and all God needs is gravity to hold me down…”
-Alison Krauss

–

So, there’s no doubt that, after this experience, I definitely have the desire to travel more places.  Preferably, places in Latin America, but I wouldn’t mind an excursion through the middle east or a quick scamper across Europe.  I definitely want to return to Venezuela one day, but who knows when that will happen. 

Having said all of that, as of yesterday, I’ve honestly been feeling a bit of homesickness.  I mean, it could be because two days ago I wasn’t just homesick, but literally sick out of my mind with some kind of awful combination of the flu and a stomach virus.  Today, I’m okay, but I can’t tell you how badly I wanted my own bed, my own parents, my own cat, and my own boyfriend. Haha. But, seriously, I’m fine now. I just really need to do my laundry… I think I smell! Hahaha.

I think the winning combination of being sick yesterday, being a month into this experience (and my lack of connection with things at home for that whole month) is really beginning to catch up with me. For the first month, I really had no desire to contact home, but, now, I definitely feel a bit of a void.  It’s easy to feel lost here, especially because, although my Spanish has improved immensely, I still don’t feel comfortable enough to travel around the city alone–even if it’s just to get my hair cut.  Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what to do.  I mean, I love being with my roommates–we are seriously like sisters, but sometimes it would be nice to be more independent.  I’m expecting this to improve with time, but who knows how much more time it will take. 

  This past weekend was Carnaval (or Las Ferias), which is pretty much just an excuse to party for 5 days straight (not that Venezuelans need that), watch bulls die (yeah, I’ll get to that), and, due to the rain, never ever have dry clothes (which probably explains why I smell so bad).  Today was our first day back to school, and, man, was it a doooozy!–two exams today and a final paper and PowerPoint due tomorrow (all in Spanish, of course!)

Okay, now allow me to explain more about my adventures during Carnaval…

On Thursday my roommates and I went to a concert of one of our favorite reggaeton groups here, Chino y Nacho.  For those of you who don’t know what reggaeton is, check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBuePJ4UOtg

Okay, so, anyway… we went to see Chino y Nacho.  We arrived around 10pm, thinking that we would be late, only to find that the concert wouldn’t be starting until 1am!  Therefore, we decided to walk the streets for a bit (because, you know, there’s always a party going on the in the street here in Venezuela. Haha).  Anyway, we walked around for a bit and returned a little before 1am.  To make a long story short, the  group was clearly running on Venezuelan time, because they did not end up playing until almost  FOUR in the morning! Haha. Needless to say, it was a long, interesting night.

The next day worth writing about is probably Saturday.  That morning my roommates and I headed out to “Las corridas del torros” (bull fight), and, man, was that ever the mistake of my life!  Going in, I knew that either the bull or the man would have to die (and, that, all things considered, I would be on the side of the man).  What I didn’t know, however, is that they would be killing not one, not two, but SIX bulls!  Long story short, I cried… a lot, and then I left.  The spirit of the place was just…ugly.  People were screaming and the poor bull was just bleeding everywhere and fighting for its life.  It was not pretty. So, I left, and waited outside for my roommates.  Nunca otra vez en mi vida, en serio! Fue muy cruel y triste.

So, after that somewhat traumatizing experience, we met up with the Venezuelan guys we hang out with a lot (from the beach) and just partied it up the rest of the night.  Basically, during las ferias, they just close down the whole street and everyone just parks their cars along the road and blares the sweet sounds of reggeaton and salsa for all the world to hear! Then? everyone just dances! (and drinks, if I’m being honest).  I love the fact that so many people love to dance here…and that they’re dang good at it, too!  After we danced for a while in the street, it started to rain pretty heavily, and we decided it would be best to take the party indoors. We then made our way, on foot, to one of favorite discotecas (clubs) called Birozk.  Unfortunately, much to our dismay, it was too jam packed with people… so, then we went to our second favorite discoteca, Un Poco Loco.  We finished the night dancing and, well, that’s about all I remember!

Other than Saturday night, my roommates and I didn’t really go out much during Carnaval (at night, at least).  On Sunday, we were invited to the soft ball game by our friends from the beach because one of them plays for ULA (University de los Andes), which is the most prestigious school here, and then he invited us to his house to eat Arepas with his family and friends the next day.  It was beyond chevere to meet his whole family and just chill for the night with la gente de Venezuela.  I really appreciate the time that my roommates and I get to spend with them, because, not only do we have to speak Spanish the whole time, but our time together is always very genuine–like a real group of friends just chillin’, chattin’, and jammin’. Siempre es muy chevere.

Okay, I think that’s all I got for now! I’ll leave you all with some fotoooos:

 

 

Coco frio de la calle con mis hermanas! (Coconut juice out of the actual coconut!)

 

The stage! (and the VIP section that they let us into because we’re gringas bonitas. hahaha)

 

 

It’s quite possible that we were a little excited to be there…

 

 

Carnaval! This was where the sign was, but this was hardly the begining of the masses of people congregated on the street that day.

 

 

awwww yeah, lookin’ like the hottt gringas that we are!
(Fact: there were a group of guys sitting at the entrance of the building of the university all the way in the background behind us, and they were whistling at us the WHOLE TIME this picture was being taken! Ah, Venezuela…
tus hombres son locoooos!)

 

 

Las Corridas del torros from afar! I had no idea what I was in for…

 

 

 

 

 

Haha, look at me with my sheepish smile… I simply did not know….

 

That THIS was about to happen… SIX times in a row! There arent any more pictures after this, because, as I said before, I was crying and I had to leave.

After las corridas…

Nuestros amigos venezolanos! (from the beach)

Left to right: Sam (hermana), Luiz, Jesus, Lana (hermana), Alejandro, Christian y yo.  

 

 

Okay, so this has nothing whatsoever to do with Carnaval, but it’s quirky and I want to share it.  A couple weeks ago we made Sangria from scratch IN OUR SCHOOL. hahaha.  For those of you that don’t know, Sangria is a popular and delicious alcoholic drink here in VZ, and, let’s just say… this pot was empty by the end of the night. hahaha.

 

 

 

 

ya me voy! Besitos, amores! 🙂

Location: Merida, Venezuela