I have a feeling this is going to be another long one! 

My homesickness from the last post lasted for about a week , and now I’m back to getting all teary eyed at the thought of never smelling these diesel fumes ever again or taking a shady taxi to a shady street vendor to get some bangin’ burgers at 3:00am.  There are so many experiences here that I treasure… so many things that are just not available back in the states.  Lately, I have been thinking about all the relationships I have made here, and the fact that there is a real possibility that I won’t ever see these people in person ever again. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to come back, but it’s not like going to Venezuela is like going to the grocery store or to a friend’s house–trips like this take months of planning and saving. I know this, and because I know this, I know that it’s a real possibility that returning here in the future will prove to be quite a difficult task.  This thought makes me sad and I try not to dwell on it, but, sometimes, right in the middle of my day, I am hit by the fact that my time here will continue to pass, and that, whether I like it or not, in roughly one month I will be returning home.

Don’t get wrong, there are things I miss about home. For example, I could go for some warm Olive Garden breadsticks and unlimited salad right about now. Hahaha… just kidding (kind of). Of course, I miss all my friends and family the most!  However, I also know that those relationships are not going anywhere, which may or may not be the case with the relationships I’ve made here.  I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t want to only recall the people I have met here as faces of the past. I want to be able to maintain relationships with most of them and continue to speak Spanish and learn about their culture even once I have returned to my own.

As for daily life here, not much has been happening (I mean, other than the totally incredibly awesome fact that I am still IN VENEZUELA. Haha). 

My roommates and I went to another beach this past weekend called Chichiriviche, which was a wonderful experience with plenty of sun, sand, and HOMBRES (ay, Dios!).  Okay, allow me to explain fully…  the sun was HOT.  I mean, like the kind of hot that makes you think thoughts like “is this what the turkey feels like on thanksgiving?”  And so on (and yes, I can actually recall thinking that exact thought).  the SAND was beautiful, but everywhere (ugh, no me gusta)!  In fact, I probably still have some granules of it sitting complacently in the bottom of nearly every bag I own.  As for the hombres, they were similar to the sand… everywhere!  It’s so crazy the amount of attention we get here… I know I talk about it a lot, not because I think we’re hot stuff and I want everyone to know it (although both of those statements are somewhat true), but because I think I am still somewhat in disbelief.  We always say, “viajamos solas pero todavia nunca estamos solas!” which translates roughly to “we travel alone, but still, we are never alone.”  And it’s true, we always have company. Sometimes, it’s kind of nice; like when we met this nice man named Simon who worked in the terminal and he let us put our stuff behind the counter so we could go get some chow.  And then when we got the number of our bus driver so he could give us personal updates as to when we would arrive in El Vigia, so we would know whether not we were going to miss class or not (we didn’t miss class, fyi).  And there are just plenty of other great examples of how having some chicos to escort you around in VZ  isn’t such a bad thing… but, sometimes, it’s just ridiculous.  Seriously.

So, basically, this was our weekend: We took a 10 hour bus ride from Merida to Valencia, wandered around for a bit trying to find tickets, were escorted to the correct bus by a nice man, arrived in Chichiriviche (after having totally partied it up on the bus! So. awesome.  Siempre hay una fiesta aqui–me encanta Venezuela!)  and were immediately escorted by another man to our posada (posadas are like bed and breakfasts in people’s homes…and Venezuela has them everywhere).  We got a pretty sweet rate for our cute little room and then headed off in the boat (la lancha) for Cayo Sal, one of the many islands found off the coast of Chichiriviche.  Once we got there, we met this really cool young guy from Mexico who was just traveling Latin America by himself.  We chilled with him for the evening and then spent the next day “relaxing” on the beach all day. The reason why I say “relaxing” is because, of course, our stay was not without the constant “I love you” or “hey baby”, oh, about every other second. My personal favorite: “I am beautiful!” Hahaha,  obviously a completely failed pick-up line, but he thought he was pretty cool, which I’m pretty sure is all that mattered to him.  We left on Sunday in the afternoon, but then things went downhill once we got on the bus to arrive in Merida.  The problem? HACIA MUCHO FRIO. Hahaha.  Seriously though, if I knew what turkey in the oven felt like in beach, this was the opposite extreme… and I can now confidently say that I know what a turkey feels like in all its many stages preparation–from frost to fire.  I have the Venezuelan beaches and buses to thank for this.

This weekend my roommates are considering going to Maracaibo for a day… I’ll let you know how that goes!  Now, enough of my rambling and on to your favorite part:

 

Where we waited to get the lancha (speed boat) from the mainland to one of the many beautiful islands

 

 

La lancha!

 

 

 

Cayo Sal? I think?

 

 

This is not pool water, my friends!  How awesome. It’s even more gorgeous in person.

 

Our room in the posada.  And no, it wasn’t this messy all the time… just most of the time.

 

 

 

Our friend Anuar from Mexico! Muy chevere este hombre!

 

 

 

A turtle named andrea that was scooting around one of the store we went into. haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hermanas <3

 

 

 And here’s a treat for all of you; a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcVoozyudMY) of the bus ride to Chichiriviche–siempre hay una fiesta en Venezuela!

Enjoy!

 

Location: Chichiriviche, Venezuela