Hola de Venezuela

Hey Ya´ll,

This is an email I sent some family and friends. In the future if you prefer I can email them to you instead of posting letters on the blog. Just reply with your emails.

Hope eveyone is doing real well and kicking ass.

So Venezuela loves me, she has been so very kind to me thus far. I arrived last Friday greeted by intense heat and a crazy airport. My sister and I had little trouble changing some money and finding a bus into Caracas, about 26 km from the airport. On the bus I struck up a conversation in my broken Spanish with the woman sitting next to us. A few minutes later she was recommending hotels and offering to take us around the city.
She took us to a hotel near her apartment in downtown Caracas. We went to a restaurant for dinner and said goodnight with plans to meet up the next morning. The following morning she brought us to a place to change money on the black market (the only way to get a good exchange rate), and then to her friends house who made a traditional Venezuelan breakfast and talked about her kids for an hour and a half. They´re kindness was greatly appreciated

Caracas is crazy, way more hard-core than San Jose, CR and equivalent to the dangerous parts of Managua, Nicaragua. We walked around a bit one night and probably shouldn't have. Its not safe. We are learning. So we grabbed a quick bus out of town to Coro (8 hours) a tranquil colonial town near the coast. The first night here we found the coolest Posada (similar to a hostel) which was our home base for the next days adventures. It was late at night when we reached Coro and Caitlin went straight to bed. But we were sharing the Posada with three female students from the University in Caracas so I had to stay up and chat. They are Vanessa, Kelly, and Marianela. We drank ice cold beers and talked about everything from Chavez and international politics to what country has the most beautiful women. From where I was sitting it was hands down Venezuela. These three students were drop dead gorgeous. It was early in Sunday morning before we said goodnight and made plans to hang out the next day.

Caitlin and I awoke to a freshly made Arepas a traditional Venezuelan specialty, the Caracan girls had made us breakfast. Sunday after breakfast we went to a political rally for Chavez, he was supposed to be speaking a meeting people but I guess we missed him or he didn´t show. I would have loved to have met Chavez but it wasn´t in the cards... yet. There was music and dancing though and it was fun to watch. Then we went sight seeing, some colonial buildings and old museums. Finally, we ended the day by hiking out to the sand dunes nearby. They were truly amazing. A few steps from town and you may as well be in the middle of the Saharan desert. We walked and rolled down the steep dunes. By this time I think Vanessa had taken a liking to me because whenever I was walking alone I noticed she was beside me and her friends had peeled away. That was way cool with me, so we flirted and talked and had a lot of fun. The girls had to take the night bus back to Caracas Sunday so we escorted them to the terminal and made plans to meet up the following weekend in Caracas. I made plans to kiss Venessa.

Monday was extraordinary. Robert the owner of the Posada at which we are staying is an Architect. He graduated from Columbia University, and as a result of living in New York for 3 years speaks very good english. However, he insists that I speak only spanish with him so I can practice, which is good. He took Caitlin and I to the peninsula nearby to climb the tallest mountian in the Falcon state and show us many historical buildings, churches, and the beach. We talked a lot about the current political situation with Chavez and the US. He is a very intelligent and insightful man. The climb was amazing. The peninsula is completely arid, it didn´t rain there from 2000 -2003 and has very little since. We started the climb surrounded by cactus and desert shrubs. About 500m up we walked through and imaginary window and into a tropical Forrest. Surrounded by leafy trees drenched in orchids; a perfectly orchestrated hanging garden (pun intended) . From the top of the mountain we could see for miles, but since were in Venezuela we saw for kilometers. It was beautiful. Finally, to end a perfect day, Roberto and his wife invited Caitlin and I to dinner. Roberto´s wife lived in Rome for 5 years and it was there she learned to cook. God bless Italy and its culinary traditions. We ate very well and the conversation matched the food. A wonderful candle light dinner ended this fabulous day.

Hope this email finds everyone in health and happiness.
Ian