Carnival - Los Llanos!

Of course like all good Catholics the Venezuelans celebrate carnival which are the days leading up to fat Tuesday. Most people head to the beach, so we planned to avoid that nightmare and we went to Los Llanos ( also known as the plains). I went with two co-workers from school Erica and Maria Elena and Jeff was also able to come in from the States to join us. We were off school from Thursday to Tuesday. So on Thursday right after school we set out driving to San Fernando de Apure. It was quite and interesting drive because the road was torn up in parts and it was really hard to see the speed bumps at night. There was one point when we were driving on a two lane road and following a large truck. Suddenly the driver of the truck swerved to the oncoming traffic lane and we thought he might be drunk until we hit about 10 pot holes in a row. We realized he knew the road well enough to avoid the bad spots so we followed him for awhile. We finally made it to Apure where we spent the night. From there it was about another three and a half hours to El Cedral the ranch we were staying. It was absolutely amazing! We went out twice every day to look at animals. According to the bird expert on the truck we saw about 60 different species of bird in three days. We also saw ant eaters, capiabaras (largest rodent in the world), alligators, crocodiles, and deer. On the last day there our guide Rafa took us anaconda hunting. He caught an anaconda and I held it and wrapped it around my neck. We also ate piranha one night at dinner. Over all it was an amazing experience.

It's been too long...Basketball

I know it has been forever since I last put a post up.  Things have been really busy here in Venezuela.  Let's see where should I start.  I will start with something that transpired before Christmas break that I have not blogged about yet.  So I mentioned to the Athletic Director that I would be happy to help coach girls basketball.  I told him I don't know a ton about the sport but I do know how to get the girls in shape and it would be fun to work with someone else and get back to coaching a little bit.  He told me that would be great and he would find someone to work with me.  About two weeks later he approached me and asked if I would mind taking the assistant coaching position for Boys Basketball ( they are played in opposite seasons here for some reason).  He told me that he found a head coach with a lot of basketball experience but that he only spoke Spanish and that he was from outside the school.  Because of this he would need someone from the school to help out and translate for the kids who do not speak much Spanish.  He also really needed a female because boys basketball and girls soccer would be traveling to Maraciabo a city in the Western part of the country to play in a tournament.  He promised it would be very little work on my part.  I thought about it and decided to take it because I would get some spare money and a free trip.  

Three weeks into the season the AD informed me that the coach had called and that his work schedule had changed and he could not longer coach the team.  This is when the craziness begins!  I had now been promoted to head boy's basketball coach in an instant.  Of course the boys were not too happy to be playing for a woman and frankly I was not too fond of their crude male comments and their attitudes towards me.  These boys are considered to be the bad boys on campus.  It really took me back to my time in the South Bronx!  I implemented a policy that if they said something crude or had an attitude that we would run suicides as a team.  This quickly cut back some of the behavior.  The boys in the end came together as a team and worked hard.  Although we did not have a lot of wins I think that we accomplished something great in the end: we became a TEAM!