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.