Polar Bears Invade Venezuela!

I arrived back to Caracas late at night on August 4th and the invasion began early the next morning. Shifty (Kate Nielson) arrived that morning and joined me at school that afternoon for my first day back on the job. She was followed that night by Wedge (Jayme) who came all the way from Tokyo which took her about 48 hours. The next night Bones( Sonia), Chinny ( Kate Chin), and D (Danielle) arrived to complete the group. We had two full size air mattresses in my living room so that we could all fit. On Friday they took the teleferico up to the Avila and went around town while I was working and then they met me at school and helped me finish setting up my room. We then headed to Fransico Artur's for some pollo, yuca, papas, and quesillo. We decided to drink a pitcher of Sangria which was so good that we convinced the waiter to find a to go containers so we could take another pitcher to my work party! The girls got to meet my work friend and experience the party culture for a little bit. However, it was to bed early because we were waking up in the morning to take to planes and a boat so we could see Angel Falls!

Angel Falls was amazing! We took an early morning flight to Puerto Ordaz and from there we took a small 19 seater plane into Canaima. We arrived a late because they oversold the flights and had to send a plane back for a us. Of course they didn't tell us so I was pacing back and forth wondering when someone would tell us about our flight. We boarded the plane after making sure to use our athletic skills to make sure we were at the front of the line to get on. We flew a small 19 seater plane to Canaima. When we arrived we were greeted and quickly swept off to meet the others in our group since we were late. We headed to the canoe launch site and had a quick bite to eat. Then we set off on our boat ride. We rode for about 20 minutes and then had to get off and walk for 30 minutes so that the boats could cross a set of rapids that were too dangerous to cross with all of us. We got back on the boat and went another 20 minutes to a small waterfall where we got to swim. It was awesome. From there it was about three hours by canoe (motorized of course) to our base camp. We arrived at the camp selected our hammocks, changes clothes, and played cards until dinner was ready. We were served a very generous portion of chicken, rice, and salad for dinner which was great. From there we decided to head to bed since we would be getting up at 4:30 am to begin our hike to the falls.

Sleeping in hammocks was not as bad as I thought it would be all things considered. I mean I wouldn't want to do it for more than a few nights but overall I was impressed with how well I slept. The only incident was when Jayme, who was sleeping next to me, came back from the bathroom and fell trying to get in her hammock and kicked me. I proceeded to yell and she began to laugh hysterically. It was quite a scene since there were about 70 other people in our camp.

We got up at 4:30 am and headed out to the lookout for Angel Falls. We took the canoe across the river and when we got out the boat driver asked our guide Jose Carlos, who was awesome, if we still wanted to go because the sky was really overcast. He asked us if we still wanted to go and we said well we didn't come all this way to not try! We hiked up and back without seeing a single person. We stopped on the way for him to explain a few things to us and for a little snack...I tried termites! They weren't too bad. We finally got up to the lookout and the clouds slowly dispersed. The view was spectacular! We took a bunch of photos and then started our decent. we got back to the base camp and ate breakfast. We packed up and headed back in the canoe although it only took about 2 and a half hours to go back because we were going with the current.

Once in Canaima we set out to go to Hacha Falls which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. We got to the shore and had to wade across to the falls. We then walked through part of the falls and eventually got behind them. It was amazing to see all of the water rush down from behind. We even got to go underneath the waterfall at one point. After this we went back to base camp ate lunch and headed back to the airport. It was a really quick two days but they were amazing.

On Monday Kate Chin went home and the others headed to Merida for two days. I was off to school on Tuesday for my first day of classes. On wednesday morning the girls arrived back from Merida and informed me they were going to the centro and would then take a taxi across town and meet me in El Hatillo for the afternoon. It started to rain that afternoon as I was leaving school, but since I didn't have a way to talk to them I headed off to El Hatillo in a taxi. My cab driver had to stop several times on the way because it continued to rain so hard that it was like we were on a river. I got to El Hatillo a little late, but the girls were not there. I waited about an hour and a half and they still had not arrived. As I was beginning to panic I got a text in Spanish that said, "I have your friends they are good please call now." Of course I start to panic and think that they might have been kidnapped, but I call and find out they had been taken in by the national guard. The streets had flooded so badly that they could not get there. The national guard arranged for a car for them to get to my place and we finally met up. Needless to say it has been an exciting trip. I have really enjoyed the company and it has been great to catch up with them and share a lot of laughs!

First full week of school starts tomorrow...We will see how that goes. I am hoping to get a lot of sleep. More adventures to follow!

Wine, Futbol, and Tango in Argentina

Sorry it has been so long....Jeff and I traveled from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina and then on to Cordoba and Buenos Aires. We had an absolute blast. The only real hiccup in the road was getting to Mendoza. We set out at around 8am to the bus terminal to buy our tickets and start a 6 to 7 hour bus ride up over the Andes Mountains and into Mendoza. We got there bought our tickets and found out shortly after that that the route had been closed due to snow. So we were now in problem solving mode. Everyone we spoke to said that it would not open back up that day and we were on a tight schedule. We decided to head to the airport and see about flying because we had heard that there were good deals. We got to the airport and soon found out that when the passage closes the flight prices sky rocket! So we decided to find a hotel for the night and set out exploring Santiago because Jeff had not spent much time there. We had a great day of sightseeing and head to bed. We actually made the 9am bus the next day and it was well worth the ride because the views of the Andes were spectacular! We arrived in Mendoza dropped our bags off at the hostel and headed out to see the city of Mendoza. The city is great there is one major plaza which is surrounded by four smaller ones. Mendoza also had the best italian gelato of any of the city we visited in Argentina. We ammended our schedule so we could stay another night in Mendoza, however, our hostel did not have room. So we set out to find a place to stay and ended up in the nicest bed and breakfast called Plaza Italia B&B with the nicest propritess. That day we went to the park and hiked up the cerro (hill) to see some amazing views of the city and surround towns. The next day we got up and headed jsut outside the city to ride bikes to several vineyards in the area. We got to the bike shop and decided to ride a tandum bike which at first seemed sweet and cute until we got on the road with trucks speeding past, lots of holes and bumps, having to stare at Jeff's back and not know where we were going (he had to sit in the front for balance reasons), and realizing that I had to pedal twice as fast to keep up with Jeff's long legs. However, it was a blast and we really did enjoy ourselves.
That night we got on an over night bus to Cordoba. This would have not been a problem except that every guy around us was snoring so loud we both had trouble sleeping. We arrived to Cordoba and bought our tickets for that night to head to Buenos Aires since we stay another night in Mendoza. That day we walked all over the city of Cordoba and saw the oldest university and many beautiful chruches and buildings. By late afternoon we were ready to crash for the long day so we thought we would get food before heading back to the bus terminal. However, all of the resturants were closed until 8:30pm so we found an internet cafe to pass out time and finally ate and jumped on the next bus.
The trip to B.A. was much smoother because we had seats that reclined 180 degrees and no snoring men. We headed straight to our hotel to shower and clean up and then took a Double decker bus around the city to orrient ourselves and see some of the basic sights of the city. The city looks like parts of Europe. We loved it! We started getting into the Argentinian lifestyle and had dinner almost every night around midnight. The two highlights of our time in B.A. were seeing a professional futbol (soccer) game which was incredible. The fans are so fanatical about their teams. It was amazing. The next night we went to a spectacular dinner and tango show! It was all you can drink on the bottle of wine so needless to say my early morning flight the next day was a little rough. All in All Argentina was an amazing country and I know one day I will go back to do some more exploring.