Bottom 5

When the honeymoon is over you realize that there ARE actually things that really bother you.
I decided to make a short list of most annoying situations I have had to deal with on a everyday basis.

1. Garbage and littering. The amount of thrash left by people on the street is incredible. It's amazing how society here is used to that behavior. Littering has grown so deep into the culture that has lost its pejorative aspect. People litter with no shame!

2. Frequent lack of power or water. For some unknown reason, every once in the while every part of the city is out of power for an hour or two. I was trying to find out why, but none of my Venezuelan friends came up with reasonable answer. Around a week ago the whole city was out of water for about 3 days. Again nobody knew nothing about what happened and how long it would last. Officials didn't release any statement or communicate, schools were suspended...and I was totally surprised seeing nearby car wash working full time (so called - Venezuelan paradox).

3. Protests. Almost every week there are protests that paralyze major parts of the city. Protests usually organized by students, or even high school kids, include tire burning and some kind of manifestation. Protests are so frequent that nobody really cares anymore who and why is protesting. Last week I witnessed a protest organized by local professional soccer team for not getting paid!

4. Jail-like housing. Merida is known to be one of the safest places in Venezuela with relatively low crime rate. Despite that, every house look like a fortress, with tall walls around finished with high voltage electricity lines or sometimes razor-sharp edged glass. It is also very unusual to see windows with no solid bars on them making the view complete. It took me some time to learn my 6 keys I need in order to get in the front door.

5. Customer service or I would rather say the lack of customer service. As a customer in Venezuela you need to have lots of patience. Sometimes buying simple soda or coffee in the local grocery store can be a real challenge here. Overall relationship between businesses or public administration and client is from those "let's make our life more difficult"... I am still trying to find the reason why they need my passport at the local Laundromat every time I wash my pants.

Los Llanos

After the totally spontaneous trip to the beach, my friends and I decided to explore the more southern part of the country - Los Llanos. It is in the heart of the country and significant to Venezuela's culture with music called joropo (track #4 on the play list) as the main contribution. We signed up with one of the local travel agencies for a four night-three day package, that included an ultra professional guide that caches anacondas like worms.

Los Llanos is a region of tropical grassland that covers vast part of central Venezuela stretching from the Colombian border from the West up to the Orinoco's delta in the East. Due to the extreme climate, Los Llanos has hot and arid summers and rainy winters that floods a huge part of the terrain, this huge grassland is sparsely inhabited and the main source of incom is a cattle farming.
This has helped preserve the natural environment and allowed ecoturism to become an important part of the local economy.

My trip to Los Llanos took place in the middle of the dry season, which made all the water animals gather in close to the remaining sources of water. Every single pond was packed with caimans (relative of crocodile) and our safaris did not require extensive efforts. The trip followed the standard pattern of the "Los Llanos tour": boat trip on the local river, piranha fishing (rivers are full of them) horseback riding and of course chasing anaconda so everyone can have a picture.

Before going I heard stories from my Venezuelan friends about the -"tour guide type guy"- that were not really admiring and with my luck our guide fulfilled those characteristics by one hundred percent. Basically all the bad attributes of the machismo, condensed and accompanied with the lack of respect constituted his manners.
Three nights of sleeping on the hammock, an hour of horseback riding with no formal training and infernal temperatures made me want to come back to Merida. Besides, those three days were enough to see and understand "Venezuelan tour guide" in action; just one more could have ruined my reputation of goodwill ambassador.

Choroni

Finally came that day when after all those weeks of hard studying I was able to go to the bus terminal and buy a ticket to do some bigger traveling. Obviously (as the northern type notoriously harassed by the winter) I got tempted by the fact of proximity of Venezuelan beaches and therefore my first big trip was to the playas of the Caribbean.

I didn't have much of the problems with the company, since the word "beach" is a key word here in South America too. We decided to go to place called Choroni-small, totally relaxed place beautifully located on the shore of the Caribbean Sea in the scenery of Henry Pittier National Park. Good (cheap) way to travel here in Venezuela is a bus; and indeed buses here especially on the long distance routes are very comfortable with the exception of it's well known air conditioning overuse. This is one of those things here that everyone knows that is not right, but nobody does anything to change it. So every single person in Venezuela will warn you that it's freezing in the bus and you need a sleeping bag or at least a blanket. It is even common to see people wearing hats and glows.

It was eight hour drive from Merida to Maracay - capital city of Aragua state in the north-central part of the country with quite unpleasant face of heat and uninteresting architecture. From there we took a buseta (small bus working on shorter distances), which took us to Choroni.
The Maracay-Choroni ride was one of the most spectacular I have ever experienced. The road sneaks through the mountains covered with tropical forest of the National Park. Stunning views accompanied by race car like buseta driving at an elevation of the 7000 feet provided both breath taking views and the irresistible feeling of being the next day headline news in the local paper.
Buseta's drivers here in Venezuela are in a category all by themselves. Because public transportation is provided by private and independent bus drivers, buses function more or less like a taxis. They have no real schedule or firm stops. They are just assigned to a certain route and the rest is open. Moreover, in la buseta you can expect to encounter playboy looking driver, loud music (usually reggaeton) and overall atmosphere of the night club with black lights sometimes accompanied with stroboscope. Some would say that these guys pimp out their ride to the maximum. If there is a competition of racing an overloaded buses Venezuelans would be the champions.

Right after arrival and settle up in the posada we went to the beach. To my big surprise the waters of the Caribbean Sea happened to be cold. With my iron rule "I don't go swimming unless the water temperature reaches 76F" I couldn't enjoy the Choroni beaches in one hundred percent. Fortunately I was making up this inconvenience every night with my friends and a bottle of guarapita - famous local mix of rum, passion fruit, coconut and sugar.
Despite the fact that Choroni is a very popular beach destination, the town didn't lose anything from its fantastic, relaxed atmosphere. isolated from everything with mountains from one side and sea from the other, this place lives its own life and only national flag on the main beach reminds that we are still in Venezuela.

Do you know?
About 50 km. (30miles) away from Merida on the altitude of 3.600 meters (12.000 feet) above the sea level we can find one of the most important astronomical observatory in South America. Due to its location-close to the equator- this facility benefits from access to both northern and southern skies. Llano del Hato national Astronomical Observatory is one of the few that is open for public and is known for its cooperation with the local community working in partnership with Universidad de los Andes in Merida.

Moving around

The weather has been disappointing me lately, reminding me of my last time in London, with one small exception - it rains more here. Despite the weather I try to keep myself busy by visiting all interesting places near Merida.

I started with the Hot Springs of La Musuy. Two hours bus drive and another two hours of climbing the Andes and there we are - about 3000 meters above the sea level, where you can touch the clouds. I have never been a huge fan of mountain hiking and other highly exhausting endeavors, but a long and relaxing bath in the aguas termales made me forget all the soreness of getting there. The temperature of the water is high enough to feel very comfortable and some visitors, who choose overnight stay, sometimes decide to spend the night in the water. It is not quite a bad idea since the temperature of the water stays at 35 degrees Celsius and the air temperature drops to maybe 5 degrees Celcius during the night. My friends and I also decided to spend the night up in the mountains (no, not in the water). The sunset I experienced there was truly one of those you live for.

Another place I had a chance to visit was the Cistercian monastery famous for its cafe plantation. For me, a natural born cafe lover, this was like a trip to El Dorado. Again, it was not easy to get there. It was located beyond the regular communication routes up in the mountains, and the only way to avoid 5 hours of walking was to catch a ride with some locals - something very common here in Venezuela. The problem was that there were not a lot of cars passing, but we couldn't complain when the first available transportation appeared. I found my spot in the back of the track hanging tight to a rope, knowing that if I fell during the ride it will be probably 1000 meters down.

Merida means Andes, but only an hour away we can find a completely different world. El Vigia differs from Merida in every aspect: climate - you want to say this is Venezuela, hot, humid with rain forest looking flora around; architecture - houses, whose main function appears to be protecting inhabitants from the rain; and people - more traditional, more Venezuelan I would say. Merida is quite a modern, urbanized place. El Vigia is not. I remember feeling embarased when the family I stayed with in El Vigia told me there was actually no hot water system in the house. Who would need it in the hot weather of El Vigia...? Despite the cold shower inconvinience my El Vigia visit was the warmest. I think there is the truth to the belief that those who have the least, tend to give the most.

Mi escuela

As you may have noticed, I sometimes use Spanish words in my text. After studying and using mostly Spanish in my day-to-day life, Spanish words have started coming to mind naturally and its getting more and more difficult to say or type anything in English or Polish without Spanish slipping out. The Spanish language aggressively takes over! I fear that with time the Spanish words will begin to appear more frequently, and sometime in June i will be writing only en Espanol.
Since learning Spanish is my primary activity here I would like to say few words about my Spanish school. First of all, i would not call this place a school. Everything from the teachers, who are my friends and, in most cases are younger than me, to the overall atmosphere which is very LAID BACK, and not to mention the motto of our immersion program, which emphasizes the sociable, cultural aspect of our studies. More or less our classes resemble loose conversations that could easily take place at the bar or other "social" place. According to our profesora de profesores - Cathy, it works. Not trying to be like a patient who thinks he is smarter than a surgeon, I try to believe her. Moreover, this sounds like learning Spanish with no extraordinary hard work and I like it. I have classes for a total of 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday. I my class I have only one classmate - David, who is also a Rotary student. For a while there were four of us including Whitney - another Rotary student, and Howard - an economics professo, who came to Venezuela looking for confirmation of his socialist beliefs. For some unclear reasons we got separated and Whitney now has classes one on one, and Howard joined a different group of students from the US with ideas a bit more in the line with his political interests. Despite being separated Whitney, David and I spend most of the time together and I am sure in a while will be considered a conspiracy.
Regardless, for the first time in my life I am enjoying going to school. If this makes me an eaven semi-fluent Spanish speaker by the end of July I will call this palce "la escuela perfecta"

El pueblo dijo Si

February the 15th, 2009 was a very important day for the future of Venezuela. That day there was a vote on a on a constitutional referendum to remove the two-term limit from the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999. This would allow politicians to stay in the office for as long as they continue to win elections. That day people decide whether to let current president Hugo Chavez run for the office indefinitely. This is Chavez's second attempt to try to remain in power following the referendum that was held in Venezuela on December 2, 2007 that also included several other proposals that would have given Chavez dictatorship power. Mainly due to waste student protests, spontaneous mobilization and campaign of the opposition referendum of the 2007 was the first Chavez election loss. According to the existing regulations (before referendum) Chavez will leave office in 2012 as his second term of holding the office comes to an end.
The need for constitutional changes brought together Chavez supporters around red Si campaign - well financed, better organized, and warmly welcomed by the authorities. Critics of the proposal changes ran the No campaign; which in most cases consisted of student meetings and demonstrations. As the eye-witness of the pre referendum turmoil always had the impression that police and security forces, however passive and rather quiet, were here to protect and help Chavistas.
The vote was something more than just another referendum. In the country where real opposition to the government barely exists, is disorganized and has few capabilities of reaching the society (most of the mass media are controlled by the government), giving the rulers even a slight chance to strengthen their power is highly dangerous. Many people feel completely dissatisfied with the style and direction outlined by the Chavez-run government; most of those people are former Chavez supporters...but, as the polls showed, there weren't enough who felt the same way.


A little update on my housing situation. I changed my host family. I live far away from the school now, my bed is even smaller, but with people that I really like...and they don't charge me $10 every time I do my laundry.

Do you know?
There are 4 TV channels with national reach in Venezuela after taking RCTV off the air for being critical of the government and encouraging attempts to overthrow Chavez. Two of them - Televen and Venevision - are very sympathetic to Hugo Chavez, and the other two - TVes (state run station that replaced RCTV over the air) and Venezolana de Television - are simply government propaganda. However the RCTV - Venezoela's oldest private broadcaster is still available through cable networks alongside with another opposition station Globovision, luck of possibility of public broadcast (government permission) causes significant shortage of their audience.

Mi familia

The essence of cultural experience abroad is to live the life of the locals. Some travel staying in highly rated resorts worldwide. Top ten of "Travel Chanel" is their guide; with cable TV, great views from the balcony and 3 steps from the beach all being mandatory. I might be wrong, but most of their cultural experience comes from the street view they had taking a taxi from the airport. Some look for relatively cheap, economical stays picking youth hostels. These, usually full of young, hardcore travelers from all over the globe i.e., Western Europe, give you the opportunity to make very intensive 3-day-long friendships since this is only one stop on their one year journey that includes 100 other places on the whole continent.

Others are lucky (me) and have a chance to fully derive the advantages of the local culture and experience the true, local daily life by staying with the host family. My family here in Merida, includes Sra Marisol (who is actually my third consecutive mom following my biological and American), my dad, Sr Enrique, and a little sister, Victoria. Honestly, especially the first few days, I felt completely helpless here with my Spanish language skills close to zero. I relied on my parents like a child. Senor Enrique took me to school the first day of classes to show me the way and I felt like I was a child again. Indeed ignorance the language, and not being able to express yourself takes you back to those days. Because of this reason it is crucial to find the family that would actually be YOUR FAMILLY. From the very beginning I realized that my family is an example of total professionalism in dealing with host students. To be more precise, thay act a little bit bored with the situation, whats more and worse, I am being treated like a naive source of income. Hey! my mom would give me a way better rate for doing the loundry home than at the laundromat. They have hosted students for more than 12 years, it becomes their proffesion, and it seams like there is no room for the sentiments any more. So sad...

Familly meals are important part of the day, and the second meal-lunch consumed around one o'clock is the biggest and most important. Breakfast and dinner are only supplements and are not that unique; most likely being something between a bowl of cereal and coffee with empanadas (stuffed pastry, here in Venezuela usually fried with cheese or ground beef). Lunch is usually the time when all the familly members gather together. So far my Venezuelan lunches include rice, some rice or lots of rice. Alongside the rice go platanos (plantains) - fried, baked or boiled and optional Arepas. An arepa is bread made of corn, emblematic for venezuela and usually homemade. Arepas are as tipical Venezuelan food as hamburgers are in The USA. However hamburgers are quite popular here in Venezuela too (I have seen a few McDonalds) a hamburger bought on the street, is not necessarily made of beef. Any kind of sandwich that looks like a hamburger is simply called a hamburger. Of course a Big Mac is a Big Mac...even in Paris where they call it "Le Big Mac".

Do you know?
Since January 1, 2008 Venezuela has used two currencies. The "bolivar fuerte" is the new currency of Venezuela and coegsists with the old "bolivar", which oryginaly was supposed to be repalced by the bolivar fuerte at the rate 1=1000 due to inflation. According to currency exchange rules here in Venezuela US dollar can be only exchanged at fixed rate of 2.15 bolivares fuerte to a dollar. Since this rate is far, far away from the economical reality black market is growing offering much more adequate rates.