"Brocheta," a rough translation of...

After raucous demands for more blog posts, I will try to satisfy your insatiable appetites. :) Just kidding. But seriously, I love all of your comments.

I am proud to say that everyone made it through the US embassy orientation, which was certainly no small feat. I’ll start with the bad news from orientation (but please keep reading if you choose to read this part): The embassy brought in probably about 12 speakers to “debrief” us on the situation with Venezuela— most of who said things like, “this is one of the most dangerous countries in the world…” “Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t go outside, don’t eat anything, don’t drink anything, don’t speak, for they will identify you as a foreigner, don’t walk anywhere, don’t drive anywhere, don’t take out money, all of your phone and internet may be monitored, etc., etc., etc…” The advice even got pretty specific at some points, when we were told things like, “stay out of all caves,” for there may be rabid bats lurking inside… I guess all of this was to be expected given that US Department of State employees were the ones briefing us on safety and security, but 3 days of people scaring us were not really what I was hoping for when I embarked on this adventure.

Now I know what you are all thinking, and honestly, I have to say that I have had similar thoughts… but DO NOT think that I would share all this information with you without the good news. The good news (for me) came when we were each briefed on the particular cities where we will be living. To the girl staying in Caracas—“Caracas is the murder capital of the world, with 19,000 murders a year…”, Maracaibo— “It’s a wild, wild west out there, watch for bulges in peoples’ shirts, they could be guns.” Merida—pretty safe, but watch out for FARC sympathizers (aka Columbian guerillas), Cumana—your student center was recently set on fire, and our program is really disorganized there… and then they got to me, “Valera. Who is going to Valera?” I raised my hand. “Good for you, Valera is safe. No problems there.” AWESOME. The other great thing, was that at some point during each speech, the speaker said something to the effect of, “Oh no, I’m scaring you. I don’t mean to do that. I’m sure you will have no problems at all. I love living in Venezuela, it’s the most beautiful country in the world. I have never had any problems, and I’m sure you will be totally fine…”

After each speaker left, we debriefed with our supervisors what we should take away from the talks. Be careful, be smart, don’t be flashy, don’t go out in the dark, go out with other people, etc. They were all basic travel guidelines, things you should do in both the US and abroad. So for those of you who expressed concern about my safety before I left, please know that I am now an expert on how to stay safe in Venezuela, and I plan to be very careful and conservative here. I love you all and plan to come home in 10 months speaking perfect Spanish and with some serious street smarts.

Enough safety talk. Let me tell you about some of the amazing things we have seen already! First of all, Caracas is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and some of the residential areas on the sides of the mountains appear to only be accessible by cable car. The neighborhoods that are located on the sides of these mountains are very diverse. At the top of one mountain, apparently there is a booming tourist town with ice-skating rinks and cold-climate berries for people to pick. On the majority of the mountainslopes, however, are “rachos,” or what we might call slums. I will never enter one of these neighborhoods, as we have been told by native Caraceños that they would never even drive through them. They are just too dangerous, even for the people who are forced to live there. It is no surprise that these neighborhoods stretch endlessly through this mountain valley—we heard yesterday that an average rent in a decent neighborhood in Caracas would be about $2,000 a month. In a safe neighborhood, with a nice apartment, it would be at least $5,000 a month. In addition, we were told that food here is among the most expensive in the world. With 6 million people crowded into one mountain valley, it is easy to see how food, real estate, and crime could spiral out of control.

We went downtown today, where we attended first day of beginners’ English class at a Binational Center (essentially a school affiliated with the US). Afterwards, we got a driving tour of the downtown area. We drove past the Presidential Palace (Miraflores), several landmarks that were important during the various coups in the last half-century, we saw majestic old churches, and beautiful roman sculptures and architecture. The most interesting part of the tour for me, though, was hearing about all of the different buildings that have been usurped by the Chavez administration in the past several years—the main theater, the Caracas Hilton, many of the golf courses, some residential areas, and many other places. Apparently these buildings have been taken over by the socialist revolution, and become sort of communal property for squatters in the city. We also traveled to the wealthiest neighborhoods in Caracas, where 8-foot tall walls, electric fences and beautifully landscaped gardens, golf courses, and yards obscure views of houses where the country’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens live.

When we are not traveling with the embassy, none of us have ventured more than about 6 blocks from our hotel. This feels somewhat strange—but I know that we will have time to explore this country in safer locations. Besides, we have seen some interesting things without ever going far. For example, our hotel is attached to a very hip mall, with a movie theater, a theater, art galleries, boutiques and fancy restaurants inside of it. Last night, we ate dinner at one of the restaurants in the mall. While we were sitting there, peacefully eating dinner, three women walked by, wearing nothing but string bikinis made out of beads, and two-to-three foot tall feathered headdresses. I still don’t really know who they were, but I got their card. I encourage you all to check their website. We have also been learning about the food here… I don’t really ever know what I am ordering, but last night, when I ordered “Brocheta,” I was pretty sure that it meant “Bruschetta…” I learned the hard way that “Brocheta” is a very rough translation of “Shishkabob.” I enjoyed my eggplant, banana, and vegetable shishkabob and will always remember what “Brocheta” means.

Well, tonight we are going to the home of one of our supervisors from the embassy. He is actually Greek, and said he brought us some feta cheese from Greece to make a celebratory Greek salad. I leave at 8 AM for my new (temporary) home! Love you.