At one point, he wrapped an anaconda around me...

This weekend, I learned several new things about traveling in this country. 

First, I learned that if you pay for a three to four hour taxi ride, under no circumstances will the driver stop the car for you until you reach your destination, even if you kindly tell him that it is likely that you will pee all over his car. 

Second, I learned that despite the fact that the driver will not stop when you are about to pee all over his car, he will stop in order to eat lunch in a restaurant while you wait outside, wondering where he went.

Third, I learned that it is ridiculously easy to travel here. This weekend, we went to the bus terminal, found the person shouting the city we wanted to go to, and got in the car.  When the car was full (5 people + driver), we left.  As previously mentioned, we did not stop, and we arrived promptly.

I learned these lessons on a trip I took to Maracaibo this weekend-- what a fun city!  To locate everyone, Maracaibo is in the northwestern part of the country, at the tip of a huge, brackish lake.  It is the central of the country’s oil production, has several very good universities, and is the center of the opposition movement (anti-Chavez).  I went with my host mom, and we stayed with her other son, Antonio.  Antonio studies computer engineering and works as an engineer for one of the largest banks in the country.  He greeted us with roses and kisses at the bus terminal, and took us all over the city.  My favorite part was when we rented bikes and rode along the lake.

I was surprised by all of the entertainment that was available— swimming pools, tennis courts, big parks with go carts and paintball, bowling, live music… Valera is pretty dull in comparison, but MUCH safer.  I was not expecting to have such a good time there, because apparently it is the hottest part of Venezuela (hot days are about 45 C which is roughly 115 F), so I was anticipating a near-death experience in which we all melted into puddles.  But luckily, it rained the day we came and stayed fairly cool the whole next day.

We went to see the Basilica, a large church where “La Chinita” resides.  Despite the fact that “Chinita” may also be used as a derogatory term for a young Chinese woman, la Chinita in Maracaibo has nothing to do with China, Chinita is just her nickname because her real name is essentially impossible to pronounce, Virgen de la Chiquinquirá.  The story has it that waves on lake Maracaibo magically carved the image of this young virgin into a piece of wood in 1749.  A woman who was washing her clothes picked up the piece of wood, planning on using it, and shouted, “Milagro! Milagro! (Miracle)” when she saw the image.  You must wait in line to visit la Chinita at the Basilica, and many people come to bring her flowers.  It is obvious that people worship her as an idol, but I think that the real reason most people love La Chinita is because every November 18 there is a wild party in her honor, where apparently everyone gets really drunk, really crazy, and celebrates the appearance of the virgin’s image two and a half centuries ago.

On a different note, today was my first official day working with bibliomulas!  Just so you all know, the mulas are world famous!  Here’s an article about them from the BBC.  Click here. Christina, who is in charge of the program, brought me to one of the schools that is fairly close to the University today (~30 min).  I met the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders that I will be teaching, as well as the school’s faculty.  The children were absolutely adorable.  Whenever anyone enters the classroom, all of the students stand up at their desks and shout, “Buenos dias.”  The person who entered then greets them, tells them to sit, and they shout, “Gra-ciasss” at the top of their lungs, and sit back down.

After meeting all the students, I went to one of the classrooms where there was a biologist giving a presentation about reptiles in Venezuela.  He had boxes and boxes full of snakes to show everyone, as well as a t-shirt with a snake painted on it that said, “Take care of me.”  To many of the students’ delight, he draped snakes around everyone’s necks, let them loose on the floor, and brought them around the classroom on a long pole.  At one point, he wrapped an anaconda around me, and someone snapped a picture.  If I can ever track down that picture, I will be sure to send it.

Speaking of pictures, I am working on the picture situation.  Our internet is not fast enough to upload pictures, so I have to figure out how to make it work.  But you will all have pictures soon, I promise.

Last, I thought I should tell you about the latest robbery that I have seen here.  Someone stole the mirrors off of the side-view mirrors of a car parked in front of the university.  There are several watchmen at the university (who apparently are somewhat worthless), and the mirror-thief must have robbed the car of its mirrors right in front of them.  I didn’t even realize that side view mirrors were valuable, or that you could resell them…

Well, I better go prepare class for tomorrow.  Now that I have something to do in the morning, I am starting to feel much, much busier!  And I am very happy about it. J