I am nearing the end of my first year of teaching! I loved it and love living in Venezuela. However, I just find I don't have the time to blog!! (As you can tell by the months of lapses in my posts, haha). I think it's a good thing... it means I am out and enjoying as much as I can here.
After several trips since my last post (Aruba, Sinamaica, another trip to Punto Fijo, and Morrocoy National Park) I am preparing for one last hurrah before my biggest trip yet-- Europe this summer! I am leaving mid-June for a six week backpacking trip through mostly Eastern Europe, with a few detours to visit friends in the UK, Belgium, and Italy as well.
We are in the last month of school now and I can't believe how quickly the year has passed. My students have taught me a lot and hopefully I have taught them a lot too! :) I will miss them next year but they will just be next door, haha. I am looking forward to a new year also!!
Anyway, I am alive and well ... just inactive with this whole blogging business. Hasta luego blog!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Too busy to blog!
Hey everyone,
I have seriously been slacking on this blog, but I think in the end that's a good thing because it means I am keeping busy! Here's a quick run down of what I have been doing for the past few months....
December: I traveled to Punto Fijo, Venezuela to go to the beaches and visit the sand dunes. I felt like I was in another world in the dunes! It was incredible and I definitely want to return so I can try sandboarding! We saw some people doing that, and others on 4 wheelers. It was close to sunset and we had a long drive home but I hope to go back sometime soon. The week before Christmas I went to Milwaukee to visit Rachel and home to see the family (and I won't lie... to do some serious shopping at Target!!) After Christmas I went to Houston, TX for my college roommate's wedding. It was amazingly beautiful and great to see some friends, but it all happened so fast! It seems like a blur.
First week of January: Best vacation eveeeer. First I went to the Orinoco Delta with a friend from my school. It was a long day of travel (after a delayed flight, then a missed flight due to the cancellation, another delay, and finally a transfer to a different airline... then a 3.5 hour car ride to the river..... we made it!). We arrived at dusk so we couldn't really see anything. We packed our bags in to a boat and climbed in not knowing exactly where we were going, and soon we were zooming down the river in a boat under the most beautiful starlit sky I have seen in a long time. We came to a camp on the river where other tourists were eating dinner. There were a mix of German, Brazilian, Russian, and other tourists. Danielle and I got our own little hut and went to bed right after dinner because we were so exhausted! In the morning we awoke to the sound of howler monkeys... that is NOT what I thought a monkey would sound like (but now I know how they got their name!). We put on rubber boots and went through a walk in the rainforest led by a native Warao tribesman who showed us some fruits and how they use the plants to make many things. We also went to visit a Warao house built on stilts over the water! It was incredible to see how they make their homes and to observe their day to day life. We also went on a tour down the river and we saw dozens of parrots, many toucans, a couple of monkeys, and some river dolphins. It was my goal to see a monkey in the wild... so now I need to think of a new goal! :) The next day we went bird watching and saw the sunrise on the river, and also went fishing for piranhas. I did not fish but people in my group caught a few and it was interesting to see how sharp and powerful their teeth really are!
After three days in the river delta we traveled back to the city to meet with another friend from school to begin our tour to the world's largest waterfall: Angel Falls. After a night spent in a very creepy posada (a mix between a hostel and bed and breakfast) that doubled as some kind of strange petting zoo, we flew to Canaima and met our tour guide and group that we would travel with for the next three days. We loaded our things in to a boat once again and traveled upstream for 4 hours to reach the base of the falls. On the way we stopped at a smaller waterfall to swim and another place where we hiked for a little while. Both places were incredibly beautiful... and it made me even more excited to see Angel Falls! The tepuis (the tall plateus that are characteristic of this region in Venezuela) got larger as we neared, and then it appeared as we rounded a bend in the river. Everyone in the boat ooed and awed... and then it was silent for a minute. It is really that spectacular! No words can adequately describe it. We stayed at a base camp that night, sleeping under a pavilion with 40 hammocks in it. Try to get a peaceful night of sleep with 40 people... and sleeping in a hammock... pretty much impossible, haha! Though we didn't sleep well we were very excited to hike up to falls. Our group hiked uphill for about one hour in the humid rainforest before reaching a lookout point. Then I realized we were really close to the falls... but also very far because it is so tall!! The clouds obscured the top by that point but the water was rushing past us. We hiked a little further to a pool where the falls dropped in to and we swam there. It was freezing at first and we almost did not go in, but when were we going to get another opportunity to do this?? In the end the water was very refreshing and we had a lot of fun swimming! We returned to the base camp and packed our things to go back to Canaima. We stayed in a less-sketchy posada there and had a party with all of our new friends from the tour. We really were a great group... a mix of couples, singles, and families from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Venezuela, and Colombia. We had a lot of fun and our tour guide was really great! In the morning he took us to the Canaima Lagoon, which is fed by 7 huge waterfalls (not in height, but in volume of water). We hiked for about an hour to the various falls, walking behind some and swimming near others. It was a beautifully perfect day and we were lucky to have great weather. At the end of the day we went back to the posada and had a group dinner. By this time it seemed like we were old friends with everyone in our tour group. It was almost like the feeling you get at summer camp: you are super bonded for a few days and promise to stay in touch and plan to meet again... and then a month later you realize you have not made any contact with them, haha. Our flight was the next morning in a tiny 6 seat plane. After some layovers, a plane malfunction and return to the airport, 5 hour delay, and re-take off.... we made it back to Maracaibo for school the next day.
In the month since then I have not been out of the city but I have been really busy at school! We have been teaching on every other Saturday to make up for the lost days in December. Thankfully I have been able to convince my second graders that they are lucky to go to school on Saturday because hardly any other school in the world would "allow" them to do that! It's all about what you get to do, not what you have to do! ;) I have taken this opportunity to do some things with the students that normally I would not have time for, such as a vegetable party to celebrate the end of our plant unit in science, a spelling bee, making origami, and soon we will be making costumes for International Day.
While all of this has kept me rather busy, I am looking forward to my upcoming travels (as always!). I am going to Caracas this weekend to get my Venezuelan ID and to celebrate my birthday at the beach! In three weeks I am going to Mochima National Park to relax on the beautiful islands, and then off to Aruba for spring break with my sister in April. Many Venezuelans that I talk to, ranging from my students' parents to people I meet through mutual friends, comment that I have seen more of Venezuela than they have! I really want to see as much as possible and I'm not letting any opportunity for travel slip away from me. I will very easily have a new place to go on every long break or 4 day weekend for the next year... but there is always Colombia or Panama and everything there is to do there!
I have seriously been slacking on this blog, but I think in the end that's a good thing because it means I am keeping busy! Here's a quick run down of what I have been doing for the past few months....
December: I traveled to Punto Fijo, Venezuela to go to the beaches and visit the sand dunes. I felt like I was in another world in the dunes! It was incredible and I definitely want to return so I can try sandboarding! We saw some people doing that, and others on 4 wheelers. It was close to sunset and we had a long drive home but I hope to go back sometime soon. The week before Christmas I went to Milwaukee to visit Rachel and home to see the family (and I won't lie... to do some serious shopping at Target!!) After Christmas I went to Houston, TX for my college roommate's wedding. It was amazingly beautiful and great to see some friends, but it all happened so fast! It seems like a blur.
First week of January: Best vacation eveeeer. First I went to the Orinoco Delta with a friend from my school. It was a long day of travel (after a delayed flight, then a missed flight due to the cancellation, another delay, and finally a transfer to a different airline... then a 3.5 hour car ride to the river..... we made it!). We arrived at dusk so we couldn't really see anything. We packed our bags in to a boat and climbed in not knowing exactly where we were going, and soon we were zooming down the river in a boat under the most beautiful starlit sky I have seen in a long time. We came to a camp on the river where other tourists were eating dinner. There were a mix of German, Brazilian, Russian, and other tourists. Danielle and I got our own little hut and went to bed right after dinner because we were so exhausted! In the morning we awoke to the sound of howler monkeys... that is NOT what I thought a monkey would sound like (but now I know how they got their name!). We put on rubber boots and went through a walk in the rainforest led by a native Warao tribesman who showed us some fruits and how they use the plants to make many things. We also went to visit a Warao house built on stilts over the water! It was incredible to see how they make their homes and to observe their day to day life. We also went on a tour down the river and we saw dozens of parrots, many toucans, a couple of monkeys, and some river dolphins. It was my goal to see a monkey in the wild... so now I need to think of a new goal! :) The next day we went bird watching and saw the sunrise on the river, and also went fishing for piranhas. I did not fish but people in my group caught a few and it was interesting to see how sharp and powerful their teeth really are!
After three days in the river delta we traveled back to the city to meet with another friend from school to begin our tour to the world's largest waterfall: Angel Falls. After a night spent in a very creepy posada (a mix between a hostel and bed and breakfast) that doubled as some kind of strange petting zoo, we flew to Canaima and met our tour guide and group that we would travel with for the next three days. We loaded our things in to a boat once again and traveled upstream for 4 hours to reach the base of the falls. On the way we stopped at a smaller waterfall to swim and another place where we hiked for a little while. Both places were incredibly beautiful... and it made me even more excited to see Angel Falls! The tepuis (the tall plateus that are characteristic of this region in Venezuela) got larger as we neared, and then it appeared as we rounded a bend in the river. Everyone in the boat ooed and awed... and then it was silent for a minute. It is really that spectacular! No words can adequately describe it. We stayed at a base camp that night, sleeping under a pavilion with 40 hammocks in it. Try to get a peaceful night of sleep with 40 people... and sleeping in a hammock... pretty much impossible, haha! Though we didn't sleep well we were very excited to hike up to falls. Our group hiked uphill for about one hour in the humid rainforest before reaching a lookout point. Then I realized we were really close to the falls... but also very far because it is so tall!! The clouds obscured the top by that point but the water was rushing past us. We hiked a little further to a pool where the falls dropped in to and we swam there. It was freezing at first and we almost did not go in, but when were we going to get another opportunity to do this?? In the end the water was very refreshing and we had a lot of fun swimming! We returned to the base camp and packed our things to go back to Canaima. We stayed in a less-sketchy posada there and had a party with all of our new friends from the tour. We really were a great group... a mix of couples, singles, and families from the US, Canada, Germany, France, Venezuela, and Colombia. We had a lot of fun and our tour guide was really great! In the morning he took us to the Canaima Lagoon, which is fed by 7 huge waterfalls (not in height, but in volume of water). We hiked for about an hour to the various falls, walking behind some and swimming near others. It was a beautifully perfect day and we were lucky to have great weather. At the end of the day we went back to the posada and had a group dinner. By this time it seemed like we were old friends with everyone in our tour group. It was almost like the feeling you get at summer camp: you are super bonded for a few days and promise to stay in touch and plan to meet again... and then a month later you realize you have not made any contact with them, haha. Our flight was the next morning in a tiny 6 seat plane. After some layovers, a plane malfunction and return to the airport, 5 hour delay, and re-take off.... we made it back to Maracaibo for school the next day.
In the month since then I have not been out of the city but I have been really busy at school! We have been teaching on every other Saturday to make up for the lost days in December. Thankfully I have been able to convince my second graders that they are lucky to go to school on Saturday because hardly any other school in the world would "allow" them to do that! It's all about what you get to do, not what you have to do! ;) I have taken this opportunity to do some things with the students that normally I would not have time for, such as a vegetable party to celebrate the end of our plant unit in science, a spelling bee, making origami, and soon we will be making costumes for International Day.
While all of this has kept me rather busy, I am looking forward to my upcoming travels (as always!). I am going to Caracas this weekend to get my Venezuelan ID and to celebrate my birthday at the beach! In three weeks I am going to Mochima National Park to relax on the beautiful islands, and then off to Aruba for spring break with my sister in April. Many Venezuelans that I talk to, ranging from my students' parents to people I meet through mutual friends, comment that I have seen more of Venezuela than they have! I really want to see as much as possible and I'm not letting any opportunity for travel slip away from me. I will very easily have a new place to go on every long break or 4 day weekend for the next year... but there is always Colombia or Panama and everything there is to do there!
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