Picture this: a jungle (a cloud forest, to be precise) growing in the mountains. Full of assorted banana trees and flowering things, hibiscus, and enormous bamboo stands. Clouds pass in and out of the trees and waterfalls crash down from cliffs and there are more kinds of birds here than any other part of the world. That is Henri Pittier National Park.
Now imagine a bus. A school bus. Loaded with 70 or so people, some with backpacks, some with bags of coconuts, and some even with babies. And there you are, wedged into this bus, your back sticking to the plastic seat because you are sweating so much in the humidity and there is a small child practically sleeping in your lap, which is no small feat considering you also have a substantial backpack invading your personal space. Back to the jungle. Remember the jungle? The beautiful National Park? Well, this school bus is barreling through this mountainous loveliness, on an 8-foot wide road, twisting and turning around switchbacks, for 2 and a half hours. Hope you don't get motion sickness.
That was just one small part of the adventure of this past weekend, which turned out to be an amazing time. I finally got to go to the beach! On the Caribbean! In Venezuela! It was definitely the best weekend I've had here, and the first time that I really that I really felt that "wow" feeling here. I left on Thursday night, along with about 14 other of the North Americans, and took a 12-hour bus ride to a city near the coast called Maracay. The overnight bus trip wasn't too bad; it was a "buscama" which means the seats recline practically into beds. Then there was the crazy trip through the cloud forest in the crowded bus, but it was completely worth it because the drive was amazing.
Choroni, the town where we stayed, was charming and colonial, lots of pastel colored houses and an old church and plenty of people willing to help the tourists. And then there was the beach! The beautiful, white sandy beach with palm trees and coconuts and turquoise water and seashells! I sat on the beach and read and ate ice cream and floated in the ocean. It was great, so relaxing. However, traveling with so many people was a frustrating at times. And I had heat stroke on Saturday, which was pretty miserable. I drank several liters of water at the beach but once I got back to the hotel I had a massive headache and was dizzy and pukey. Not at all how I wanted to spend the evening, but Sunday was much better. I just had to stay out of the sun. Watch out for the blazing Venezuelan sun.
Anyway, I'm done bragging about my beach trip. Back in the sort of real world this week, back to classes and such. Last night was my roommate's 21st birthday, so we went out to celebrate in true American 21st birthday style - plenty of drinks for the birthday girl! I was in charge of the drunk girl, being her roommate and all, and it was entertaining to watch the drunken action unfold.
Who can believe it's almost October? It's actually the "winter" season here - the rainy season. Sigh, I'm having an October without fall and Halloween. In my tropical mountain land.
P.S. Over half the North Americans have had some sort of parasite or intestinal bacteria (some have even named theirs), but me and my intestines are still holding strong against the invaders!
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