El Parásito y los Llanos

Last monday began the worst three days of my trip so far, but what followed were probably the best. Around mid-day on monday my stomach began turning and twisting, an awful feeling I would wish only on my brothers. Just kidding. But really, it was a miserable afternoon that I spent in bed, though I was able to sleep for about four hours. I steadily improved over the next day but the following night (tues) it was just as bad as the day before so my mama insisted I get checked out the following morning. A lab by my school discovered I had "Endogérmina," a stomach ailment/bacteria. I got some liquid medicine and fortunately that eased my stomach over the next few days and now I feel completely normal. Or should I say, regular!

With that out of the way, here is what I can remember of our weekend adventure to Los Llanos, the plainsland that covers much of central Venezuela:

Thursday morning we woke up at 4am and took a bus that left at 5:30. Like most things here, whether because of my still novice Spanish listening skills or because of Venezuelans' tendency to not explain things well, I had no idea what to expect on this car trip. My understanding was it would be about 3-5 hours. It was 12. But we stopped a few times and ate some really delicious meat and fruit, and it was actually a pretty fun road trip.

We arrived (we being 20 of the 27 Americans in our Abroad group and four Venezuelan guides/drivers) at this campamiento, basically a farm that hosts travel groups every weekend, around 5. We unpacked and quickly went back in the two vehicles, one jeep, one bus, to go on a quick safari of sorts. Some people got to ride atop the vehicles, and one of the Venezuelans shouted to stop the cars. He had seen a large snake. Toto, one of the guides, went and captured the Anaconda (a pretty small one) armed with a stick, bare hands and bare feet. It was really cool to see the two layers of fangs and its tongue and feel its scales. We saw a couple other things that night: lots of cayman, tropical birds, and Capibaras. Capibaras are the world's largest living rodents, and they are adorable.

The next day we woke up very early and some of us went Pirahna fishing while others went horseback riding. We drove to this little river and Toto showed us how to fish. It was just like the kind of fishing we do in North America but without a rod or a reel; rather a little stick attached to the line and hook. You throw the hook out, like a softball pitcher almost, and wait to feel the nibble before jolting your hand back to set the hook. First I caught a fish whose name I cannot recall, but then I caught a Pirhanna and was surprised at how colorful they were. I had been under the impression they were ruthless disgusting ugly creatures. I then learned that the stick attached to the rope also makes a good club to kill them with, and that what we caught would be our lunch the following day. Despite my early luck I caught absolutlely zero fish over the following 3 hours. After a while a little kid, he couldn't have been more than 8, came along and showed us all up. He probably caught 20 in about thirty minutes, and bashed each one over the head, allthewhile showing no emotion at all.

After that I got to go horseback riding, and was lucky enough to have one of the fastest horses. I raced a buddy and holy cow!, was that fun. I think I had "trotted" once or twice as a kid at camp, but never did I come close to going this fast. Pete: I should have listened when you told me to be a jockey.

Later in the day we went to a river and boarded two long boats, like the ones in "Tintin and the Broken Ear".  Every turn we were welcomed by more Cayman and capibaras and a few familiar birds, including a Blue Heron. Also, there was an enormous female Anaconda our guide spotted hiding in a log. Probably 9 inches in diameter. The creature was waiting to mate. But the coolest thing were these pink river dolphins that jumped out of the water a few meters from our boat. We returned after a while to another delicious meal and got to listen to a local three-piece Venezuelan band.

Sunday, we went on another safari and our guides caught another Anaconda and a cayman, but unfortunately couldn't find any anteaters. The climate was remarkably more hot and humid than it is in Mérida, and if not for the people, I would have thought we were in Central Africa.

Then we went back home, a 8 hour drive this time, where my mama was very excited to tell us that her favorite candidate, Henrique Capriles, had won the presidential primary by a huge margin that day. He will face Chávez in October. Literally everyone in Mérida dislikes Chávez and thinks he is crazy--but this is a very rich city and I don't think it will be a very close and interesting election. There is more I have to say on that matter but there are three people in this room speaking very loudly on skype so I have had enough of this for now. Peace, and thanks for reading!