So i am in a hurry today, got a lot to do tomorrow and there's only three days till the big trip, so this is gonna be cut short:
I do. For real. It is amazing how in peace they are with themselves out there. Plus all the nature, it is so fantastic. We got the monday afternoon and we chilled for a little while, getting settled in the hammack houses and such. Then we had dinner and went to look for small caimans. Pretty cool, though I didn't want to try to catch any. It was a great experience looking out over the water and see the light from your headlamp reflected in their eyes. It almost looked like the sky (which by the way was gorgeous!). I never knew there were that many caimans in the small lakes. and you could hear them getting in to the water every now and then, some of them were pretty big! we went to bed early that nigt and woke up the next morning at 4.30 am, as the birds where making some seriously crazy sounds! fortunately I was able to go back to sleep, and I went horse back riding around the ranch with the first group that morning. it was so great. first of all I got to sit on a horse again, though it has nothing to do with what I do at home, and second of all you just got to see nature in a whole new way. we got really close to some owls that live in holes in the earth, and we got close to a whole bunch of other birds. pretty cool if you ask me. And Mikkel and I got to run a lot with our horses as they were the faster ones. A lot of fun! that afternoon we went on the big anaconda hunt. I tried really hard to get into that muddy water and poke around with a stick, but I couldn't get myself to stay for more than 5 minutes. I just could not handle it. so I went to wait on the safe side while Necandro and his sons (some of the other ppl from the group kept looking but they were the ones who knew what they were doing and they are by far the very best at what they do!) found the snake. I did not realize how terrified I am of snakes till I tried touching the tail of the first snake we found. It took my several times but in the end I got to hold some of the last half of the snake. I have never before had to focus that hard to keep myself together. I had to go sit down when they let the snake loose and the tears just started pouring down my face. Keep in mind, this first one was only like 2-2.5 meters. The next one we found was 3-3.5 and our Venezuelan guide, Luis, held the head while I got to stand next to him. It took several times but I made it! crying all along. The next one we got was like 4-4.5 meters and I made it to the head this time!! once again crying, but i did it! and I am so proud of myself for doing it! The last one we got was like 1.5-2.0 meters and I held that all by myself!! so proud of myself!
the next day we caught pirat fish, and the day after we went to catch caimans. we got one that was like 2.5 meters, but it did not scare me at all - though i didnt go into the water that time either. At night we had a party and it was so much fun! Friday, the last day, we had a boat trip down the river and we got to see the really rare river dolphins! plus we got see an insane amount of rare birds and other animals, like the riverpigs.
today we drove home, and it was a long 10 hours, but it was okay. tomorrow we will be able to do a little shopping in the afternoon, then lunch, meeting, poolparty, and then there's a ton of things we need to do before leaving for the big trip on Wednesday. oh by the way, I got to the man who washes clothes today, it is done monday. only thing is, i have only got one pair of short and one shirt now. oh wells...
take care, and stay tuned for more on my next update!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Heading off to Los Llanos
So we're heading out tomorrow morning - at 5 am! which means getting up at 4 to drive for 10-11 hours so i am excited.. not for the drive but i cannot wait to get there. it's gonna be wicked! we're going to be finding/hunting/holding anacondas and caimans (crocs). so it will most definately be overwhelming and pushing some personal boundaries for me, as I am dead scared of snakes. But I figure I held a shark last summer, I hold a snake this summer. And I have been spending the past 6 months getting ready for this! It's gonna be great!
Like I said on Thursday (or was it Wednesday?) we were going on a 7 hour trek Friday. It was so absolutely gorgeous. One of the only places in Venezuela with true Venezuelan rainforrest. So so pretty. but boy did I think I was gonna die a time or five. It was so hard, but I made it to the freaking top (app. 975 meters above sea level) and I am so proud of myself! I did take a few pictures, and I will be posting some, but honestly I was more focused on getting to the top and down again enjoying the trip and just really trying to appreciate what little "pure" nature we've got left. not to turn all hippie on you, but I was amazed :) Going down was a lot easier, but we had to move so fast to get to town before dark. it was crazy. When we made it almost to the bottom of the mountain we had to cross some rivers, which meant getting your feet and boots soaked. However, it was quite nice considering the super hot condition your feet were in ;) when we finally got across the river the group had been seperated in two, and the guide in our part had never been there before. So what to do? We started walking in what we thought was the most likely direction, no what looked like the bigger trail (at times it was so hard to tell the trails from the forrest that we had to look for footprints) but we found the wrong one. So we went back to where we crossed the river and tried another path. After having gone back and forth 4 times, trying all four trails we sat down while our guide ran (!!!!!) in one direction to try and find the others. I have absolutely no idea how he was able to do that, but he did. mean while we started discussing how to make our society in the forrest. Maria quite quickly elected herself chief of the "tribe" and then came the harder choice. Who should we eat first? We didn't really get to decide cause just then both Martin (the running guide) and the other group came back (quite fortunately if you ask me). I know it sounds hard, but when you get lost and you've been on the move for a good 6 hours maybe more and you've climbed a mountain, you really need to keep the spirit in the group. And we did cause we all had fun imagining and planning the different scenarios. But we made it to the hostel where the women who owned it had prepared a super great meal, and dessert! It was so great! At night we had a few beers and sang a few birthday songs as it was Martin's birthday.
The next morning we woke up at 7.30 am and went to have a quick glance and a very short presentation on how to make cacao. Quite interesting if you ask me. The cacao beasn are taken out of the fruit and put in big tubs in the shade. They stay there for a week and most of the juices in the seeds leave the seeds and add more flavor to them as some of the juices stay in the tub. Then they are taken out in the sun to dry in big cirkels (i've got pictures coming up) and then when they are all dry (this process takes 7-1 days) the beans are "brushed" with a certain tool to get the shells off. Finally they go into a machine which take of the rest of the shells. I kid you not when I tell you that the machines they still used in Chuao, the village, was more than 400 years old!!! Amazing. I cannot imagine how the maching can possibly still work after four hundred years of being used. Must be some really good stuff. When the beans with out shells come out of the machine they are bagged and shipped off to Europe. Currently some Italian and some German country where the buyers. I don't remember they're names, but the chocolate is of such good quality that it is only used in fancy restaurant with real expensive food. After the short explanation we went to find la playa which was a little hour away. Believe it or not, we got seperated and lost again. The road split in two and we didn't know which road to pick, so once again we went down the bigger road. I asked a girl (I am guessing she was like 9, 10 tops, but she seemed to know her way around), but for whatever reason the group decided to try to go back and try the other way. So we did and Martin ended up running ahead again. This time to find that the road we were currently on ended in a village. So we turned around and headed back to the bigger road to try our luck there once again. This time we walked further and and elderly man came out of the woods so I asked him which way the beach and harbor was, and he replied - like the girl - that it was down this road. So we trut on and came to what looked like a village, and curiously enough the girl was sitting right out side the house where the road parted in two. She just laughed and pointed to the beach when I asked her for directions yet again. So after 5 more minutes of walking up hill a very little we found it. It was so relaxing and such a great day! And I finally found a fish I like! I have no clue what it is called but it is HUGE and the head is red and maybe it's some sort of bass. I don't know. it was good ! :b
Today we've been packing for tomorrow and spending a little time on the beach. Very relaxing! Well, I better head to bed cause like I said we're getting up early tomorrow!
buenas noches!
Like I said on Thursday (or was it Wednesday?) we were going on a 7 hour trek Friday. It was so absolutely gorgeous. One of the only places in Venezuela with true Venezuelan rainforrest. So so pretty. but boy did I think I was gonna die a time or five. It was so hard, but I made it to the freaking top (app. 975 meters above sea level) and I am so proud of myself! I did take a few pictures, and I will be posting some, but honestly I was more focused on getting to the top and down again enjoying the trip and just really trying to appreciate what little "pure" nature we've got left. not to turn all hippie on you, but I was amazed :) Going down was a lot easier, but we had to move so fast to get to town before dark. it was crazy. When we made it almost to the bottom of the mountain we had to cross some rivers, which meant getting your feet and boots soaked. However, it was quite nice considering the super hot condition your feet were in ;) when we finally got across the river the group had been seperated in two, and the guide in our part had never been there before. So what to do? We started walking in what we thought was the most likely direction, no what looked like the bigger trail (at times it was so hard to tell the trails from the forrest that we had to look for footprints) but we found the wrong one. So we went back to where we crossed the river and tried another path. After having gone back and forth 4 times, trying all four trails we sat down while our guide ran (!!!!!) in one direction to try and find the others. I have absolutely no idea how he was able to do that, but he did. mean while we started discussing how to make our society in the forrest. Maria quite quickly elected herself chief of the "tribe" and then came the harder choice. Who should we eat first? We didn't really get to decide cause just then both Martin (the running guide) and the other group came back (quite fortunately if you ask me). I know it sounds hard, but when you get lost and you've been on the move for a good 6 hours maybe more and you've climbed a mountain, you really need to keep the spirit in the group. And we did cause we all had fun imagining and planning the different scenarios. But we made it to the hostel where the women who owned it had prepared a super great meal, and dessert! It was so great! At night we had a few beers and sang a few birthday songs as it was Martin's birthday.
The next morning we woke up at 7.30 am and went to have a quick glance and a very short presentation on how to make cacao. Quite interesting if you ask me. The cacao beasn are taken out of the fruit and put in big tubs in the shade. They stay there for a week and most of the juices in the seeds leave the seeds and add more flavor to them as some of the juices stay in the tub. Then they are taken out in the sun to dry in big cirkels (i've got pictures coming up) and then when they are all dry (this process takes 7-1 days) the beans are "brushed" with a certain tool to get the shells off. Finally they go into a machine which take of the rest of the shells. I kid you not when I tell you that the machines they still used in Chuao, the village, was more than 400 years old!!! Amazing. I cannot imagine how the maching can possibly still work after four hundred years of being used. Must be some really good stuff. When the beans with out shells come out of the machine they are bagged and shipped off to Europe. Currently some Italian and some German country where the buyers. I don't remember they're names, but the chocolate is of such good quality that it is only used in fancy restaurant with real expensive food. After the short explanation we went to find la playa which was a little hour away. Believe it or not, we got seperated and lost again. The road split in two and we didn't know which road to pick, so once again we went down the bigger road. I asked a girl (I am guessing she was like 9, 10 tops, but she seemed to know her way around), but for whatever reason the group decided to try to go back and try the other way. So we did and Martin ended up running ahead again. This time to find that the road we were currently on ended in a village. So we turned around and headed back to the bigger road to try our luck there once again. This time we walked further and and elderly man came out of the woods so I asked him which way the beach and harbor was, and he replied - like the girl - that it was down this road. So we trut on and came to what looked like a village, and curiously enough the girl was sitting right out side the house where the road parted in two. She just laughed and pointed to the beach when I asked her for directions yet again. So after 5 more minutes of walking up hill a very little we found it. It was so relaxing and such a great day! And I finally found a fish I like! I have no clue what it is called but it is HUGE and the head is red and maybe it's some sort of bass. I don't know. it was good ! :b
Today we've been packing for tomorrow and spending a little time on the beach. Very relaxing! Well, I better head to bed cause like I said we're getting up early tomorrow!
buenas noches!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Getting up early! (short update)
So I have finally started sleep well in the hammocks.. this means getting up in the morning to get ready for spanish gets a little harder, but I usually wake up at least 30 mins before class starts so it's not too big a problem.. however, tomorrow we have to LEAVE the camp at 5 am so it will with out a doubt be a little hard. but we have to leave that early to go on the previously mentioned trekking to the slave village and i am so psyched! they are saying it will be super hard, but so pretty! I am so excited about going!
Other than that, we've been having a lot of spanish, and the class that i am in is mostly fun, but we start the harder parts tomorrow I think.. we've been playing "Stop" (Land og by) in spanish, and it's so hard, but fun! I don't know dont know when i will be able to get online again next, cause we get back from the kakao plantation on Saturday evening and leave for Los Llanos on monday morning! I am so excited about los Llanos, even though I find the pocking snakes with sticks part a little troubling! but on the other hand I have been preparing myself for this, so I now feel like i am ready, even though they just told us there will be loads of caimans as well! and pirate fish! scary.. but like one of the guides, Martin, said: "We'a gonna see some shit together!"
Other than that, we've been having a lot of spanish, and the class that i am in is mostly fun, but we start the harder parts tomorrow I think.. we've been playing "Stop" (Land og by) in spanish, and it's so hard, but fun! I don't know dont know when i will be able to get online again next, cause we get back from the kakao plantation on Saturday evening and leave for Los Llanos on monday morning! I am so excited about los Llanos, even though I find the pocking snakes with sticks part a little troubling! but on the other hand I have been preparing myself for this, so I now feel like i am ready, even though they just told us there will be loads of caimans as well! and pirate fish! scary.. but like one of the guides, Martin, said: "We'a gonna see some shit together!"
Monday, April 12, 2010
A week in the camp!
¡hola!
so we've now been here for app. a week. the weather is starting to get more sunny which means more hot. and let me tell you, when they say hot they mean it! a large part of the group got a sunburn, some more severe than others, but none where too bad, and that all happened on a cloudy day! I was glad i learned my lesson in Texas, never going outside in a exotic climate with out sunscreen, least of all when it's cloudy! lol
back to venezuela though. i love it! simple as that. once you get used to be yelled at when walking down the street (yeah for some reason the men down here thinks it's all right to yell what ever they think, so they do, and to be honest.. sometimes it gets a little boring cause they seem to be thinking the same. lol, but i think it's the same in spain, so it's cool, you get used to it and that's all you can do.. they yell after blond guys as well.. good fun great fun) and the total lack of control, then you really start to enjoy the country. i never know what time it is down here, i only know from my guesses and looking at the sun, but it's cool, that's how the venezuelans are. our teachers don't know what day it is, but really, who cares? We just have fun. learn spanish, enjoy ourselves and chill getting to know each other!
This past week we've had the beach volley tournament, had a barbeque party, gone to Valencia and a Spa place. Yesterday we were supposed to go trekking for a few hours up at a sorta near by (1 1/2 hours away) national park, but the government just changed the law, so we werent allowed to go in. as you may imagine this brought on some frustration, but as the great guides they are, our guides were able to take us to a real carribean-style beach, SUPER gorgeous. I am telling you, i could have stayed there for ever! Funniest thing happened out there as well. We were chilling, some in the water and some of us on the beach, when suddenly these two lizzards come up, around 1/2 a foot each, and a super pretty turqouise-blue-ish color. I went to tell Maria "oh, there's a lizzard right there by your head" as they were like two inches from her, when one of our spanish teachers walks in, and her shade scares the lizzard of. now, i never got to say more than "Oh, there's a lizza..." cause one of the lizzards tried to run over Maria's neck and into the woods. you should have seen her screaming and jumping around, poor lizzard almost got a heart attack. I don't know if you can imagine this, the jumping and the screaming, but being there and seeing that.. it was prizeless!!
Today we started with aerobics at 6.30 am (!) and spend 1-1.5 hours running around thinking we'd die cause our teacher is hard core. I am so amazed by the things she was able to do! Anywho, after almost killing ourselves we had the very interesting break fast - cornflakes and powder milk- that we eat every day. apparently our stomachs are not hard core enough for the real milk products yet. then we had 4 hours of spanish lessons, and today we got divided into two groups so we are now in advanced and beginners :) Then we went on to a kayaking talk through, as we will be practicing some safety tips and sailing a bit in the kayaks tomorrow. Or rather, we'll be doing so all day, going in to some caves, which i think we'll be awesome!
On friday we are leaving the camp at 5 am which means getting up at 4 (!) to go trek at another national park, or it is not certain yet, but our previously mentioned awesome guides are trying real hard to make it happen, as we were not able to go to the other place yesterday. if we get to go we will be trekking for 7-8 hours passing two mountain pass (bjergpas?!) and then entering a little slave village. the salves were placed there cause there is no way to get there except by boat or by an insane walk in the jungle. anywho they had this huge cacao plantation cause the slaves couldn't escape, and the the culture there's supposed to be super cool and different. I can't wait to go there. plus they'll have another bounty beach :b
I think that's it for now.. if i forgot something then I might tell later, I might not.. probably not cause I am so busy exploring, but let me know if there's a certain type of info you'd like :)
hasta la vista!
so we've now been here for app. a week. the weather is starting to get more sunny which means more hot. and let me tell you, when they say hot they mean it! a large part of the group got a sunburn, some more severe than others, but none where too bad, and that all happened on a cloudy day! I was glad i learned my lesson in Texas, never going outside in a exotic climate with out sunscreen, least of all when it's cloudy! lol
back to venezuela though. i love it! simple as that. once you get used to be yelled at when walking down the street (yeah for some reason the men down here thinks it's all right to yell what ever they think, so they do, and to be honest.. sometimes it gets a little boring cause they seem to be thinking the same. lol, but i think it's the same in spain, so it's cool, you get used to it and that's all you can do.. they yell after blond guys as well.. good fun great fun) and the total lack of control, then you really start to enjoy the country. i never know what time it is down here, i only know from my guesses and looking at the sun, but it's cool, that's how the venezuelans are. our teachers don't know what day it is, but really, who cares? We just have fun. learn spanish, enjoy ourselves and chill getting to know each other!
This past week we've had the beach volley tournament, had a barbeque party, gone to Valencia and a Spa place. Yesterday we were supposed to go trekking for a few hours up at a sorta near by (1 1/2 hours away) national park, but the government just changed the law, so we werent allowed to go in. as you may imagine this brought on some frustration, but as the great guides they are, our guides were able to take us to a real carribean-style beach, SUPER gorgeous. I am telling you, i could have stayed there for ever! Funniest thing happened out there as well. We were chilling, some in the water and some of us on the beach, when suddenly these two lizzards come up, around 1/2 a foot each, and a super pretty turqouise-blue-ish color. I went to tell Maria "oh, there's a lizzard right there by your head" as they were like two inches from her, when one of our spanish teachers walks in, and her shade scares the lizzard of. now, i never got to say more than "Oh, there's a lizza..." cause one of the lizzards tried to run over Maria's neck and into the woods. you should have seen her screaming and jumping around, poor lizzard almost got a heart attack. I don't know if you can imagine this, the jumping and the screaming, but being there and seeing that.. it was prizeless!!
Today we started with aerobics at 6.30 am (!) and spend 1-1.5 hours running around thinking we'd die cause our teacher is hard core. I am so amazed by the things she was able to do! Anywho, after almost killing ourselves we had the very interesting break fast - cornflakes and powder milk- that we eat every day. apparently our stomachs are not hard core enough for the real milk products yet. then we had 4 hours of spanish lessons, and today we got divided into two groups so we are now in advanced and beginners :) Then we went on to a kayaking talk through, as we will be practicing some safety tips and sailing a bit in the kayaks tomorrow. Or rather, we'll be doing so all day, going in to some caves, which i think we'll be awesome!
On friday we are leaving the camp at 5 am which means getting up at 4 (!) to go trek at another national park, or it is not certain yet, but our previously mentioned awesome guides are trying real hard to make it happen, as we were not able to go to the other place yesterday. if we get to go we will be trekking for 7-8 hours passing two mountain pass (bjergpas?!) and then entering a little slave village. the salves were placed there cause there is no way to get there except by boat or by an insane walk in the jungle. anywho they had this huge cacao plantation cause the slaves couldn't escape, and the the culture there's supposed to be super cool and different. I can't wait to go there. plus they'll have another bounty beach :b
I think that's it for now.. if i forgot something then I might tell later, I might not.. probably not cause I am so busy exploring, but let me know if there's a certain type of info you'd like :)
hasta la vista!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Finally in Venezuela!!
After travelling in what seemed like forever, I finally got here! And with my group and I, came the rain! It had not been raining here for almost 15 months and then yesterday it started pouring!
We arrived at the airport at around 4 pm local time, and then we had to drive for around 6 hours to get to the camp. It was very interesting driving in the bus.. Got to see a lot of Venezuela, and the way they drive.. lets just say I am glad I was just the passenger :) Needless to say I was pretty tired when we got to the camp. So we hit the hammacks early and therefor we woke up at like 6 am! We went to the beach this morning just to go for a short swim, seeing as the water was all filled with bits of tang. There`s a lot to take in, and i will write more later! gotta get back to the getting to know the town :)
-- S
We arrived at the airport at around 4 pm local time, and then we had to drive for around 6 hours to get to the camp. It was very interesting driving in the bus.. Got to see a lot of Venezuela, and the way they drive.. lets just say I am glad I was just the passenger :) Needless to say I was pretty tired when we got to the camp. So we hit the hammacks early and therefor we woke up at like 6 am! We went to the beach this morning just to go for a short swim, seeing as the water was all filled with bits of tang. There`s a lot to take in, and i will write more later! gotta get back to the getting to know the town :)
-- S
Friday, April 2, 2010
Getting ready to go!
So I am getting ready to pack up my things and head to Venezuela. I will be leaving to go to Copenhagen on Monday, April 5th, and then on Tuesday morning I will be flying to Venezuela! I am so excited I can barely sit still! I am hoping I will get a change to up date yall on my adventure through this blog.
Take care!
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