Impressions - Day 2

Venezuela;

My plane arrived just as the sun came up over all the hills. I walked outside with a guide and we walked to the car. At 6am in the morning, the weather is warm and refreshing (I'd guess 20 degrees).

To my right were mountains covered in Jungle and barrios, houses piled on top of each other, you cannot see where one house starts and the other ends. To my left was the ocean.


We jumped into the seat belt-less car and began the trip to a temporary host family (as my other one is currently holidaying in Mexico) and headed for Caracas. The roads are crazy. There are no lines, no speed limits, no one indicates. I am told there are traffic police, but they are all corrupt, they pull you over? Pay them a little money and you're on your way, this is the norm. Culture is amazing.

We drove past hills, the soil was the richest brown I've ever seen, the growth was beautiful and green, and the weather was clear, but humid.
My guide, Rafael, spoke beautiful English, but with a strong American accent. At age 17 he was an exchange student in Holland. He had interesting insights and stories. I listened to his stories and watch the scenery as we drove on through the hills and approached Caracas.

The city is extraordinary. Downtown, Rafael would tell me, was a mere 20 stories high. Skyscrapers meet barrios. Houses piled on top of houses, their washing hanging from the windows, roof tops collapsed into the house, litter everywhere.
A beautiful mess.
Organised Chaos.



As we drive around the streets graffiti is everywhere, but not the familiar graffiti of home, slander, tags, sometimes art. Here, everything is political. "Vote PSUV" and "Viva Chavez" is tagged across the streets. It is unfamiliar, this extreme patriotism, something I have never seen, I can only compare it to the Cronulla riots. But that was hardly patriotic, just...passionate.

We circled the confusing, chaotic streets searching for the apartment block where a temporary host family lives.

7.am

After circling the streets we pull up outside a small, red brick apartment building. Larger buildings surround us, so much that I can hardly see the extended city and hills. Rafael calls the host family, we woke them up. While the mother is on her way done, Rafael points out the large mountain behind us. "People have written songs and poems about that mountain" he says.

My host mother came down and opened the gate to let us in. "Buen Dia". We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Rafael, and she lead me into the elevator. It is a short ride to her apartment, protected by locked cage doors and barred windows. She led me into a large, stone room. Huge. Granite floors everywhere. Straight to sleep for me. I stayed a sleep until 3pm.



When I woke a Spaniard was on the couch watching TV, and two German exchange students in the kitchen, both spoke English, one guy, one girl. They were sitting with the host mother, she is from India and is married to a Portuguese man, and her daughter, Venezuelan born.
In the one house we had 1 Spaniard, 2 Venezuelans, 2 Germans, 2 Portuguese, and of course 1 Australian. Languages include English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Deutsche, Hindi, and more. Crazy.


We talked, and ate, they were all very kind to me. I talked a lot to the male German Exchange student, he told me about the city, his experiences here, the politics here, lots. But he had to leave that afternoon, to where I don't know, but he was only there temporarily. I would have liked to talk with him more. The father is not here often, he leaves before I wake up, and gets home around 9pm.

Anyway, I'm tired of writing, today I did not do much, but I tasted some new, strange, nice things!

Will keep you all updated.