Esteban's Venezuelan Adventure

I went to the city of Merida three weeks ago. Merida is a beautiful mountain town located at about 1,500 meters of elevation at the Northeastern limit of the Andes cordillera. It is cold at night and moderate during the day year round. The city is surrounded by green, cloud-enshrouded mountains, some of which rise so high that I had to incline my head to see the tops. On the day I arrived, my host Adam was out hiking, so I called the director of the Centro Venezolano de Merida (CEVAM), a lady named Michelle, and she invited me on a tour of the city. Michelle has been living in Merida for 30 years and knows everyone in the community, most especially artists and musicians. The photo below was taken in the house of the gentleman to the right with the guitar. His name is Mario and he has turned the ground floor of his home into a gallery for his incredible collection of toys. Michelle is sitting on the left, singing along with Mario. Mario knows the history of each of the thousands of pieces in the museum, and he gave us a fascinating tour in the early afternoon. Later on, we returned to drink bottles of red wine and eat sausage, bread, and a traditional holiday food called hallacas. One of Mario's friends was a professional guitar player, so I enjoyed an incredible musical exhibition, including an hour-long sing along of Beatles classics. Singing in a toy museum was #7 on my list of things to do in Venezuela, so I was releived when I finally got to cross that one off.
Before going to Mario's toy museum, Michelle took her friend and me to an elegant Posada on the outskirts of Merida to eat lunch and walk through a garden. We ate an opulent, and very expensive meal that featured several courses including the dish below. It was an artistic potato salad topped with two flavors of caviar. There was also a dish of razor thin strips of octopus in a shallot sauce, mango gazpacho, and pumpkin soup among other delicious aperetifs. Michelle really knows how to live the good life.
After lunch at the Posada, we went to see various craftspeople at work. These women carve saints out of blocks of wood. They move their hands rapidly, in what looks like a series of careless, rough motions, but within moments, heads, faces, and hands emerge from a block that could have served as fuel a few minutes before. Outside of one of the artisan shops, I met a guy who invented a new transmission system for motorbikes which utilizes a revolutionary metal alloy, or something like that. Beside a traditional artisan, an amateur engineer dreams up solutions to 21st century problems.










Here is a photo that I took during my hike in the Paramo, or high altitude zone, with my buddy Adam and his roommates. I tried to post this photo in as large as format as possible so that you could discern the details of the vegetation. The plants in the bottom far left of the photo are called Frailejones and as one moves up to higher and higher altitudes, these plants begin to predominate, eventually becoming the sole visible megaflora. At the center of this picture is a pristine, freezing cold mountain stream out of which some other hikers refilled their water bottles.
This photo was taken at the annual CEVAZ barbecue, which they call a 'hamburguesada.' Hamburguesa means hamburger. The barbecue was held at a farm which had a small zoo that featured exotic birds, horses, pigs, goats, and a lonely monkey kept on a leash in a small cage. There was also a pool and a million fun activities. I was playing dominos on the same team as the guy to the far left in the photo, Charles. I was horrible. I also played ping pong and soccer. I was always the worst participant in every activity and did not win a single game of any sort. Nonetheless, I drank a lot of free beer.










Here is a picture of one of the buses, or "busetas," that I board to get to work each day from my new apartment. The bus line is called Ruta 6 or Uni 6 because it also goes to the University of Zulia where I took the medical semiotics course. A few weeks ago, I got on a terribly crowded buseta. All of the seats were double-occupied except for one. In the seat sat a tiny, fat, grey-haired man with a ukelele or some sort of small 4-string guitar. When he turned towards me, I saw that his eyes lacked normal pigmentation and that he was blind. He began to pick out a tune on the 4-string and opened his mouth to sing. Out came a surprisingly delicate and rich voice. On the hot, over-crowded bus, people were smiling as they listened to the lively music.
Here is a picture of my new studio apartment. This is my huge, doorless closet that occupies an entire wall. I pay a woman in the building to do my laundry. She usually hangs it on lines in the yard, but it was raining, so my clothes were drying indoors. On the right is my powerful air conditioner. I paid the owner two months of rent up front in exchange for the purchase and installation. Before this, I had no air conditioner, then a broken air conditioner, then a marginally functional air conditioner. I pray in thanksgiving each night as, shivering, I pull the blanket up to my neck.
Here is my new television set flanked by my friend Mariela and her husband Carlos. Mariela is a teacher at CEVAZ, and she and Carlos are born-again, evangelical christians. A minister from Colorado was coming to give a speech to their congregation, and Mariela was serving as the live interpreter. Mariela speaks English very well, but needed help from a native speaker to understand some of the preacher's words. She came to my apartment with a video of the speech the minister would deliver. I helped them decode for about 3 hours. Afterwards, we ate sushi at a mall.

I am hoping to get internet within the next 2 weeks, so then the posts will start to come again with more frequency. I miss you all, and can't wait to see you around New Years.