Hola from La Guaira/Caracas, Venezuela. Well, hmmm...kinda hard to sum up the last few days here. It was amazing to wake up saturday morning and see land, and not just land off in the distance, but right there! I don't know when i've ever been so excited...not that seeing ocean is bad, but a variety is nice. The weather is ridiculously hot here on the coast in La Guaira, but is somewhat cooler in Caracas, which is in the mountains. The city is unlike any i've ever seen before, it is absolutely huge and the housing is soo unbelievable. The houses are literally piled on top of each other and they cover the hills and mountains all around the city (check out pics). Saturday was spent in an area called Las Mercedes, which wasn't particularly amazing, but it was nice to be able to just walk around and observe life in Caracas, plus i picked up an amazing cd called "El Diablo Suelto" by John Williams, so check it out if you're into authentic acoustic Venezuelan music. I was able to use a little spanish yesterday, and was surprised at how much vocabulary I was able to recall at the last minute.
Today we took a trip to an orphanage in Caracas called Hogar Bambi. It was obviously one of the nicer orphanages, and although we didn't get a lot of background info or statistics or anything, it was really fun to be with the kids. They were friendly and playful for the most part, and absolutely loved us becuase we brought things to play with and draw on. Stickers were a particularly hot item. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a half hour or so with a boy named Marco who had Down's Syndrom (and possibly other disabilities), who had a wonderfully mild temperament and made a great lap companion, despite the fact that he sucked on my pants alot. I spent part of the afternoon walking around in La Guaira exploring some of their markets and sunday acitivities, but it didn't last long because it was so hot and we felt a bit uncomfortable in amongst the people without much Spanish to get by on.
So, that's the bulk of it so far. We have two more days here, after which i'm sure i'll have lots more to share. hope all's well, keep me posted.
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