Hola again from Venezuela! We are leaving tonight at 11 pm. I had an amazing time and I feel like I experienced a lot. Yesterday I went on a tour of President Chavez’s development programs in the city and got a much better feel for how people here really live. Their situation encourages them to be much more involved in their communities and in their politics- speaking of which are fascinating, but I can’t quite articulate what I’ve learned because it’s still a bit beyond my comprehension. Today I got out of the city and went to a cloud forest, which is pretty much a rain forest, but it gets a lot of its moisture from the clouds that settle in rather than from actual rain. It is one of the most biologically diverse forests in the world (per sq meter). We saw howler monkeys and a sloth and these amazing trees called nino trees that are anything but small. (I promise to post pictures soon!) I loved having the chance to be away from the confinement and chaos of the city and to smell the forests here. It was truly beautiful.
Next stop is Salvador, Brazil in 4 or 5 days. I’ll probably post again there. Ciao, and stay in touch!
(oh yeah, and the food has been INCREDIBLE. I hope the rest of the ports can keep up because my standards have been set pretty high :)
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