Venezuela's my beach.

Ha! See what I did there?

I've been in Venezuela for two weeks now, or dos semanas, in español. I'm loving it here, and I'm looking forward to school on Monday. Other people don't start school until October, but I'd rather start school earlier, so I'm glad.

On Monday I went with some other AFS students and volunteers to Playa El Yaque, a beach that is apparently really good for wind and kite surfing. It was fun, I used my new camera in the water for the first time, but I didn't get any good pictures. I prefer Playa Parguito over El Yaque, but I've only been to each once, so that could change. We stayed at the beach for the day and then we all went back to the holiday apartment of one of the volunteers. We hung out by the pool, and then we had dinner. It was a fun day.

Part of Coche

And yesterday we went to the small Coche Island for the day. We took a ferry from Margarita Island to Coche. The ferry stopped somewhere on the way, and we were able to jump off the boat into the water and swim around, it was awesome. When we got there we lazed around on the beach, went for a swim, and did normal beach stuff. We went on a walk with a guide to this natural mud spring(?) place and put mud all over ourselves. Apparently the mud is good for your skin. The island is a paradise. I was told that the water is usually very clear, but because of a storm it was more cloudy and unclear than usual. I'll have to go back sometime.

Pepo

Ollie

Here in Venezuela there are a lot of stray dogs. They're not dangerous or anything, as far as I know. There was this dog on Coche that was hanging around the beach. His name is Pepo. He's a cute little scruffy dog, not as cute as Ollie though, who I miss, maybe the most. Don't tell my mum.

So, I have 3 more days, or tres mas días, left until I begin school. I'm excited, and I'll update my blog after I start school.

(Correction : I actually don't start school until the 3rd of October)

Camp and Porlamar

Wednesday 07/09/11

Part 1 – Camp

I arrived in Caracas on Friday at about 3ish, I think, and met some Venezuelan AFS people. I had to wait around for other exchange students from Europe for a few hours, and then we all had to wait for a bus to take us to the camp. We left the airport at 9ish and drove for a few hours to get to the camp. The next day was a bunch of team building stuff and information about Venezuela, nothing interesting. I didn’t really enjoy the camp; it was difficult for me at first because I’m the only AFS student from New Zealand, the only natural English speaker even. So to begin with, talking with other people was difficult because people were sticking to their country groups and speaking their native languages. We stayed at the camp until Sunday morning, and then we went back to the airport to fly to our respective chapters, mine being Margarita.

Part 2 – Porlamar!

So I arrived in Porlamar on Sunday afternoon to step off the plane to a blast of heat and lots of sun. I met my host mum, brother and sister after getting my suitcase, and we drove home. It’s really really nice here. Margarita Island is beautiful, and my family live in a nice apartment building with a pool.

 I went to the mall with my family on Monday, which was amazing. The mall is incredible. Super busy, but way better than any mall in New Zealand, I’ll take some photos next time I go. I haven’t taken any photos yet, but I’ll definitely start taking some.

 I went to the beach today, Playa Parguito. It’s a really nice beach and has a bunch of stuff. There are restaurants right by the beach, people who can bring you drinks, loads of people walking around trying to sell you stuff, it’s a great experience. The beach was really busy though, not that it matters that much, it was still great.

Tomorrow my host sister and host cousins leave to go to Caracas, which I'm a little sad about. My host sister is leaving for Canada on Sunday from Caracas for her exchange. It’s going to be pretty lonely around the apartment during the day; it'll just be me and my host brother, but my host brother is cool as well.

I played card games with my host sister and cousins on Monday, which was hilarious and super fun. Them trying to explain in Spanish how to play the games was great.

School starts on the 19^th, so I have over another week of lazing around the apartment. I don’t know what I’ll do until then, so my next post will probably be about my first days of school.

Buenos Aires

As I write this I sit in an apartment that belongs to some AFS volunteers and former participants in Buenos Aires. My flight from Auckland to Buenos Aires was long, but luckily I managed to get some sleep, and was sitting next to a cool Australian dude who was going on a trip across South America.

My plane landed in Buenos Aires at about 4pm local time, and I went through customs to meet an AFS volunteer who escorted me to the apartment that I am in now. I've been able to have some food and a shower, so that's pretty good.

I've had mixed feelings about my experience so far, jumping between nervousness, excitement, and a little bit of sadness, but I feel pretty good right now.

My flight to Caracas leaves at about 7am tomorrow, I'll have to get up really early, so I should get some sleep. My next post will probably be from Porlamar. Goodbye until then.