Sun burnt in Tucacas
well, we are all lobster red from a day excursion on an island off the Venezuela coast. We are now in a little beachy, touristy town called Tucacas. The town name minus the s means "your poop." cute huh. we got a boat out to one of the largest keys in this part called Cayo Sombrero. We were told it would be about an hour boat ride and we piled in about eleven people on an 8 passenger motor boat. The boat shot out of the launch like a rocket and never slowed down until we pulled up on the outer key 20 minutes later. The boat went headlong into wakes that lifted the whole front section of the boat where Andy and I sat. Our conversation during the ride was about how important it was to sit straight and hold our stomachs in so our spine wouldnt snap, how interesting that Venezuela doesn't worry about safety or law suites as in the states and we wondered if we could find a chiropractor after the ride. Zarha of course was mad she didn't get to sit in front and Andy willingly gave her the front on the way back. we spent the whole day frying on the island, marveling at the amazing colors of the Caribbean ocean water and the amount of "busura" trash, along the coast. The garbage situation down here is very depressing. The environmental movement just has not happened here. The consciousness for trash depositing and collecting just doesn't exist. People here are so clean and worried about looks and smells and yet one can never get away from the crappy smell of waste!
that's our biggest negative trip down here thus far. we have been to the most beautiful beaches in the states, California, Florida and Maine. Not even in the 70s do I remember seeing that kind of garbage by water. It is very sad and makes us not want to spend another day at the beach here. Maybe other sections of Venezuela are better, however, Venezuelans raved about these beaches and islands being the nicest and no one has ever mentioned the garbage. Its really hard to get used to!
actually it down right pisses me off and makes me angry. Its things like this that where I cant accept "culture" as an excuse. Its our planet and that's just bullshit. so here is my shout out to all Venezuelans and Chavez "lets get an environmental Mission going and educate about the importance of ´reduce, reuse and recycle.´ lets set up waste baskets and teach people to use them and provide garbage collecting infrastructure" I will keep the message simple. OK, I know I'm dwelling on this but when you go to one of the most beautiful places in the world and see endless garbage, let me know how you feel.
I guess I cant rave about the pasada we are staying in either. The trickle of cold water from the shower and poorly flushing toilet as altered our mood about the 70,000 Bs we paid for it. OK in dollars that's only about $28.00 bucks a nite. but when your trying to live on a $55 dollar a day budget (for lodging, travel and food) that's a lot! however, good news about a potential "studio" type apt we found in Merida. It may be as low as $90 rent for the month. nice. prices are suppose to be cheaper outside of Caracas so far that has not been our experience but we have been in some interesting tourist places.
We spent 2 days at Las Trincharas the second hottest hot springs in the world. people really use it as a healing spa and we saw many old and disabled folks there. the hot pools and sauna and piped hot spring steam for facials was amazing. I had a mud massage with hot spring mud for $4. I layed on a tiled/concrete bed in the sun allowing the mud to harden for 30 minutes. Then I was hosed off by a women while I stood in a outside room with concrete walls and floor. It was strange but my skin felt excellent afterwards. I loved rubbing the mud on me but couldn't do the massage more than once.
we have been having fun riding packed buses as we travel the country. that's a picture. every time I'm on one of those buses the last scene of "m*a*s*h" comes haunting me. do you remember the scene where the bus is packed with regular poor folk and everyone has to be quiet and the woman has a sqwaking chicken? someone yells for her to shut the chicken up and she strangles it. the next scene is a dead baby because the chicken was not a chicken. honestly, I didn't remember it was from the show mash. Andy told me as I recounted that scene to him. OK, the buses are not that bad, but I get that image. hmmmm.
I guess deep down I still miss the control of my car, I really am a car addict. have not driven in over a month. its a good thing. I am consuming less resources down here. really. but I have found a smoothie type thing to replace my smoothie addiction its called a "fresa" its like a strawberry shake. My other addiction is on hold. yoga is sparse. once in merida I hope to find a great class again.
I think for christmas we will be near Corro. we had talked about taking a ferry to either Aruba or this other dutch island. not sure of the plan. day by day.
our Spanish classes don't start until January 8th so we have time. I am very eager to study Spanish. Some days people tell me I have good Spanish and want to know how I learned and ohter days they dont understand when I order a Fresa, the same damn thing I order every day. oh well.
Thanks to my parents we can pay for Spanish lessons while down here. we had not budgeted for that and its a bit costly. Thanks mom and dad! muchos gracias, mis padres preferidos.
love to all,
ps my thoughtful friend Mary bought us unlimited photo posting on Flikr. the site where we post our photos for this website. now once we settle I can post more than a few photos because we have unlimited space. isnt that awesome! Thanks Adam family!!
well, we are all lobster red from a day excursion on an island off the Venezuela coast. We are now in a little beachy, touristy town called Tucacas. The town name minus the s means "your poop." cute huh. we got a boat out to one of the largest keys in this part called Cayo Sombrero. We were told it would be about an hour boat ride and we piled in about eleven people on an 8 passenger motor boat. The boat shot out of the launch like a rocket and never slowed down until we pulled up on the outer key 20 minutes later. The boat went headlong into wakes that lifted the whole front section of the boat where Andy and I sat. Our conversation during the ride was about how important it was to sit straight and hold our stomachs in so our spine wouldnt snap, how interesting that Venezuela doesn't worry about safety or law suites as in the states and we wondered if we could find a chiropractor after the ride. Zarha of course was mad she didn't get to sit in front and Andy willingly gave her the front on the way back. we spent the whole day frying on the island, marveling at the amazing colors of the Caribbean ocean water and the amount of "busura" trash, along the coast. The garbage situation down here is very depressing. The environmental movement just has not happened here. The consciousness for trash depositing and collecting just doesn't exist. People here are so clean and worried about looks and smells and yet one can never get away from the crappy smell of waste!
that's our biggest negative trip down here thus far. we have been to the most beautiful beaches in the states, California, Florida and Maine. Not even in the 70s do I remember seeing that kind of garbage by water. It is very sad and makes us not want to spend another day at the beach here. Maybe other sections of Venezuela are better, however, Venezuelans raved about these beaches and islands being the nicest and no one has ever mentioned the garbage. Its really hard to get used to!
actually it down right pisses me off and makes me angry. Its things like this that where I cant accept "culture" as an excuse. Its our planet and that's just bullshit. so here is my shout out to all Venezuelans and Chavez "lets get an environmental Mission going and educate about the importance of ´reduce, reuse and recycle.´ lets set up waste baskets and teach people to use them and provide garbage collecting infrastructure" I will keep the message simple. OK, I know I'm dwelling on this but when you go to one of the most beautiful places in the world and see endless garbage, let me know how you feel.
I guess I cant rave about the pasada we are staying in either. The trickle of cold water from the shower and poorly flushing toilet as altered our mood about the 70,000 Bs we paid for it. OK in dollars that's only about $28.00 bucks a nite. but when your trying to live on a $55 dollar a day budget (for lodging, travel and food) that's a lot! however, good news about a potential "studio" type apt we found in Merida. It may be as low as $90 rent for the month. nice. prices are suppose to be cheaper outside of Caracas so far that has not been our experience but we have been in some interesting tourist places.
We spent 2 days at Las Trincharas the second hottest hot springs in the world. people really use it as a healing spa and we saw many old and disabled folks there. the hot pools and sauna and piped hot spring steam for facials was amazing. I had a mud massage with hot spring mud for $4. I layed on a tiled/concrete bed in the sun allowing the mud to harden for 30 minutes. Then I was hosed off by a women while I stood in a outside room with concrete walls and floor. It was strange but my skin felt excellent afterwards. I loved rubbing the mud on me but couldn't do the massage more than once.
we have been having fun riding packed buses as we travel the country. that's a picture. every time I'm on one of those buses the last scene of "m*a*s*h" comes haunting me. do you remember the scene where the bus is packed with regular poor folk and everyone has to be quiet and the woman has a sqwaking chicken? someone yells for her to shut the chicken up and she strangles it. the next scene is a dead baby because the chicken was not a chicken. honestly, I didn't remember it was from the show mash. Andy told me as I recounted that scene to him. OK, the buses are not that bad, but I get that image. hmmmm.
I guess deep down I still miss the control of my car, I really am a car addict. have not driven in over a month. its a good thing. I am consuming less resources down here. really. but I have found a smoothie type thing to replace my smoothie addiction its called a "fresa" its like a strawberry shake. My other addiction is on hold. yoga is sparse. once in merida I hope to find a great class again.
I think for christmas we will be near Corro. we had talked about taking a ferry to either Aruba or this other dutch island. not sure of the plan. day by day.
our Spanish classes don't start until January 8th so we have time. I am very eager to study Spanish. Some days people tell me I have good Spanish and want to know how I learned and ohter days they dont understand when I order a Fresa, the same damn thing I order every day. oh well.
Thanks to my parents we can pay for Spanish lessons while down here. we had not budgeted for that and its a bit costly. Thanks mom and dad! muchos gracias, mis padres preferidos.
love to all,
ps my thoughtful friend Mary bought us unlimited photo posting on Flikr. the site where we post our photos for this website. now once we settle I can post more than a few photos because we have unlimited space. isnt that awesome! Thanks Adam family!!
posted by DAZ at 4:39 PM
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