Sooo.... I am finally here! What a relief :)
I will start from the beginning.....
The travels overall went very smoothly, everything was on time and no luggage was lost! We flew four hours from Miami to Caracas, one hour from Caracas to El Vigia, and a two hour bus ride from El Vigia to Merida... the buses truly are FREEZING!
When we arrived to VENUSA (the name of our school) a woman was standing with a sign that had our names on it.... at first it was very awkward and we were very nervous! In the taxi we found out that she was actually our host mom's sister because our parents had to go out of town on an emergency until saturday! However, our host "aunt", if you will, is 26 and very nice and fun! and we have heard very good things about our parents too. When we arrived the power was out and we had to carry our heavy bags up 3 flights of stairs... OY! But once the power turned back on we had time to straighten our room and get situated. As soon as we were done we PASSED out as we were running on hardly any sleep! We each have a twin bed, share a closet, have our own bathroom together, a TV, wireless internet, and overall all of the basic necessities! It is a little smaller than I expected but I cannot complain. And we have purified water and pretty yummy meals! :)
Today, Tuesday, we had to be at school at 9 am for orientation. We learned a little about how things work and signed up for classes. The school is basically one building with 3 floors. There is a pool table, wireless, lockers, a cafeteria, and my favorite part: HAMMOCKS! For lunch we got a 2 hour break and sat outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather and had empanadas, yummy! Unfortunately we had to take a spanish placement exam which was a little harder than I expected but oh well! I will improve over time :) Then they took us on a tour of the fun part of the city. It is very crowded, lots of shops, lots of traffic, and lots of spanish. They also took us to an ice cream parlor that is known for their number of flavors.... AROUND 800! I had coffee and sangria and tried someone else's BEER flavored ice cream-- SO WEIRD! Then we returned to VENUSA to end the evening.... unfortunately there was a fire and riots in the street so we had to wait much longer until we could safely get home. Don't worry Mom! It was just the motorcyclists that are trying to protest against Chavez's new rule enforcing that they wear orange vests which are very expensive! How crazy! But they keep us very safe at VENUSA. We finally safely got home in a taxi, had dinner and now are here! :)
Tomorrow= 4 hour hike in the mountains and I cannot wait! Then I think we are going to venture out tomorrow night for the first time. By then I should have an activated Venezuelan phone which will make things much easier.
Overall, things are going GREAT! I have met amazing people and am in love with the weather. I am looking forward to taking many trips to the beach, going on adventure tours, and improving my spanish! I already feel 100x stronger after 2 days! So it only will go up from here!
MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU ALL!
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