School was on the cusp of the cliff, ready to jump into the river named Spring Break. Since the last vacation in February, I seemed to be working longer and harder and I really like working hard but it was a little much as I didn't have time to think of anything else. My mind was organized in multiple parallel circuits and if I wasn't thinking about one thing, I was thinking about another: lesson plans, curriculum, plan the workshop, finish editing the video, exercise, clean my house, fix my bike, eat, pack, vacation.
Fortunately, I didn't have to think too much about my vacation because Dan had planned everything out. It was a simple plan and I was going to be traveling with a great group of friends; they were friends that wanted to do a lot of activities and friends who were very flexible to change plans. The best part turned out to be that they are all jokers as well. The plan was to fly into Valencia and stay the night in Maracay. We would then go to Mérida where it is very mountainous and we would do a lot of outdoorsy activities for a couple of days. Finally, we would go to the Llanos area, which is very flat and has a lot of wildlife, and we would see what we could see. Jonathan, Nikki and I would be staying for 6 days and Dan, Erin and Liz would continue on for another 5 days to explore more.
Dan and I were the only ones who spoke Spanish fluently. Nikki, Erin and Jonathan could understand a lot and could get by and Liz knew how to order water, but Dan and I did most of the talking. None of us had been to Venezuela, but we have some teacher friends who are from there and all of them seemed preoccupied for our safety. However, while we were there, I didn't feel unsafe at all. Everyone we talked with seemed very nice and wanted to help out.
The flight there was incredibly quick. It literally took 30 minutes. The flight attendants barely had time to give us a complimentary drink it was so fast. When we disembarked the plane, I was surprised by the smallness of the airport. It was quaint and that's not how I usually picture international airports. We literally walked off the plane onto the airstrip and from the airstrip 15 yards to customs.
Getting through customs wasn't a problem and we didn't have to wait too long for our luggage. However, while we waited for our luggage, I saw three men take out a bottle of rum and start drinking it. The police didn't seem to care or they didn't notice haha.
The cost of renting a car and hiring someone to drive us around turned out to be the same amount and so we ended up hiring a driver, Bernardo. He was a probably 6'3" with glasses, probably in his mid-50s, dressed business casual with his shirt tucked in. He was very calculated as if he had served in the military. He was cautious and he also never rushed to do anything. He was on his on time. If you asked him a question, he would think about it and by the amount of time that passed, you would expect a profound answer with a lot of insight or perspective. I could see him formulating his thoughts with his mouth, almost whispering them to himself, masticating on his words like a horse chews on hay, always looking straight ahead. In the end, he would give you a simple yes or no. He had tired eyes, a half bellowed laugh and slept in the nude. We found that out the second night we were there when Jonathan and I shared a room with him. The rest of the group found it out the two following nights when we would come back from an activity and knock on the door to get in. He was asleep and answered the door in the nude. It became a joke of the trip.
We got out of the airport around 10pm and Bernardo drove us to Maracay, which was about 45 minutes north of Valencia. We checked into a really nice hotel that Ronald and Deyis had found for us and then walked around to find some food. The place we went into was like a higher class and larger 7/11. There was a small bakery, 2 or 3 stands for different types of food and a small grocery store. We ended up ordering pizza and the pizza had corn as a topping. Everyone loved it.
We slept well that night but it was a short sleep for we left at 6am for the long trek toward Mérida.
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