Cabaña en las montañas.

Cabin in the mountains.

That is where 7 of my friends and I headed last Saturday for an overnight stay in “la culata” or the valley of the chilly Andes. It is about an hour away from our homes here in Mérida, a perfect weekend getaway.

I found a bench and a good book…the only thing missing was my coffee (I DID ask at the front desk, it just wasn’t exactly a luxury hotel…)

Blue Skies.

Hotel Princesa (the Princess Hotel) that owns the cabins.

Our neighboring cabin.

Last weekend’s cabin adventure was beautiful and relaxing, but now that I’m on my semester break (as of today) I’m getting excited for a 5 day trip to the beach on the beautiful Caribbean! We leave tonight for Choroní, a town on the coast of Venezuela, and have an overnight busride that takes something like 16 hours. The buses here are notoriously cold, so I’m planning to pack my northface and wool socks so hopefully I can get some sleep. WIsh me luck!

The five day trip probably means soaking up a lot of sun, reading by the beach, eating fresh seafood, and maybe taking a boat ride or two to the neighboring islands…but it also may mean that there won’t be another blog post for a while 🙂 However, I assure you all that I’ll be documenting my adventures diligently with my camera and my journal, so I’ll have something good to post when I get home!

See you in 5 days, world!

Wild.

Venezuela’s wild rainstorms make for some wildly beautiful flowers. Take a look.

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Montañas.

Aguas Termales

Some photos from my relaxing weekend at the hotsprings!

Don’t be fooled by chilly appearance of running river water, steaming hot-spring water trickled down the mountain rock on all sides creating pools of hot water at the river’s edges. They were like hot tubs right in the sand.

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Early morning.

I still get chills when I wake up to this in the morning.

And speaking of mornings, I’ll be rising with the sun tomorrow to escape to the mountain hot springs for the weekend!

http://www.termaleseljaguey.com/

Cascada India Carú

A little peek.

Today I’m going to tell you in a little bit more detail about my life here in Venezuela.

When I wake up in the morning, I shower, brush my teeth with purified water that’s been boiled for at least 15 minutes, and wake up my roommate, Jenni if she’s still sleeping. Then I choose one of the four t-shirts that I brought with me to wear with my favorite jeans. I slip on my black flats, pack my backpack, and let my hair air dry while I eat breakfast. When Jenni and I walk into the kitchen, Benilde, our 29 year old host sister, will already be there with two pots and two pans on the stove, all boiling or steaming or simmering with something different inside. She’ll greet us with “¡buenos dias!” and we’ll greet her back and sit down on our stools on opposite sides of the kitchen island. Benilde will set down two mugs of café con leche in front of us (a rich blend of milk, coffee, and sugar), and then put down our plates on matching orange placemats. Breakfast usually consists of arepas (a traditional Venezuelan pancake made of ground corn dough) which are sliced open when they are still warm and stuffed with ham and cheese or eggs.

When we are finished eating, we grab our backpacks and head out the door by 7:40 to make it to our 8:30 class on time. We walk along this path…

next to this lake…

to get to on this red trolley-bus.

And this is what I see outside the trolley window on my 15 minute ride to school.

I see the same colorful fences and houses and powder blue mountains on the ride home. And then I know I’m at the right stop when I see the sign on the corner that says “Museo de Ciencia y Tecnología”.

This is the museum that I live by. And this is what it looks like from across the lake.

On my way home I walk up a big hill, and this dog follows me.

I pass by the house with the crazy plant (which I always stop to look at), and the little store where I buy yogurt and apples, and I have no idea how much anything costs.

And then I walk three more blocks along the windy road until I see this gate.

Behind the gate is my house…

and this beautiful garden…

and a very interesting tree with very interesting flowers.

When I walk through the front door I pass through the livingroom…

and then flop down onto my bed.

Heaven.

My view every morning of la Sebana (my neighborhood) when I step outside the front door to walk to the trolley bus on my way to school.

Andes Excursion

Yesterday my group took a trip through the Andes Mountains. Our goal was to find snow…and we did! When we woke up at 7:00 in the morning it was already almost 80 degrees outside and sunny. I hardly believed our group leader when she told me to bring my North Face, one of my warmest fleece jackets, but after riding on the bus for several hours I started to shiver.

We stopped on the way up the mountains at two places. First, to see this view…

and second, to take a closer look at this lonely mountainside stone church.

After that I didn’t think it could get any more beautiful…

until we got higher up in the mountains.

We finally reached a high enough elevation that we could see snow and sleet (thank you mom for the rain jacket!), and I could see my breath, so we stopped for lunch and a hot chocolate at this little mountain restaurant.

I was starving at this point and was definitely not disappointed with my meal: traditional Venezuelan soup with potatoes, mild white cheese, and cilantro

and chicken in mushroom sauce with seasoned potatoes and “arroz con vino tinto”

After eating, we continued on to our destination and finally reached the snowy peaks of the Andes!

There are really no words to describe what I saw, but what I will never forget the way I felt – thrilled, overwhelmed, a little dizzy from the elevation, and very very cold.

The Andes Mountains are now at the top of my list of most beautiful places in the world.

Snowballs.

Mountain climbers.

Monster flowers.

Winter lake.

Foggy.

Rainbow hat.

Rock sculpture.

All in all, it was an excessive amount of beauty to absorb in one day. I think I still feel the adrenaline.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”        – St. Augustine.

What I’m thinking right now: nothing tops traveling and seeing things you NEVER expected to witness with your own eyes.

Rooftops.

Montañas