the road to El Pauji

First off, sorry for the lack of photos; i tried to upload some last week and after 1/2 hour of waiting I gave up. So you might have to wait until I´m out of Santa Elena and in a city with better internet for some pics... but there will be some I promise!!

This past weekend I went to a small village called El Pauji. It was quite the gong show!! So, 7 of us loaded up into a small 2-seater jeep with all of our hammocks and crap and food and beer and rum, etc. I had the good fortune to be sitting in the back, with 3 others on a pile of bags... with every bump in the road I was afraid I was going to fall out!!

I guess first I should say some things about driving in Venezuela... I have yet to see a single seat belt, stop sign (except at military checkpoints), or a working spedometer! intersections are basically a free for all, and pedestrians definately do not have any right of way!! there are no lines on the road, and people drive wherever they want; the right, the left, the middle!

So we drove in the back of this jeep for 3 hours each way, drinking much cerveza (starting at 10am!!) and had amazing views of tepuis, jungle, and small huts that people live in. the road was extremley dusty, with the typical red dirt found in this area. So by the time we got there everyone had a thick coating of red dirt!! my hair pretty much turned into dreadlocks in the space of 3 hours!! In El Pauji we went to a few different waterfalls to go swimming, which was amazing, the cold water felt so good! One of the waterfalls was great for jumping off of, too!!

We visited some friends who have an artist workshop (the whole town is full of hippy artists), and it turned out they were leaving so we all stayed in their house! Yesterday we hiked up a small tepui and had an amazing view (national geographic style) of a massive green carpeted mountainy jungle stretching into brazil... amazing!! apparently people paraglide off of it... hmm something to consider!

Other than that I´m still working away volunteering during the week. I work in the hospital laboratory, teach English in the public school, and I started a vegetable garden up at the volunteer house. (Yes, hopefully I won´t murder those plants like I do with the ones at my house in Van!!)

Well, chao... and I´d love to hear from you!

Kate

ps- i tried to send mail the other day, but let me just describe the post office, a shelled out building with a guy standing inside holding a duffle bag. so probably those postcards are currently being used as rulers in a school in guana or something. but if you want postcards later on, send me your address!

RABIES!!

okay... so the title of this blog may have shocked you and i suppose it should! sta elena is totally overrun with dogs... every dog you can imagine is here, and they´re constantly multiplying. every morning i´ve been running down and back up the road that the house is on, no incident. then this morning, on my way back, i was attacked by a pack of crazy dogs! well by pack i mean 3. but still. one of them gave me a pretty sore bite in the leg :( it hurts! but it´s not too bad. so i get back to the house, and even though it wasn´t bad i started crying when i was telling everyone about it and they probably all thought what is wrong with her?! i think it was just shock or something. then i look in my immunization booklet, and there´s no rabies vaccine listed... hmmm, great. we go to the hospital, and they don´t have a rabies vaccine. then there´s talk of me going to the veterinarian to get the shot! then they give me some injection, i still don´t know what it was, but jorge (who works with the volunteer foundation) told me it is just as good as getting the rabies shot. and that needle was a really big long one, so now my left leg and arm are both pretty much gimp for the day!

but other than that things have been going well! i still can´t speak much spanish, but i´ve been learning lots of words, and writting them all down (definately a visual learner)... yesterday was supposed to be an english lesson, so we show up at the school and it´s pretty chaotic and the kids all have a test that day... no lesson. this afternoon we´re supposedly teaching it, but we shall have to see! things are pretty chaotic and unorganized for sure! this morning i was spending some time with the kids in the hospital. well, mostly i think i was a source of amusement for them, i would try to say that my spanish is really bad, and i was reading these flash cards meant for 5 year olds! it´s new to me. i learned a phrase in spanish (pardon the spelling, for those of you in the know, i certianly am not!) esta manana, un perro mordedura mi pierno! which i think means i got bit this morning. great conversation starter!!

anyways, should get going, i want lunch from this buffet place where you pay by weight. last time it was the equivalent of $2 for a plateful!

hasta luego!
kate

hola!!

so, it´s been pretty interesting so far here in santa elena. i´m living with the other volunteers in a really neat house up in the mountains. everything is made of clay, wood, and straw. it´s all open air, pretty neat! i survived the 24 hour bus ride from caracas, miraculously only with one military stop where we all had to empty our bags for the soldiers (some volunteers got stopped 6 times!) it´s VERY different here, that´s for sure. i speak no spanish, but i´m taking some lessons now. i´m going to be volunteering in the hospital, working in the lab there, and also with disabled kids, and teaching some english. don´t have too much to write, but there is lots to say. i have been just trying to adjust, most of the time i feel like i´m having a dream or something! i haven´t taken any photos yet, as i´m going to be here for 2 months there´s no urgent rush. but soon i will write more details and also post some pictures! i have an address here if anyone feels like sending something (it´s a box in brasil because the post in venezuela takes years!!)
Kate Naus/Fundacion Aldeas de Paz
Post Restante
Av. Brazil, 275 Centro
Pacaraima, Roraima
CEP 69345 000
Brazil
okay, i will write soon, and keep those emails and comments coming, i love reading them!

caracas...

well, didn´t think i´d be writting anything this soon, but i have some time to kill before i catch my bus to santa elena. luckily there happened to be an internet cafe right near the hotel where i am staying. i haven´t done much exploring yet, but the main things i´m noticing is how humid it is (and it´s the coldest time of year in caracas) and how isolating it is to have no idea what anyone is saying or what is going on!! hopefully i will learn quickly! i have a new found respect for all of the people i have ever come across in canada who didn´t speak english and are trying to get around, etc. so my next 24 hours will be spent on a bus ride across the whole country to santa elena, where i´ll be volunteering. i think there will be some amazing scenery! guess i´d better get back to my hotel, not sure how long i can leave my stuff in the room.
ciao

hours and counting...

so it's monday night and i'm leaving on wednesday... about time to figure out how this blogger thing works i guess! lots of last minute things to do, and as usual i seem to have left them until the last minute. it's really crazy that i'm leaving so soon, i know that i am super close to having the culture shock of my life and all of my preconcieved ideas about south america blown totally out of the water. not to mention my preconcieved notions of myself, which i'm sure will also be challenged. but so exciting because i've been wanting this for soooo long. anyways, enough blabbing. next time i write i'm sure i'll have something exciting to say!
kate