venezuela in a nutshell...

So, I have left Venezuela after 2 months. Ended up spending New Years in Caracas, because all the buses leaving the city were full... so I spent about 10 days there in total. New Years was pretty much the closest I´ve experienced to total chaos, it sounded like the apocalypse or something, so many explosions! But I was with some awesome friends, and we had a great night out in the square, lots of dancing and fireworks.

Afterwards I headed to Merida, where I did a bit of trekking (in one picture you can see me at Pico Bolivar, Venezuela´s highest mtn). The Andes are incredibly beautiful, and the people were a lot more friendly than in other places in Venezuela. I happened to meet the Venezuelan cross country biking team in this small village I stayed in, the guy in the middle is the South American Champion, and also competed in the last Tour de France. Pretty random, meeting professional athletes in the street and chatting over a cerveza!!

I also spent a few days staying with the family of a friend i met at the beach, which was great, I think I learned more about Venezuelan culture in those few days that in the last month!!! Family life is very important, and it was great fun hanging out with the whole family, dancing, eating, drinking the local specialty of anise liquor mixed with orange juice (yummm!!) plus fried arepas (this flat bread that all Venezuelans are obsessed with) with 2cm think slices of cheese on them!! Luckily my stomach has been behaving pretty well! I was also paraded around to meet the relatives, "la gringa!!"

Now I´m in Bogota, with my friend Monica who arrived from Calgary 2 days ago. Despite the initial reaction everyone has when they hear the word "Colombia" so far I quite like it! Seems safer, cleaner, and friendlier than Venezuela, actually. Bogota is a beautiful city, lots of European flair, and lots of other backpacker types to hang out with. Haven´t really taken good pics of the city yet, but will post some soon!