My first week in Venezuela

Venezuela (so far)...

We arrived at the Caracas airport early Wednesday morning (17th). This was my first time flying internationally, and over an ocean! I slept through most of the flight, but it was pretty cool to see the coast line and the waves of the ocean as we decended into Caracas. Most of Manny´s family was at the airport to greet us and we went from the airport to eat breakfast at an outdoor restaurant near the ocean. My favorite part of breakfast was the drink. I can´t remember what it was called, and Manny´s not around for me to ask him. From what I understand, it is made from sugar cane, honey, and lemon. It was delicious! After breakfast, we went to Manny´s sister´s apartment in Caracas. Her apartment is close to the baseball field where Manny´s favorite team, the Caracas Leones, play. (Just this past Monday, his favorite player´s number was retired on that field...Andres Gallarraga) After spending a little bit of time at Manny´s sister (Yanitza)´s house, we headed to Manny´s mom´s apartment. Her apartment is still in Caracas, but isn´t really considered Caracas because it´s not in downtown. We spent Wednesday night and Thursday at Manny´s mom´s house, and I had a good time catching up on sleep that I´ve missed during the last semester, and getting spoiled by Manny´s mom.

On Friday, we headed to Valencia, which is about 2 hours away from Caracas. This is where most of Manny´s dad´s side of the family lives. On Friday night we had hot dogs (perros calientes) for dinner. But these were not any ordinary hot dogs! We ate the hot dogs on really delicious rolls, and on top, we had shredded cabbage, crushed potato chips, salsa with bell peppers, and a sauce that I think was a mixture of Mayo, Ketchup, and Mustard (kind of like the Fry Sauce you´d find in Utah, but with a twist). Then on Saturday, we drove a little bit farther to go to the beach. When we got to the beach, we actually took a small boat out to an island with an even better beach. The sand was so soft, and the water was so clear! We could see the fishes as they swam by! I got a little bit of a tan there, but didn´t burn...luckily! When we got back from the beach, dinner was a big barbeque. They cooked steak, chicken, pork, sausage, and topped it all off with Guasacaca sauce which is SOOOOOOO good! I got the recipe so I can make it at home. It´s basically a cilantro sauce. On Sunday, we drove about 45 minutes to one of Manny´s cousin´s house and we hung out there with all of Manny´s family for the afternoon, and it was SO hot! I was sweating in the shade! I definitely wouldn´t survive in that area. For dinner on Sunday night, we had hamburgers, "Venezuela style." (That´s what I called it anyway...) The hamburgers had lettuce, tomato, "pappas" (crushed potato chips, basically), bacon, egg, some kind of BBQ type sauce, and then we added Guasacaca sauce to it as well. Oh my goodness...I don´t think I´ve ever tasted a hamburger so good! While we were eating, I asked Manny why we don´t have this recipe in the U.S.!

Monday we just relaxed in Valencia, I watched "Nights In Rodanthe" which was adapted from a book by Nicholas Sparks, which I had just finished reading. This movie was not as good as the others that have been adapted from Nicholas Sparks books, and they changed the story a lot for the movie. I didn´t like the changes they made...the story was better in the book (as it usually is).

Yesterday, Tuesday, we drove back to Manny´s mom´s house in Caracas. Last night, we went to a mall here in Caracas which was really busy with people doing last minute Christmas shopping! We were going to go to the biggest mall in Caracas, Sambil, but decided to go to a different mall instead. This mall is smaller than Sambil, but it was still HUGE! I have never seen a mall so big. It was at least 4 floors (from what I could tell...we didn´t walk through the whole mall). Then we ate dinner at a nice restaurant in Caracas.

Today we are probably going to be heading to Manny´s sister (Yanita)´s house that is by the beach, and is about 45 minutes from Caracas in a different direction than Valencia. Manny isn´t too excited to pack up our things and drive somewhere else...but I am hoping that we do decide to go to the house by the beach. I could be swimming in the ocean on Christmas :)

So in this first week in Venezuela (which has felt more like 2 weeks), I have met Manny´s mom and dad, Manny´s sisters, Yanitza and Yenny, and their husbands, Yanitza´s two daughters, Shofia and Shiloh (who are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!), Manny´s grandma, his brother, Edwin, some of his aunts and uncles, and several of his cousins. One of his cousins has a little boy about 2 years old named Angel Leonardo (pronounced An-hel) who was a ball of energy and so much fun. We taught him "Gimme 5" and he´d give us 5 and say "Fie" (that was as close as he could come to five), and "Let´s go!" Each morning he would come into the room where we were staying (at Manny´s cousin´s house) and be say "Bonnie, Bonnie" and he´d give me a hug and a kiss. If possible, Yanitza´s daughters are even cuter though. We´ve already told Yanitza that she is going to have to watch Shofia very closely when they take us to the airport to go home, because I might try to take her with us! She is very excited about Christmas, and she asked for una bicicleta (a bicycle) from el niño de Jesus. (I guess they don´t ask Santa for gifts here, they ask el niño de Jesus-the baby Jesus.)

It has been hard for me to wrap my mind around it being Christmas time when I´m going to the beach and wearing shorts and flip-flops, and I do miss hearing all the traditional Christmas songs from the U.S., but I am having a great time. I miss my doggies a ton...if it weren´t for them, I don´t know if I would go home because I´m having such a great time here. I will write more about the trip and my experiences here later. Hope you´re all enjoying the snow back in the U.S.! :)