Chichirivichi

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy with school and other such things. I come home a week from today!

Two weekends ago we all went to the beach - Chichirivichi. We went to Isla del Sol, y Sombrero. It was beautiful. The water felt like bath-water it was so warm. I swam out to a reef of brain coral. I did get a little sunburned, but I'm better now.

This last weekend I stayed in Merida. We went shopping, ate sushi, and relaxed. I'm planning on doing something similar this next weekend ((unless I end up at the hotsprings)).

Hope everything is going well back at home!

love,

Abii

Los Llanos

This last weekend I went to Los Llanos, which is in the country here - in the plains. It was really pretty and they had so many stars at night. We slept in hammocks.

We went pirana hunting. Matt was the only one to catch one, besides the guides. When you catch one you have to bash it over the head and kill it before removing it from the hook. If you don't, it will try to eat you. We got to eat the pirana for dinner. It tastes a lot like walleye, but walleye is better.

We also went on a safari on a boat that looked straight out of National Geographic. We saw blind dolphins and turtle that eat pirana.

Later, we got to hold an anaconda that they had found.

Also, camp had a pet parrot, and two pet anteaters. One of the anteaters was 8 days old and the other was 2 months old.

Finally, we went horseback riding. The horses had to be commanded in Spanish, which was fun.

Overall, it was a very interesting weekend. The only really bad part is that I now have 3 mosquito bites on my butt ((the mosquitos were terrible there)). I can live with that, though, as long as I don't come down with malaria or dengue.

love,

Abii

canyoneering picture

Yeah, I'm that awesome.

canyoneering and rafting

This last Friday I went cayoneering down a river in the rainforest, and rafting the following day. I repelled down a 30 meter waterfall (roughly 90 ft), and a 15 meter one (45 feet). I also jumped off a 10 meter waterfall (30 ft).

The next day we went white water rafting, with rapids up to level 5. Within the first 20 minutes a girl broke her wrist. Completely. One of the girls on the trip was trained in first responder wilderness whatever, so she splinted it and a few of the girls left with the guides for a 2 mile walk to wait for a jeep for 1.5 hours. Then they went to the hospital.

5 of us girls stayed at the river, with two guides who didn't speak English and no first aid left. We then found out that the 7 of us were to complete the rest of the 4 hour trip. HAH. I threw a fit. I eventually got back on the raft though, and we finished the trip with little to no trouble.

My goodness. What a weekend. So glad to be alive.

love,

Abii

para-gliding

I went paragliding over the Andes. It was awesome. That is all.

Andes Mountains

We went to Sierra Nevada parque today. It was awesome. It was about 45 degrees and misting, but we were dressed for the weather. They warned us the mountains would be cold. We stopped at a rest stop that had monkeys and giant slides, went and had lunch, and hiked around a lake in the mountains. It was beautiful.

The picture is of me standing where the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates meet. That means I was in South America on one foot and the Caribbean on the other.

love,

Abii

escuela

Well I had my first day of class! I now have a ton of homework, but hey, at least I'm finishing my Spanish credits so quickly. I'm trying to work on it right now, but school is too funn. We have Spanish music playing loudly over the speakers, Venezuelans playing pool, and a barbeque cooking that smells delicious! I have to get going on it, though. We all plan on going out tonight.

We went out last night and it was so cool. We had a wonderful time. :)

love,

Abii