Venezuela where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.

I am here. I have survived. I am unpacked, and working on the settle.

There is a lot that I want to say about Venezuela but it may take many pages and many posts. I will start here with: Venezuela is a beautiful country of beautiful people. I have met many great and extremely kind and humble venezuelans who have gone out of their way to make me feel more at home. On the other hand this place is basically the wild west. There are no rules here. Things are in flux, constantly. When you think something is concrete it changes. I know this sounds vague but it applies to every situation. Like oh, there's a stop light... it's red... does anyone stop? No. Oh wait there are exceptions to this? Yup. Are they arbitrary? Oh dear lord yes. And no turn signals, ever, that just is the same as putting up a sign that says "I am a foreigner."

Another example, go out to eat. Can we have x, y, and z? Waiter: We don't have z. Oh man well we'll just have X and Y. Waiter: We have z. Okaaaaaaaay we'll have z as well.

There are no concrete rules here, everything is just whatever you make of it. Is it illegal to drive drunk? Yes. Does it happen... almost all the time here? Yes, yes indubitably.

Part of this is due to one of Venezuela's most charming characteristics. This country is definitely a community, and they look out for their own. In the town I am in, Ciudad Ojeda, everyone knows everyone. Pull a u-turn on a major road? Don't worry, I'm friends with the police chief, we go back. Oh man, food shortages keep me from getting food I like. Don't worry I know the owner of a super market, he always holds some stuff for me.

It's just kind of chaos though. The weirdest thing is that this is all starting to grow on me. The flux of everything, the always changing landscape that is this society can be charming. When you look into this hectic lifestyle there are some amazing people and amazing things.

Since I haven't gotten my phone activated yet I really haven't taken many pictures but I will this week hopefully and post them up. Sorry for lack of pictures. I am hoping to do a post a week, every sunday, so that it doesn't take up too much time from adventuring and teaching. Pictures of turtles, home, and classroom next week.