The Last Night...

The last day didn't go exactly as planned, it would've been some trouble for Ronald and Jonathan to come to take us out, so instead Karina came..
While the adults chatted and caught up, I played Wii Play and Wii Sports with Ricardo and Santiago, I won a few times (lol)
When we left (Karina, her bf, Iris, me and my mum) we went to HyperJumbo with the only plan being to have churros, but since a couple of us were hungry, we went for cachapas first, it had cheese (of course)....
We went for churros and I still remained undefeated as the churro king (el rey del churro)....I only managed to have 4 though (which was still more than everyone else)..




-------------------------------Skipping down to that night---------------------------



We went on to Manuel's apartment to check out a CD I made and to chat with Joselyn. While there, we were introduced to Rebecca and...her friend whose name I forget....
When we went down, Joselyn said that Manuel and the other guy were going to buy cigarettes and asked if we wanted to come..
I was blown over with a respect I never had for my mum when she agreed...
We got into the car, Rebecca giving me eyes all the time, and drove to the shop nearby and instead of going back home, we went onto another apartment/condo complex..
We were introduced to some more people (whose names I'm sure I've forgotten already) and we were asked if we wanted something to drink... I didn't want to get a hangover, so I declined...
More people came and we were introduced to them each time (I'm still sure I forgot most of their names)..
Everyone quickly separated into two groups.....those who spoke spanish.....and those who spoke and understood english....or tried to, at least.....
Shame Rebecca wasn't on the english side.......and that I wasn't about to cross over either....
Alexssandra and her near-mute english-speaking bf were interested in learning english and coming to Trinidad, so she kept most of the conversation going....all the while, Rebecca kept making eyes at me...
I mostly said nothing unless there was something my mum needed help with to translate but still had a good time.
Alexssandra made comparisons between me and her bf, in the sense that both of us were silent most of the time...
I took some pictures and talked with Joselyn a bit.....then midnight struck and we had to go...my mum wanted us to get some rest for the flight....
I say," Rest ?! Who needs it ?! "...

Time difference (Venezuela)

I forgot to mention that Venezuela is half-hour behind Trinidad...so adjust the times of the posts...

Venezuela schedule revisited (weekend)

Friday = Maracay (the city we're currently in)

Saturday = Edit : Downtown Tumerrow (sp?) (Tumerrow : The suburbs of Maracay, which is the capital of Aragua, which is a state in Venezuela...riight.) and then we're going out with some more friends; Ronald, Jonathan and Karina.

Sunday = Getting ready to go back to "reality"....*sigh* damn <_<

Arepas with Joselyn

It's exactly as the title says, before Joselyn left last night, she told us to meet her after work tomorrow....we were out at the mall (William, my mum and I)...so we missed her....
When we came back though, we had to make a call..so on our way back (in Venezuela, it's some expensive to call from network to network, so some people make a business to rent phones so you can make calls at a cheaper rate (don't ask how that works, it just does) ) we saw Carlos (Joselyn's brother) on a motorcycle (lots of them in Venezuela)..
We said hey and asked him where his sister was, he told us to follow him and he took us to his condo, and after they put up their dogs (chihuahuas, little killers lol)... we were allowed in...
Joselyn was surprised and happy to see us..and kept asking us to excuse the clutter in the house since her mum wasn't there to help her clean up after her brother and bf (damn..)...
She immediately asked us if we tasted arepas in Venezuela already (which we've been eating everyday since we arrived).... and then asked if we wanted to tasted arepas that she made, although we just had arepas less than an hour ago, we couldn't decline her (or at least..I couldn't)...we said that we'd have one each since we just ate and she got right to it..
Her brother started making something like a chocolate milkshake and her bf went out for a smoke...
She also made scrambled eggs (can't remember what they call it in spanish) to eat with the arepas.
While we waited for the arepas to finish, she showed us some pictures of her parents and of herself and her brother when they were younger (no shame, apparently..)...she also showed us her dad's military cap and his red beret.
Carlos talked to us (asking Joselyn to translate regularly) about sports..football, baseball, volleyball, tennisball (wait...what ?)..and we told them about cricket (since that's the only sport that they don't have)....it was sorta hard to explain though.....
The arepas were ready at this point and we sat down to eat..
When we were done, we started talking (again)...this time about Joselyn visiting Trinidad to learn english, but it too hot and Joselyn suggested we go outside...
We didn't get to where they were taking us because my mum said that we needed to turn in early for tomorrow....it's 12:44am now....early ? Riiiight.

I've Got A Feeling...

....that tonight's gonna be a good night.

And it was. That line is from one of my new favourite songs, "I've Got A Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas.

Tonight was sorta more exciting compared to most other nights where I'd just chill (maybe play some WiiSports) and wait until I can start blogging about what went on that day...

Today started pretty much the same....being woken up early and told that everyone else was ready and waiting on me *sigh*......and then it started.....

We drove down to Caracas (the capital of Venezuela, did I mention that already ?)....where we parked and walked to the Subway to go to Chaucao....that brings up the point that Caracas has 7 million people...it's summer....and it's about midday.....think of the fun we will have....

It wasn't close to rush-hour but the streets and subway station had a good bit of people hustling and bustling from place to place...kind of reminds me of New York...when I was there, at least...

We got on the subway (which was packed) and got off at the second (/third?) stop in Chaucao....all of us got out, led by William giving out directions.

We continued on to another mall (passing through a smaller one along the way which had some kind of inflated children's slide in the middle) called Sambil, looking at the different stores....like we usually do, expect that we didn't split up this time...so we ended up stopped at a lot more clothing stores and the like....

Passing a cinema in the mall, we stopped again and William said to me,"If you want to see girls, you need to go to the cinema"...seeing a group of about 7 girls behind him...and several more further behind...I saw that there was no way he could be wrong...

Iris screwed her face and said,"They're all young, like 12...13"....walking away, I told Iris that they looked closer to my age...so while the others continued walking, she took me back to them, convinced that she was right.....she picked one and conversed with her quickly (while some of the others snuck looks in my direction) and then a shocked expression came from the girl she was talking to...she said,"Thanks" ("Gracias") and we left them to wonder what just went on....

Iris was taking to long so I asked her what the girl said....with a somewhat defeated expression, she said that the girl was 15....

We continued on to Wendy's for lunch and then to the Hard Rock cafe to take some pictures...

It was getting late and Ricardo and Santiago (William and Iris' children) were getting tired so we decided that we'd leave while there was still sunlight...

We headed home and talked about that I should become a rapper....maybe I'd be 51 cents...or 49 cents...doesn't matter....

After we got home, I decided to go for a walk...I walked around the whole complex in a short time...and was back...it was too short...

I decided that I'd go for another walk; my mum decided to come with me..on the way, we saw a couple of girls and a dude who looked about my age or a bit younger hanging out near a small shelter, so we decided we'd go talk to them....cause some destruction while we're still here...
We started talking to them, introducing ourselves and the like, and soon found out that the girls spoke a bit of english, making it a hell of a lot easier for us......
It wasn't long before more people came (all guys)....and the numbers just went up from 3 to 6.....to 7....to 12....to about 15 of us just talking (we were talking to Maria and Joselyn mainly)...and everytime someone came, we were introduced to them, not sure if I can remember all the names though...Anival, Carlos, Manuel, Leo, Sergio, Andrea (another girl)...and alot more... (lol)
Some of the guys left, along with Maria *tear* (jk), but not before we swapped e-mails and numbers with Maria and Joselyn (noice).
We continued talking with Joselyn....found out that Leo came back from the hospital recently from gun-shot wounds.....and that Andrea was really 14 (she looked about 20-something..wth ?)....and then not too long after, they were back...with (more) cigerettes, coke (coca-cola) and alcho..
Joselyn had to go because she had to work in the morning, so we decided that we'd head home too (I don't mind partying...but I still don't speak spanish).....

Colonia Tovar

After being woken up early (about 9)...I immediately got ready to go to Colonia Tovar (not Colonial)....
We had a little wait though because we were waiting for some repair-guy who came to fix the AC..but forgot some tool..so he had to go back. Failure.
Some more time passed before we got a call saying that he wasn't coming...the hell ?
We left, with some tension in the air for some other reason I couldn't pick up..I hoped it would clear soon.
We had an even longer drive than to go to Metropolis or even to go to William and Iris' home...over the highway, through a neighbourhood and then starting to go up the mountains...this is where the long drive came in...
After a while, the air became frosty and it was sorta cold even though the sun was up (it was about 11am/12pm)...
I started taking some pictures of the mountains, and soon after, we came up to a look-out point (where you can also convienently(sp?) buy souvenirs (sp?))...we stopped in, looked over to the strawberry plantations, took some pictures, and then we were off again...
We continued going up the mountain, (I thought it would have no end) and finally...we started going down...it wasn't long before we came across some buildings...and then....a sign that said, " Bienvenidos a Colonia Tovar " (Welcome to Colonia Tovar)....the buildings were.....well, I'm no architech, but I think they looked german-ish....
We parked and started looking and walking about (did I mention that Colonia Tovar is on a mountain ? So, it's not like the other *flat* German towns ?).....Most of the things being sold were either souvenirs of little German dolls, keychains, magnets, noise-makers or food (caramel sticks, meringues, cookies...)...I expected that this is the closest I'd be to some real germans (there aren't many in Trinidad)...but everyone spoke spanish (of course, how else are they gonna sell stuff ?)..so I wasn't able to tell if the people selling were German...plus...I don't speak spanish so I couldn't ask them....and it didn't occur to me to ask Iris or William about that....oh well... (hopefully my readers wouldn't laugh too much at my stupidity/single-mindedness)
We stopped near a restaurant and checked out some food on sale (german sausage and the like)....I even got a picture with the "German" barmaid there....
Things went pretty much normal.....looked around, took pictures, bought some souvenirs, ate, took some more pictures with "German" barmaids....the usual *sarcasm*....

The places I visited and placed I'm going to visit:
Last Sunday = Airport
Monday = Hiper Jumbo
Tuesday = Market, Supermarket (SuperLider), Metropolis
Wednesday = Colonia Tovar
Thursday = Caracas, the subways, one of the malls there.
Friday = (I can't remember)
Saturday = Metropolis again.
Sunday = Getting ready to go back to "reality"

A Master Plan (Pt 3)

Right..I forgot to mention the conspiracy with the arepas, we were driving to the supermarket and William pointed out a silo for the corn which they use to make arepas, he then spontaneously said that we should kidnap the person at the top of that company, and that'll lead the the government crumbling, leaving us to take charge over Venezuela...I agreed, thinking it was a good idea. He mentioned that at the loss of Venezuela, that Chavez will cry...I was definately in for making a grown man cry..especially a government leader.
I then added that since Venezuela is big on cheese...we can take a war to France, and completely wipe out their forces, William thought that it was a good plan.
My destiny to take out the heads of government from Venezuela...France...Trinidad...and then the world is to happen soon.....look out.....


(Btw : I am not actually part of any conspiracy or any anti-arepa movement..just to clear that up)

A Master Plan (Pt 2)

The golfeados....were interesting. I was confused for the most part. They were like cinnamon rolls (minus the rolls) and white cheese to the top, and something that looked, felt and tasted like apple to the bottom (it was something with sugar cane..I can't remember...). I took a cautious bite...it was soft from the cheese...somewhat firm in the middle (like a pastry) and soft and sticky from the sugar cane/apple to the bottom....
The taste was even more confusing....it was sweet for the most part and had a salty taste from the cheese.
My mum liked it more than me, so after I took a few more bites, I passed it to her (all cool and smooth-like).
After, I was ready for something to get rid of the confusion in my mouth, so I took some Bs F (Bolivares Fuertes), and headed for the counter...I stopped before I reached the counter and realized that I would have to speak spanish to ask for what I wanted.
At that point, William and Iris were encouraging me to get it myself, so I managed to make it through without embarassing myself too much.
When I came back sucessful, they applauded me and I felt somewhat proud of myself that I was able to use a bit of survival skills.
We decided to split up, Iris and my mum left (of course) to check out clothes and jewelry (of course)...and me and William left to check out everything else.
I think William likes messing with me because when we passed some ladies (in their mid-twenties, most being attractive for the most part) spraying samples of perfume and cologne, he stopped by one of them spraying cologne and told her something too soft for me to hear, she offered to give me a sample, so I thought," Why not ? " .....after she did, he told me to tell her what I think... ?! It was a little awkward just standing there, looking at each other, not knowing what to say until he finally told me how to say, " I like the scent. " (or something along those lines anyway)...she said something in english, probably wasn't important because I can't remember....
We went on checking out some of the new cameras, dvds, churros.....normal stuff (lol), all the while William was telling me that since no one knows me in Venezuela and that I don't speak spanish, that I can afford to make a few "mistakes"...
When we were on the 3rd floor (I think)....I saw a music store I wanted to check out, so I directed William towards it.
I saw some bands I recognized, My Chemical Romace, Paramore and Metallica..surprisingly, they had a lot in stock...
A sales clerk (in her early twenties, with long brown hair and really nice eyes) started hovering over me, I started to move to the other aisle but William stopped her and said something in spanish that was too quick and too soft for me to understand.
She turned her attention to me and explain that the aisle I was just on mainly had bands by english-speaking people (Paramore, etc.)....and the other had a combination of english and spanish (...or something)...she asked me which one I was more interested in....I turned to William and he told me to give her an answer.....I thought about some of the "mistakes" he outlined and bravely said,"Es usted muy bonita" (translated : "You're very beautiful")....she started gushing, blushing and giggling while another clerk seemed to want to know what was going on, she managed to say,"Gracias." (translated : "Thank you/Thanks") between the giggles....then....she still wanted an answer to her original question, I wasn't ready for the other "mistake" William told me about..so I just said that I was more interested in the english bands (through a manner of pointing and using words I was somewhat familiar with).....she handed me some CDs by AC/DC, another by MCR and one by a band I haven't heard of....
I asked her if there was any Limp Bizkit and she seemed happy to show me (as if she was interested in it as well)....I didn't recognize any of the songs (I only know 3 songs tbh) so I handed it back to her, she put her arm around me to direct me to some more CDs..I could tell that William was smiling at that....
I felt ready to move on, not wanting to spoil the "relationship" I had with the sales clerk, plus although I knew some of the bands, I didn't know alot of the songs...and money was kind of short...so I tried to tell her, " Thanks, that's all for now. " but she didn't understand, so she led me to William and asked me to tell him what I wanted....
Things got a little awkward when he thought I was talking about a band by that name ("Thanks, That's All For Now" ? Might not be a bad band...)....after he understood, he told me to say something that meant," Thanks, I'll be back.".....I repeated and after a few bad tries, she understood....she giggled again softly and we left...as I looked back, I saw her approaching the other sales clerk (epic gossip)....
The rest of the time at the mall was pretty much quiet.... we met up with Iris and my mum, had a hotdog at "Ball And Dog" (which menu comprises of "Baby Dog", "Big Baby", "Big Dog", "Red Dog", "Big Red", "Turkey Dog ", "Tremendog" and a few others), then we looked around at a few more stores and finally we left at about 7:30pm....
Can't wait for Colonia Tovar tomorrow....maybe I'll make a few more "mistakes" along the way....

A Master Plan

Today, along with Iris and William (and my mum), I found out that my destiny is to help (or lead) in a conspiracy to take over the arepa mills in Venezuela which will lead to the total control of South America.
I'll start at the beginning though... today, we went to the market, and I found out that the markets here (or at least the one I went to) are much different to those in Trinidad (or most in the Caribbean, for that matter), inside of boiling in the hot sun while being crowded by tens of thousands of people, it was indoor, with fans and even a trolley (a basket with a length of rope tied onto it)....some things were different (most everything's different but some things exceed my expectations) like for instance, if you wanted to buy corn, you'd have to peel it yourself, snap off the ends and throw it in your basket/trolley...I had to do this for "experience".
We had to make a quick stop home, so we dropped off Iris and my mum to go wandering about the town (most likely checking out clothes...as usual)

After we met up (near to a clothing stores, no less), we drove to the supermarket and picked up some stuff...then we went back home to drop off everything and to have lunch....I fell asleep so I missed it...
I got up some time after and found out that we were going out again (it was about 2pm)....on our way to the mall (we were originally going to "Colonia Tovar" but it was too late), we stopped to get some catchupa mix and some sugar cane juice (plus 2 drops of lime)...it was surprisingly good.

A little while after, we were at the "Seniat"(I think that's what it's called. Edit : It's called Metropolis) mall in Valencia, which is also the biggest mall in Venezuela, 4 floors which put Trincity Mall to shame.
We entered through the ground floor and the first thing I noticed was a car in the smack middle of the mall, probably to be won through some contest, we didn't stop to check....
We continued walking and William stopped us at a food outlet called "Don Golfeado" where you can get some sort of...sweet...salty....dessert....appropriately called "Golfeado", he ordered one for me and my mum to try, while we waited, I saw one of the best ways to waste money..some kind of coin vortex where you drop your coins into it and it makes some spins around a large plastic....funnel-like....blue.....thing (it's something you have to see..and waste money in).... Iris dropped in a coin and it made what seemed to be a normal circle, going around and around...until it finally reached the centre..
I had some Trinidadian coins so I decided to test it with two five-cent pieces, one for me and one for my mum...
I dropped mine in and it made a few wide spins before going right into the centre...the people nearby were NOT impressed. Fail.
My mum dropped hers and it also made some wide spins but it missed the centre completely and kept spinning in wide circles, over and over again, and when it finally reached the centre, it spun in really fast circles in the centre and after about a minute, it was finally finished, the people looked and smiled at her Win.
A few moments after...the golfeados were ready...

P.S. : Iced Tea

Btw did I mention that there's all the iced tea I can drink ? Freakin' awesome !

Different Sights And Sounds

Tonight, along with Iris and William (the friends of me and my mum's) , we went to one of the nearby malls, "HiperJumbo" (their malls close at around 10 or 11pm....nice), and it was..just like a mall, but there were a lot of spanish-speaking people..of course. Lots of stores I've never seen before, obviously....lots of teenagers looking just like they do in a spanish teenage sitcom series..posers, emos,nerds,the whole social line-up....
When we went, Iris and William had to make a phone call (they have these kinda phone booth things in the mall) ..since I wasn't waiting with them my mum proceeded in dragging me along with her to every feminine shop in sight (as with any mall, there were a few), while she looked around and gaped, I stood outside and took in the sights.
There were alot of things to see, but I mostly looked at all the different people, their attitudes toward each other and blah....blah...blah...blah.
I spotted a churro outlet and we stopped by to get some ("a churro sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, are fried-dough pastry-based snacks, sometimes made from potato dough, that originated in Spain" - Wikipedia), I expected that you'd get just one when you ordered (I didn't order so..well...)...so I was suprised when we got 14 chocolate and something like caramel covered churros.... I downed 6 and everyone else split the rest (lol)....
The rest of the time at the mall was very quiet..or as quiet as it gets, walking around, looking at the different stores, talking, laughing and making jokes...
We're supposed to be going to another mall (or market) tomorrow....I can't wait...(no sarcasm intended)

Venezuela !

Yup, I'm in Venezuela right now (which is 7 miles South-West from Trinidad), just chilling with some friends of me and my mum's...
I haven't seen spanish since early last year. This should be fun.
How it started :
My mum announced to me Saturday night that we'd be going to Venezuela on Sunday evening...and bam, we're here. Of course, seeing that neither of us speak Spanish that well, it was a lot more than just "bam"...getting out of the airport was the hardest part....hardly anyone spoke english and my mum refused to ask for help from any of the other english-speaking tourists...lucky for us, they knew what to do and quickly went on and left us to fend for ourselves *sarcasm*....
After we struggled our way through customs, we met the cousin of our friends' at the "Oh La La !" restuarant and we were off, my arms were feeling as if they were about the come right off from the build-up of lactic acid (PE/Biology/Acidology term)...
We had a long drive to make...about 2 hours worth. It was about 8pm when we started and I had to fight to stay up (I went to sleep at about 1am that morning and had to get up early for church at about 6:30am..fun)...I managed to make it without nodding off for longer than 3 minutes... during which I had an interesting dream (the details aren't important though....heh ^_^;; )..... and well....airport..........bam......no english speaking people......"Oh La La!"......long drive.....
After the long drive, we arrived at our friends' house...and the first thing that happened ? Arepas ! We had them with grated white cheese and another with a special mixture including white cheese, ketchup, mayo and "diablito" (which is a special kind of gelatin/jam)...it was really interesting, I think I'll stick to yellow cheese though.
Well, it's only Monday, I'll be back home next Sunday (30th), so I plan to make the most of the time I have, exploring Venezuela,the culture and the nightlife..heh.

A continuation to "My Boring Vacation"

Well then...not a lot has happened since the last time I wrote, I'm still ignoring my stories...I'm still being bored everyday....I got Midnight Club : LA...does that count as something new ? Probably not....
I thought this vacation would be the worst ever until....