After the "Gripe"
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2011
1
7
Trip End
May 27, 2011
Mérida, Mérida, Venezuela
Sunday, April 3, 2011
First, it seems that the Swine Flu or "Gripe" pandamic has subsided here: a few people are still wearing protective masks and the like, but generally things are returning back to normal. The last two weeks have been strange, as a decree was announced to help curb the spread of swine flu by closing all the evening establishments in the city (but not shops, businesses and general mixing of the population during the day). The result was the all the bars, cinemas (including the student film night), the cultural centre (including my planned first Salsa class) and more were all closed for two weeks. The gave rise to a set of interesting practices, including bars opening at random times for a few hours and later being closed by the police, to some somewhat timely power cuts at around 8pm several evenings in a row (could just have been a coincidence of course), to bars serving drinks in mugs and plastic cups....however the overall effect was that for all intents and purposes the nightlife of the city was closed, anbd despite hanging out in friend´s houses or driving around in a car for a diversion, by this week it was starting a grate a bit.
However, that´s all over, places are open, the constant rain has finally given way to sun, and so things are looking up!
Anyway, to be brief, highlights/notable features of the past two weeks include:
- Getting my hair cut short(ish) for the first time since high school (partly thanks to the guiding advice of Maike in the peluquería).
- Hanging out with Venezuelan friends old and new, including Claret, Anghy (studeis political science in the uni), and Arturo (studies history in the uni) and Jesus (studies cooking).
- Visiting some more hot springs with Arturo and taking an open air shower in the Andean mountain air.
- The leaving drinks of Matt and Emma from Australia (Emma is an Australian about to start an anthropological study in the Venezuelan jungle for her PhD).
Other than that I´ve been generally exploring the city more, improving my Spanish, and finally beginning to follow the news and politics here more, however I¨ll save my thoughts and analysis for a time when I can write something properly. Oh, and thinking about my future plans of course, which are mabye best saved for a Skype/facebook conversation...
Anyway, I¨ll leave you with (as promised Joe) a few photo´s of Matt and Emma¨s leaving drinks and a mugshot of the new hair!
Cheers,
Ewan
