Stop #29

Trip Start Aug 11, 2010

Trip End May 20, 2011

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Flag of Venezuela Barquisimeto, Northwest Venezuela, Venezuela
Friday, October 15, 2010

Our skype this morning was with Mr. Akin who is currently in Venezuela. He has been there all week working with seminary students. The weather today in Barquisimeto was quite hot...in the 80s, and it was slightly cloudy. It looked absolutely beautiful there! We were able to see the seminary students in the background as he was skyping with us. There was a translator who was translating our skype conversation to those students as well. It was pretty fascinating to hear such rapid Spanish being spoken and to listen to the words "futbol americano" being used to describe our football game here in the US.

Just like yesterday, the time difference between here and Barquisimeto was not as we had expected. They were only 30 minutes behind us instead of the full "hour" time spans we have generally seen in our other skyping countries.

Mr

Pushing the truck up a street in Barquisimeto

. Akin shared a little about his trip to the seminary school's location. The flight from Atlanta to Venezuela took between 3-4 hours, but that was just the start of his journey. From the airport, they took a truck for a journey of about 6-7 more hours! That might not have been all that bad, except for the fact that their truck broke down 3 different times and they had to get out and push it up a hill or two. The Venezuelans have been very warm and friendly during Mr. Akin's trip, and he has received more than a few hugs:) Even though they have at least one McDonald's in the country, there was a point in the drive that they saw an unusual food. While driving by a kiosk along the road, Mr. Akin saw goats that were skinned and hanging, ready to be purchased and cooked. (With my picky eating habits, I am not sure that would be very appetizing to me!) One of the favorite foods in Venezuela sounds a little more palatable to me: arepas. These are made from corn flour and sound almost like calzones. It is a dough that is stuffed with chicken and cheese or various other ingredients and then baked or fried. Yum!!!

Thank you, Mr. Akin, for sharing your Venezuelan experience with us!

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