Margarita Island cont.
Trip Start
Aug 30, 2005
1
8
15
Trip End
Dec 06, 2005
Maragarita Island, Venezuela
Friday, September 9, 2005
We had a lazy morning with a god breakfast. Our first stop today was to a biotical garden. Which I thought was really cool but a lot of other people didn't really appreciate it. They had thousands and thousands of plants as well as quite a few animals. They had one tree called a guayacan or something like that, which was the only type of tree to survive the Hiroshima bombing. It was amazing, they had plants from every climate in Venezuela, from dry desert to a lush rainforest. They showed us the cactus that tequila is made from, the aloevera plant, orchids, fruit trees as well a hedge maze.
It was hot. I mean hot, I had sweat running down my legs and my bangs were sticking to the side of my face. I don't think I have ever sweat that much in my life. Ew. But anyway, the hedge maze wasn't in the shade so that made it just a tad bit more difficult then it already was. It took forever for us all to get through, one of the guides whistled to guide us because we were taking to long.
After we got out, we all got to try raw sugarcane, which is delicious. There's also a drink they make with the sugar cane and then they add lemons and it's like our lemonade back home, but a million times better. They gave us the plain sugarcane drink at first and I admit it, I had two and it made me sick, it was just way too sweet.
For lunch they took us to a huge shaded tree with benches and lots of animals spread around it. They served us cachapas but they were not as good as the ones that I had in Caracas. But the animals are cool they had a monkey in a tree with a tiny leash on, but it would lunge and try to jump on people if they got too close. It grabbed one of the girl's sock-like camera case and then preceded to try and eat it. Let me tell ya we did not want to give it up. They also had this really cool reptile, amphibian, spider section. Yes I held a Ball Phython, but that's no big deal considering I love snakes. I also held a tarantula who actually jumped onto my hand. They also had these really cool blue/green snakes. There was also this pelican that had only one wing but he was a character, he followed people around until they gave him something to eat. They said that his place that we were at is also a place wehre people can bring wounded animals such as the pelican. They also have a large collection of snakes so they can figure out the best antidotes to their poisons. Curiouser and curiouser. There were also these hilarious birds that when they heard Jacqui laugh they copied her exactly. Everyone was busting up including Jacqui which just made the birds continue to mimic her. It was great.
After that we packed up and headed back to the hotel. I went to the beach with a few other girls, and we thouroughly enjoyed the soft sand and warm water. The only bad thing about the water was that there was seaweed floating around on the bottom, which really creeped me out because it felt like little creatures were touching me. It was amazing, almost every guy (mostly the older ones) wore speedos and all the women were wearing thong swimsuits. Culture shock. NW beaches do not look like this one, quite the opposite; all bundled up in sweatshirt, hat scarf, and gloves.
We all enjoyed a few drinks at the bar on the beach (while a million beach vendors tried to sell us stuff) and then headed back to the hotel for dinner. Afterwards we all hung out by the pool bar, and tried to get some card games going, but the attention span just wasn't there. Tonight is Aileen's birthday so a bunch of people are going out to a club/bar again. We had a little pre-party of about 20 SAS (loud SAS) kids working the bartenders to the bone with a crazy parrot that tried to attack anyone that came near guarding them. It was quite a sight.
After a few drinks, for some it was way more than a few, (which I don't really understand since we are going on a catamaran tomorrow) groups started dispersing towards the club. I arrived a little later to the club. The club: hot, sweaty, crazy dancing, music and shots. Oh my goodness. There were still girls taking shots at the bar.
So I danced for a while until I couldn't stand the heat and Jacqui and I went outside to the beach for a moonlit stroll along the shore. It was absouletely gorgeous and the stars were surreal. Well after we had enough of the beautiful scenery we headed back to the club and sat around a table outside with a few other girls and Venezeulan guys. We were only there for 5-10 minutes before we had to take one of the girls back because she was puking. Delicious. That was a long walk, we kept having to stop at palm trees. )c: but we finally made it.
Jacqui and I jumped into the pool to clean off all the sweat and called it a night.
It sucks for those who are going to have hangovers on the boat tomorrow. Glad it won't be me.
Comments
Oh, I remember the speedos
That's the funny thing about traveling abroad, speedos everywhere. I remember that about Germany as well. It's so unattractive, but I suppose that is my cultural bias. I also remember the sweaty night clubs. I miss those. Your mom forwarded me your email about Cape Town. I enjoyed hearing about your experience. I'll write more in an email later. Nathan is potty training now, and Henry is crawling. Our house now has the bottom floor framed in. Other than that, not much is new. Your mom says it is 'her dream' for us to be like sisters, so I guess we need to hang out more when you're home. I just figured you wouldn't want to hang out with a fuddy duddy like me with 2 kids. =) Well, talk to you later,
Angela