La Llegada

When I arrived in Miami, I spoke to the cab driver in English and it soon became clear that he did not speak a word of it.  This was the first time I was forced to speak Spanish, the first time I really needed to accommodate another’s language, and it was very hesitant. After the plane touched down in Caracas, however, we were surrounded. We first needed to speak with the immigration and customs agents, and after a four hour wait to be checked in to our connecting flight with ConViasa Airlines, we were ordering food and drinks, asking for wifi passwords etc. Even after just a few conversations, the words started flowing more naturally, quickly, and confidently. By no means were we able to hide our American-ness, as demonstrated by the stares received upon walking through the terminal. While enjoying a beer at an airport bar, we must have made it obvious that we were American students celebrating our first South American cervezas, as an old Venezuelan gentleman bought us a round and refused to let us return the favor. A note about Venezuelan beer: there are just a few kinds --Polar Ice, Zulia, and Solera Azul-- which all taste pretty much the same (similar to a Miller Lite), come in 8 oz. bottles, and are served ice cold. Indeed, while we were munching on some pizza later (we had been advised to stick with the pizza given past students’ reactions to the airport food), a boy around ten approached us and exclaimed, “You’re from the United States, right? Welcome to Venezuela!” We also ran into a couple of UST students and another group of Minnesotans around our age and exchanged pleasantries. The rest of the evening was spent waiting around in the airport, flying from Caracas to El Vigia, and then taking a bus to Mérida, which careened down a curvy mountain road at about 40 miles per hour. The group had been pretty lethargic all day since we were running on very little sleep (in my case none at all since I spent the last night bumming around the Miami airport), and had spent the day waiting in lines, sitting on planes, picking up luggage, and camping out on the airport floor. However, once we looked out the window and noticed the dark, looming figures of the Andes foothills, the energy started to build. Two hours later, we arrived at Venusa greeted by a group of eager host families. My roommates Mitchell and Andrew and I soon found Cointa, our host mother, who received us with a flurry of excited Spanish and introduced us to her friend who lives in the same apartment and would be housing other participants in the program. We arrived at her flat on the top floor of the building, known as the Residencia Azteca, and were briefly shown our rooms and showering arrangements as it was getting fairly late and Cointa needed to get to bed. As I was taking a quick shower, I glanced out the window and saw the city of Mérida laid out in front of me, a sea of lights scattered across the side of a mountain. It was breathtaking, even at night, and ignited an excitement within me to wake up early and see the city in the full light of day. There is an energetic sense of anticipation running through the group, everyone wondering what the next few months hold for us, or even the next day or two. My roommate Mitchell and I have made an agreement to only speak Spanish while at home (Cointa only speaks Spanish to us), which I think is somewhat ambitious, but definitely within our capacity. Even after just one day, my mind is flooded with Spanish words. We have been occasionally forgetting, but the other one will usually remember and set us back on the right track. Right now I am going to sleep to the pleasant sounds of grillos (little black insects that make an almost birdlike noise), dogs barking, and the occasional honk of a horn.

The above was somewhat of a stream of consciousness vomiting of thoughts from the previous 24 hours which I wrote last night in bed and posted this morning, since our apartment does not have wifi (thankfully). I apologize if there are any hyphen, colon, parentheses, or comma purists out there in the audience. The above is my set up at the homestay, delightfully simple in my opinion.