Us bored???

It seems to us that life in Venezuela is getting busier and busier, time is just running away and before we realize it another week or two have passed. Here is what’s been happening the last two weeks.

All the hard labor Sid and the other guys did to help Zeny build up her hot dog stand was for nothing. Her next door restaurant neighbor saw a threat in her and called the police telling them she had no permit. They came and sent the guys home. The next day Zeny bought a permit from Lecheria and the guys were back in business and all that was left to do was to finish the roof when the police came again telling them to stop. This time she found out that the permit she just bought was only good for Lecheria and since the beach she is squatting on is Government property she has no right to build. She also was told to have everything the guys built removed within three days. Zeny tried to get a permit but was refused. In the mean time the three days had passed and now she was told if it wasn’t removed within the next day she would be arrested. So at 3 PM all the guys returned and demolished all the hard work they had done. The really bad part is, she’s been there for 15 years and had the OK from Lecheria, the Government on the other hand had no idea that she was there and this could eventually cause her to loose her hot dog stand. I can’t tell you how disappointed the guys are.

Halloween seems to go around the world as it is now also celebrated in Europe and even here in Venezuela. Bahia Redonda Marina had a huge party, pretty much everybody was dressed up, the music was rolling and booze was flowing. We went there for a couple of hours to catch up with Chris but went back to our marina as the hotel had a Halloween party as well. This place was pretty empty and instead of fun music they had a life Jazz group playing and at 11 they announce the winners, just like that. Kind of boring, but we had fun chatting to all our boat neighbors and Manuela won first price for her skull face. She won a dinner buffet for two at the hotel.

Last Saturday Jim the unofficial Mayor of Maremares celebrated his 70 Birthday which was a blast. Jenny made Sloppy Joes and everybody brought a dish to share. Beer, wine and booze was provided and Jim even brought a huge bag full of Halloween stuff out and everybody had some sort of mask or hat on. Now days you don’t even need DJ’s anymore as the I POD took over, we had the best variety of music and danced half the night through.

On Friday Rosalva, wife of taxi driver Leo, gave us a cooking class in typical Venezuelan dishes. We learned to make Empanadas and Guasacaca, which is nothing else but Guacamole. The way she makes it is a bit different, she places two garlic clove in a blender, one onion, lots of parsley, one big avocado, 2 teaspoon of salt and about a quarter cub of oil and blends it. It’s a bit soupier than the guacamole we’re used too but it tastes creamier and is also served with grilled meats. We had so much fun listening and watching Rosalva while Mimosa was passed around. The recipes are fairly simple but for the ones who need to have the exact measurements they will not be able to cook it as she never gave us any, she just mixed and blended by feel. They tasted yummy but were a bit too greasy. In two weeks we’re learning to cook the traditional Venezuelan Christmas dinner, can’t wait.

Evita the kitten is doing really well; she survived her ordeal and does nothing but play. She’s pretty wild. Her parents are back and so we planned our trip to Merida. We’re leaving on Monday by bus. Dotty took me to the bus station earlier this week to buy our tickets but were told that we couldn’t get them until one or two days before departure. We also learned that they don’t sell round trip tickets we have to get them again one or two days before leaving, kind of odd. In order to buy a ticket you also have to have a passport. I would hate to think fighting for a bus ticket around Christmas to visit family.

Getting money here in Venezuela is a bit different than in any other country. Using credit cards and ATM machine here is a big no-no, which makes it tough on some countries. Luckily the black market here wants the US dollar and so it is easy for us to exchange our dollar in either cash or personal checks. Everybody changes it on the black market as the current bank rate is 2144 Bolivares for one US Dollar, while the black market rate is anywhere from 2700 to 3200, depending on the amount. Most of the boat businesses here accept checks. The only problem with that is, sometimes the checks don’t get cashed for a couple of months.

So on Monday we’re taking a sleeper bus up to Merida, the trip is 20 hours long and we heard it feels like sitting on your recliner chair in a freezer. Time to dig out our winter cloths, all three of them.