For once I feel like I've had lots of things to do here. Last weekend Dereek and I, and the other expat teachers all went to the beach for a day. We took a boat out to Puinare (one of the islands we go to) and just hung out, drank beer, and swam. After the beach the other teachers went back to the beach house and Dereek and I stayed at Paseo Colon and looked at some of the artisan vendors work. I bought a nice little painting of Canaima and its not decorating my living along with the much larger painting I bought last year of Juan Griego on Margarita Island.
This past Saturday (yesterday) was even more awesome. Dereek and I got last minute onto a bus that was going to Puerto La Cruz for a music festival. The bus cost 40 BsF round trip (1 dollar) and took us straight to the place (an hour or so away) and back. There was almost no one on the bus maybe 10-15 people in one of those huge comfy buses, so the trip was nice.
When we got there there were quite a bit of people already (it was about 2pm) There were vendors selling art and food, murals for us to paint on, and a huge stage that had bands constantly playing throughout the day and night. There were a total of 25 bands playing for the whole festival.
The first thing Dereek and I did was get some food and just sit down and take it all in. It was in a nice little park so there were trees to sit under, benches and lots of grassy area. The park was filled with all different types of people who were there for the festival. There were young people, older people, families, everyone. We had a good time people watching for a while. After a bit we decided we needed some beer, so we took a nice walk around the city to buy some and bring it back. It was a relaxing day where we just had some drinks and listened to some music.
We also got to do some art. There were big pieces of mural paper and paint that were left free for anyone who wanted to paint on. It was just art for the sake of art and I loved that. I got to have both art and music for a day. It was so nice to be somewhere that had a little bit of culture since Anaco is severely lacking in that area.
For the rest of the day/evening we just hung out there listening to music, eating food, drinking beer, talking to people, watching some parrots flying around and later some friends of Dereek's came and we got to hang out with them. As the day progressed more and more people came and by the time we left at like 8-830 there were hundreds of people there.
Getting back was a little annoying though. The bus is a PDVSA bus that these people had rented, and though we were supposed to leave at 9, around 8 we got a call saying PDVSA wanted their bus back and that we had to leave now. We then ended up waiting probably 45 minutes to leave anyway since the bus had the brilliant idea to park on a teeny tiny street that ended up filled with cars of concert goers and couldn't get around the corner because it was too big. They had to find the owner of the car and get them to move it. They got so lucky that it was someone who was in a church nearby, because if it was anyone at the concert they would never have found them.
When we got back to Anaco it was about 10:30 and down pouring. Dereek and I got dropped off and we had to sprint across the street to Barabicu where a friend (the girlfriend of the owner of the restaurant) was having a birthday party. We got in soaking wet and exhausted, but it was nice to see her for her birthday and I think she appreciated that we came even though we were in PLC and it was pouring out. We ended up getting home at around 12:30 last night.
view of the beach after hiking up to the top of the island.
Puinare was the most crowded I have seen it. Lots of people on the beach and in the water.
Morley, Dereek and Matt taking in the view.
Mural paper at the music festival
Anyone can paint anything. I liked that elephant.
Awesome tree. There were a couple good paintings.
Dereek and I aren't particularly awesome painters so we put our handprints.
Our handprints. =)
Listening to one of the bands.
Lots of people. I loved that the stage had palm trees around it too.
This little kid was adorable with blond curly hair and was rocking out on dads shoulders to some pretty intense rock music.
Note the little boy and his dad with their hands up.
Guacamayas! (macaws) this was the first time I had gotten to see them in the wild just flying around. They're always someones pet, but these two guys were just flying around over the park where the concert was.
Dereek and I enjoying some food. We ate wayyy too much while we were there.
Laura Guevarra. She was our favorite.
She kind of reminded me of a Spanish Florence and the Machine.
Lots of fun to watch. Overall it was a fantastic day and way different then what is usually going on around here. The guy who ran our bus said theres a similar event in Cumana in a month. This one will be overnight and we'll get some beach time. We're definitely considering it.
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