arepas, fitcar, y el avila

Preparing arepas in Caracas

It is great to be back in Venezuela! I’m back “home” in the apartment of my Venezuelan family. It’s been a relaxed first week here… a lot of eating and some exploring of Caracas. Highlights include a visit to a huge tourism festival, Feria International Turismo de Caracas (FITCAR). Perfect timing for this preview of all there is to see in this incredibly geographically diverse country. We arrived too late to see most of the exhibition, but we caught an amazing performance of two-dozen dancers and an outstanding orchestra. The music was a mix of flamenco and Venezuelan music with the theme of the country’s history with a post-colonial perspective. Beautiful, fascinating, and very professional. The flamenco vocalist was especially inspirational, and I have never seen anyone play the harp with half the passion of their harpist (who in the finale, when he wasn’t playing, danced with his harp over his head!) The group just returned from a stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.


A view of Caracas from Parque Nacional El Avila

Yesterday my friend Clement took me to Parque Nacional El Avila, a massive national park that boarders the city. (Check out the park's excellent website. It is amazing how accessible such a beautiful park is to the city. A metro ride and a short walk brought us to the base of the mountain and the start of a system of over 200 km. of trails. The path we took was very popular with folks getting their afternoon exercise. The views of the city were spectacular.

Tomorrow we’re off to the beach at Morrocoy!