Esto es Cucuta…

July 28, 2009

This session has gone by so fast, I have no idea where it has gone.  I think about where I will be two weeks from today… sitting in the Caracas airport waiting for my flight to Miami.  It is just crazy.  I set out this summer with some goals and one of them being to go to Colombia, this past weekend that goal was accomplished.  I didn’t meet Juanes or any FARC members but still did have an amazing time.

We left for Colombia on Friday morning under the impression that would be in Colombia by three or four that afternoon but as the day progressed it be came clear that was not going to happen.  We first had to take a bus from Merida to El Vigia a town about an hour away to take us to our next spot.  Once we got to El Vigia there were no buses that we going directly to the place we needed to go to but still one was going to San Cristobol, which would get us close to the Colombian boarder.  We arrived in San Cristobol thinking we could hop on a bus and just go straight to Cucuta, Colombia (our final destination) but as a reoccurring theme through out this trip, that was not the case.  We probably looked ridiculous, 5 white girls with giant backpacks just wondering around a bus terminal.  We found a guy that would take us to San Antonio for us to get out exit stamp for Venezuela, and then take us to get our stamp for Colombia and then take us to the hotel we were going to stay at.  We were very lucky that did not back fire on us.

We stayed in this hotel named Hotel Arizona, probably one of the nicer hotels in Cucuta.  It was recommended to us by one of the teachers at VENUSA, it had a pool and two meals everyday. So we saved a lot of money on food because the entire time we were there we only had to pay for one meal.  We didn’t to the hotel until around five so we checked in, cleaned ourselves off and went to dinner.  After dinner we went on a search for an ATM so we could get some pesos and then went to the giant mall across the street.  The main reason people go to Cucuta is for the malls.  This one was almost comparable to MOA it had a movie theater, mini amusement park, and three solid floors of stores.  Friday nite we just looked around and decided to see Harry Potter.  I know pretty exciting nite in Colombia.  The movie was in Spanish which one of the workers at the movie theater reminded us several times but still I was able to either remember the book/semi understand what they were saying.  The movie got out really late and we were all exhausted so we just went back to our hotel and went to sleep.

Saturday was spent sitting by the pool, shopping and buying present to bring back home. We walked around Cucuta for a little bit but we really never got to see the city besides the part we stayed in. Since we had to provide our own dinner we went to an authentic Colombian restaurant were we had these huge plates of food, half of it I had no idea what is was but it was still pretty good. 

Sunday was full of traveling and adventure.  In all it took over eight hour to get back to Merida.  On the way back again we put our full trust in taxies and buses to get us home safely.  Minus the minor car accident, getting the bus searched for drugs by a national guard and a dog and not being able to pay for a bus ride back to Merida it was a decent right home.  I am just thankful that is the last bus trip I will have to take here.

Looking back it amazes me how we all even got home, after Sunday.  It even amazes me more that we put our trust in these taxi and bus drivers almost every trip and nothing has happened to us, unlike the stories you here all the time.

This past week of school wasn’t very exciting expect for the fact that Chavez has been on a huge tirade for the past couple weeks.  This week it was all about Colombia and how they are no better than the United States and how there should be a boycott on buying anything Colombian. Sorry Hugo, but I failed you…