![[Venezuelan Countryside]](../images/comesoon.jpg)
![[Heidi Burgdorff]](../images/heidi.jpg)
SUBJECT: Adventures in Venezuela
AUTHOR: Heidi Burgdorff, Age 15, lives with her parents, 2 sisters, and cousins in the village of Kaikan, Guyana, near the Venezuelan border.
DATE: March 18, 1997
Dear Friends,
Right now I am on a beach in Venezuela. It is really nice here! Let me tell you about our trip so far. On Sunday we were told that there would be a helicopter ride from Kaikan to Las Claritas (not very far across the border into Venezuela). We quickly packed our bags and went over to wait. After waiting an hour or two the helicopter finally arrived. Nervously we climbed on the chopper. It was very crowded and noisy. The ride sort of seemed like an airplane. After about 15 minutes we saw Las Claritas. About one minute before landing, my grandma B's door came partially open.
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Well, we all climbed into a car and were taken to the bus terminal. Let me tell you about the car: Springs were sticking out of the seats, oldies music was playing on blown out speakers, our luggage in the trunk was keeping the trunk open, some luggage was placed (not tied) on the car, we were squished, the driver was kinda drunk, he was speeding, the speedometer was broken, etc. Wow! At the bus terminal everyone but me and Grandpa B. had to go to the bathroom. They were led to a gutter where they had to pee! Gag! While we were waiting for the bus, there were 2 drunk men intently "preaching" in Spanish. I also noticed that a lot of people were dressed stylish. It looked weird. We got a cold soda and frozen juice bars. They were delicious!
Finally the bus was ready to depart. It was pretty nice. There was a T.V. (it didn't work), radio, and comfortable seats. The radio was playing Spanish songs. One was never-ending with the only words being, "Si, si, si, oh si." It was long! We ate lunch on the bus. It consisted of granola bars, chocolate-covered raisons, graham crackers, and cookies. Nutritious, huh! The scenery outside the window changed a lot. Las Claritas was a dumpy town. As we went on it was jungly with several small villages. Later it turned to rolling grassy hills and flat land with non-jungly trees. I saw several roadside graves with crosses or small monuments. That's typical of Latin-American countries. In the evening the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere at a little restaurant. It was supposed to be a 10-minute stop, but it ended up being 32 minutes. The only thing we bought there was a bag of squishy cheese. It was interesting!
When we found a hotel in the town of Upata, after 4 1/2 hours of traveling by bus, it was really quite nice. There were even elevators in the building!!. Our room had 4 beds (all single), a T.V. (with 3 channels!), and an air conditioner which they had on high. We then took a taxi out to a restaurant to eat. We ordered pizza and orange sodas. Yummy! When we went back to the hotel room, it was freezing cold. We pushed both sets of beds together and used our 2 sleeping bags. It still was cold, but we survived. We went to bed at the late hour of 10:00! At 6:15 the next morning we woke up, took showers, and watched T.V. Guess what song came on. (The station was a music station.) It was, "Carry Your Candle." Cool! When that was done (about 7:45), we walked to a restaurant. We had a nice breakfast of cheese empanadas (dough with a cheese filling), french fries, cold orange juice (delicious! freshly squeezed), and fruit (watermelon, banana, cantaloupe, guava, papaya, pineapple, and lemon). It was a wonderful meal! We then decided to go get our passports stamped so we could legally be in Venezuela. We walked to a place we thought was it, but then we were sent to another place. And then we were told to go to a third place! By then we were tired of walking, so we got a taxi to take us to that place. We were then instructed that we had to go back to the first building. Well, we were close to a bank, so we decided to change our U.S. money into Venezuelan bolivars before returning to the passport place. The first bank we tried didn't exchange money, so we went to a second one. It, too, didn't exchange money, so we were sent to a third place. Well, that one finally exchanged our money. Then we went to get our passports stamped, but they didn't have the right equipment, so we had no luck after 2 hours of wandering around town. We then got a taxi and rode about 45 minutes to San Felix where we finally got our passports stamped!
At 3:00 p.m. we found a fancy, expensive, big bus that said it could make it to the coast in 5 hours. We bought tickets and climbed on board. It was really nice! It kind of looked like being in a small jet (mini). The seats reclined, there were 2 working TV's, it had curtains, and it didn't stop to pick up people off the street. While we were on the bus, it showed 4 movies: Fox and the Hound (in Spanish), Curacao (English with Spanish words written on the screen), Sand Kings (English, science fiction), and Jurassic Park (English). During Jurassic Park we were on a curvy road, and Kristen threw up twice! We arrived 8 1/2 hours after beginning (we were told 5 hours!). We rented a small hotel room in the middle of town - Cumana. At 12:15 when we were trying to go to bed, my grandma B. was trying to get us water! My Dad got a little upset. Well, we finally fell asleep.
The next morning (March 18) we decided to walk around the market to find breakfast. After awhile we decided upon cheese bread, coconut bread, bananas, milk, and tangerines. We sat down on a street curb to eat. An old man and old woman came out of their shack to watch us. When we were through eating, we walked up and down main street looking at the shops. My dad got a cup of strawberries. It was good! I bought a purple CK shirt. It's pretty cool. Then I bought a pair of CK jeans. After that I purchased a pair of black, high-top shoes. Most of the stores close at noon, so we had to go back to the hotel and eat lunch in its restaurant. We ate spaghetti, salad, and toast. (It reminded me of eating at your house, Amanda.) Kara and I ordered watermelon juice, and the rest of my family ordered either papaya juice or pineapple juice. It was good.
We had to be out of our hotel room by 2:00, so we packed and then got a taxi to take us to another place. It was right on the beach, and it looked beautiful. I immediately fell in love with this place. We rented a suite, and my grandparents got a regular room. Our suite consists of a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. In one room is a big bed, T.V., dresser, and air conditioner. The other room has 3 beds, two of which are bunk beds. It's perfect! Well, Kristen, Kara, and I played on the beach while Mom, Dad, and Grandma went grocery shopping. When they returned, we went on a walk and played Frisbee while the sun set. I made asparagus soup for supper, and I added 16 cups of water instead of 8. It turned out OK, though!
The next morning we had pancakes and syrup for breakfast. After that we went shopping. We spent a lot of time in a material store (BORING!!), and we bought some material for a dress for me. For lunch we had potatoes, gravy, broccoli, and salad. The broccoli was delicious! After lunch we went swimming. Since we brought a mask, I went "exploring" and found something that looked like a sea-anenemy (sorry about the spelling!). Then we decided to go visit a nice hotel close by. We caught a bus that took us 3/4 of the way. The rest of the way we had to walk. When we walked up to the gate, I am sure the guards thought we were crazy, because everyone drives in, not walks in! The first place we went was to a gift shop. We bought some post cards. (I sent you one by mail on 3-20-97.) But I didn't see any spoons. Then we went to look at the pool. It was neat. It had a volleyball net over the shallow part. My grandpa asked an employee for some drinks. We sat down and were served delicious, cold pinacoladas (pineapple and coconut). They were about $2 (U.S.) apiece! After that we toured one of their suite rooms on the top floor. It had a spectacular view! The room was awesome too, but it's too hard to explain it, so I won't even try. When we got back to our hotel, I watched a beautiful sunset with colors of pink and purple. For supper we had asparagus-mushroom-potato soup. It was good. We had sandwiches, also. After supper we told stories and laughed. We had a good time. Then we went to bed.
Thursday morning our breakfast was rice, milk, bananas, and pineapple. At 7:45 we hopped on a bus (it costs about 8 cents U.S. per person to ride on) and rode to town. We went to a pharmacy, a bike shop, and the open market. There were a lot of people selling fish, fruits, vegetables, noodles, toilet paper, tooth paste, and other items. They had some huge papayas there! We bought 2. After that we moved on to the clothes section. Kristen bought a bathing suit. It is blue with dark blue stars. I like it, but it has a very low back! My grandma bought me a blue sleeveless dress. It is beautiful. I love the colors! Then we moved on to the basket and pottery section. That's where I got your gift. When we were done shopping, we were exhausted. We waited for a taxi, but most of them were full, so we walked to another street. We finally got a taxi back to our hotel. Lunch was noodles, broccoli, salad, and papaya with lemon. We lazed on the beach all afternoon until supper (which was sandwiches, papaya, apple, and melon). We watched the sun set, but did not see the green flash. Then we started walking by the beach but had to retreat because of the mosquitoes. We started packing our duffel bags so we could be ready to go early Sunday morning. Then we went to sleep.
On Friday (for breakfast) we ate pancakes, milk, bananas and papayas. Hey, maybe you're wondering why I always tell you what we eat. It is because we don't get most of that stuff at Kaikan, so its special! Anyway, after breakfast my mom and dad went shopping for Pathfinder supplies. While they were gone, Kara played with my hair. Thursday we bought about one dozen small hairclips, and it is fun and easy to do fancy hairstyles. When we got tired of doing that, we went back to the beach. While in the water I saw a big brown jellyfish. It was pretty! When my parents got back we are lunch - potatoes, broccoli, salad, beets, ice cream bars, and a mango drink. After that we collected shells, built sand castles, and watched crabs. When we got tired of doing nothing, we went inside our room and watched The Three Stooges" in Spanish. It was quite interesting! Supper consisted of corn (and leftovers) soup, papaya, chocolate milk, and sweet bread that we purchased from a bakery. When supper was over, we raced to the beach and watched the sun set. Again we did not see the green flash. We went back to our room, read, and played with hair until it was time to go to bed.
Sabbath morning we woke up early and ate breakfast (the rest of the sweet bread, rice, milk, fruit - apples, papaya, and pineapple). Then we crossed the street and went bird watching at a lake. We saw several new birds for our bird list. We also saw many dead birds lying around, most of which were pelicans. We also went to a muddy place where there were lots of small crabs running around. When we returned to our room we had to move all of our stuff to a different, smaller room. Some people had reserved our suite room for the week, but they decided to come earlier. The second room we stayed in wasn't as close to the beach, and had no kitchenette. But it was only for one night, so we survived. Well, right now it is Sabbath, and we are leaving tomorrow, so I have to cut this letter short if I want to send it with my grandma. I'll tell you about the last 2 days in another letter if anything exciting happens. Well, bye for now.
Heidi Burgdorff
You may write to Heidi at: gates@andrews.edu
Last Updated: March 10, 1997