During my time in the hospital, it wasn't actually so bad. But, there were definately some quirky moments that made you second guess everything. We were lucky to have the telepone number of the doctor who assists one of the major oil companies here, so Victor called him, dropped some names and the doctor actually came and picked us up at the apartment. He is the chief of the emergency room, so getting wheeled in by him, meant bypassing all emergency room/waiting room, paperwork, and doctors surrounding me immediately. But, then he disappeared, which mean't victor had to disappear because since this is a private clinic/hospital you pay first, then you get care. During the course of my time there, i must have had 5 doctors. Each with a different diagnosis, each prescribing their own set of tests and then waiting. I had so many tests, it was unbelievable. They seemed to test for stuff just for the heck of it. Hey, when someone puts down a hefty deposit, you should probably try to get that spent. Right?
I spent about 8 hours there the first night, came home, then went right back 24 hours later. That is when I ended up spending two days and a night. It was confirmed by all that I had Dengue and the infections. They wanted to keep me there for 4 days, but Victor checked me out after 2 days. Once we had the antibiotics and the diagnosis, we felt i could rest at home better. The room was actually quite nice, even with an extra bed for a relative. But, as the USA, they charge for everything. Even the bathroom didn't have toilet paper or towels. It came with the "kit" (towels, soap, toothbrush et al) that was about $50 dollars. We now know, if you go to the hospital, bring your own toilet paper.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Thanksgiving to Christmas, whoa
After the adventure to Angel Falls, I immediately went up to Houston for a three days of Christmas shopping and seeing my friends from 13 years ago when we all met with babies and were new mothers. As usual, it was like 10 years had not passed....we had a blast catching up and I look forward to seeing them all again, without such a long break.
Of course, no rest on the trip, i began to feel achy and sore, but still hosted 12 for a "holiday" dinner with turkey and all the trimmings a few days later and then we had plans the next day to go out on the boat and snorkling, picnic et al. I thought that i was coming down with something, but Victor thought I should try to get some fresh air....that didn't last long, within 2 hours I was hurling over the side of the boat and could barely walk. Seven hours later I was in the hospital diagnosed with Dengue Fever (nickname: bone crushing disease), kidney infections and lung infection. I probably contracted it in Angel Falls when we stood in the jungle for a long time without our protective clothes during the rainstorm or it could have been here. Who knows. This was the second time I have had Dengue (before in Colombia, 20 years ago) so it was pretty bad. I always said, that was the worse sickness I ever had, well I bested myself this time. I was in the hospital twice and my temps were over 106. It SUCKED. Plus it makes your joints feel so sore and out of it.
In the meantime, Isabella was dying to get to her first FORMAL Quince birthday party. Which is basically a coming out party for Latina girls. Quite something, over the top entertainment (grammy nominated Regaton band) food galor and hundreds of people. Even security wrist bands so no party crashers. Poor Victor wsa dealing with me in the emergency room and trying to find rides for Isabella. Thank goodness our neighbor's son was invited also, and the dad was going to be driving them to and back from the party. Of course, the party goes until 5am but they were picked up at 3am....crazy. See picture below, our friend's gave us the picture, obviously, we were not there to see her off.
I managed to fly out on Thursday to Guatemala because we would NEVER had made it out of here due to the crazy Venezuelans who travel like madmen during the holidays. I just sat whenever I could...couldn't read due to the pain behind the eyes but I managed and slept hard those first few days in Guatmala. More on Guatemala and Cuba in the next entry.
Of course, no rest on the trip, i began to feel achy and sore, but still hosted 12 for a "holiday" dinner with turkey and all the trimmings a few days later and then we had plans the next day to go out on the boat and snorkling, picnic et al. I thought that i was coming down with something, but Victor thought I should try to get some fresh air....that didn't last long, within 2 hours I was hurling over the side of the boat and could barely walk. Seven hours later I was in the hospital diagnosed with Dengue Fever (nickname: bone crushing disease), kidney infections and lung infection. I probably contracted it in Angel Falls when we stood in the jungle for a long time without our protective clothes during the rainstorm or it could have been here. Who knows. This was the second time I have had Dengue (before in Colombia, 20 years ago) so it was pretty bad. I always said, that was the worse sickness I ever had, well I bested myself this time. I was in the hospital twice and my temps were over 106. It SUCKED. Plus it makes your joints feel so sore and out of it.
In the meantime, Isabella was dying to get to her first FORMAL Quince birthday party. Which is basically a coming out party for Latina girls. Quite something, over the top entertainment (grammy nominated Regaton band) food galor and hundreds of people. Even security wrist bands so no party crashers. Poor Victor wsa dealing with me in the emergency room and trying to find rides for Isabella. Thank goodness our neighbor's son was invited also, and the dad was going to be driving them to and back from the party. Of course, the party goes until 5am but they were picked up at 3am....crazy. See picture below, our friend's gave us the picture, obviously, we were not there to see her off.
I managed to fly out on Thursday to Guatemala because we would NEVER had made it out of here due to the crazy Venezuelans who travel like madmen during the holidays. I just sat whenever I could...couldn't read due to the pain behind the eyes but I managed and slept hard those first few days in Guatmala. More on Guatemala and Cuba in the next entry.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Isabella's first formal Quinciera
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| Isabella on her way to her first formal 15 (quince) ball with schoolmates. The boy on the left is our neighbor and this photo was taken at our entrance of our building. |
ANGEL FALLS, THANKSGIVING 2010 (READ AFTER PHOTOS FOR "ARTICLE" ON THE ADVENTURE
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| "Little Peter" sat in this position next to his dad for 4 days, always helping out Dad. |
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| Camp night two, again, Sarmiento Explosion of drybags. |
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| Thanksgiving dinner, camp night two |
Angel Falls
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| Ah, Mom are you sure about this? Boarding the jet for Kavak. |
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| Now Mom isn't so sure. |
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| Pura Stainless makes it to the jungles of Southern Venezuela, Kavak |
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| The Kavak airstrip |
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| The beautiful creek before the flashflood |
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| No flash flood signs yet |
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| This is an HOUR after the water has already gone down. Peter and some guide/Pemon friends wait it out with us. |
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| Drainage we need to cross to get to our campsite...still waiting |
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| Don't worry about the biting puri-puri and the mosquitos...yeah, right. :( |
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| Crossing now when it is "safe". Yes, that's Isabella. Xela crossed on the back of a Pemon. |
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| Typical first hours of a Sarmiento hut |
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| Walking towards the Tepuye that holds Angel Falls on the other side. Will take 2 days by boat to get around it. Directly in front of us is the gorge that flashflooded. Notice all the instant waterfalls. |
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| Our Pemon imitation hut |
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| Linda, Steph, Isabella and Xela |
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| The "put-in". Yes, that is one piece of wood that makes the boat. |
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| Yuka farm and home. Drying yuka out before consumption, used as a starch to eat, a glue, a liquer..you name it. |
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| Hiking along the savannah with a Tepuyee in the background. On our way to the "abandoned" airstrip used only for smuggling beer into the National Park |
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| Thannksgiving Dinner |
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| Peter and cousins |
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| All in the family. Our co travelers, the cook, the driver, even the little boy always helped carry things and fish with his dad. |
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| Thanksgiving dinner |
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| Time for sleep. Goodnight Jim and Linda |
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| Jim, Linda, Peter and the Sarms, before heading out after breakfast |
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| Hiding fuel in the jungle for the way back. This was at a confluence so we dubbed it "Confluence Conoco" |
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| Iron makes the water this gorgeous color |
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| Don't worry, it didn't stain Isabella |
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| Small ant eater - can't remember it's name but unfortunately going extinct and this one is kept around at the campsite because the Pemon feed him |
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| Rat Island....our campsite at the base of Angel Falls |
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| Sunrise on Angel Falls |
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| The Sarm's made it |
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| breakfast |
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| The "Wellness of Happiness" (really called the Well of Happiness, we were just pretending to be in a yoga class |
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| Canaima/Pemon Children's symphony of Venezuela. OUTSTANDING. Watched and listened to with the USA Ambassador. |
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Finally back...
Hello loyal followers! Yes, it has been a long time since i last wrote, it seems travels, illnesses and holidays all got in the way. Since I am still weak from illnesses, I might as well write and yes probably too lengthy about what has been going on.
THANKSGIVING/ANGEL FALLS
(short disclaimer: we didn't hire a fancy or well known tour company but a local Pemon indian who was striking out on his own....hence our trip was a bit "rougher" or "local")
We went with our new friends Jim and Linda Forrest on a fun adventure to Southern Venezuela. We didn't do the quick trip to Angle Falls (the highest water falls in the world and the basis for the movie UP), but added a couple of days to the trip and traveled on rivers down to the falls through the jungle. We started off by arriving at the small airport 3 hours away, to our awaiting flights. We jumped into 5 seater planes, with door handles falling off, non functioning seatbelts et al, ( I just thought to myself, "well, what good is it going to do anyway?") and within 2 seconds we were airborne. We landed on a grass airstrip at the Kavac camp where we stayed in traditional Pemon Indian huts. This was also a place where the artists from UP stayed to get some of their inspiration. Part of the day's itinerary was to hike up a creek in a gorge, and see a waterfall in a cave. The hike was gorgeous with beautiful water that had been coming down from the Tepuyee mountains (the mesa-like mountains that are unique to this area). Clouds started to form, and the Pemon indians who speak English as their 3rd language, mentioned "if there is a flashflood, be ready to run." Of course, that did not stop us, as we swam, hiked, bouldered up the gorge with hanging ferns,jungle vegetation, unique red/orange iron rocks and flowing crystal clear water.
As it started to rain just a tad, we were swimming to the last corner to see the cave when all of a sudden we literally watched waterfalls start from top to bottom (like turning on a faucet) begin to fall around us. Of course, the first thing out of all the ignorant white people's mouths (us) was "wow, that is soooo COOL!". The first thing out of the Pemon's mouth's was "SWIM,RUN, FAST, BACK!." A Pemon indian, who was almost the size of Xela, grabbed her like a football and took off, We all got back as fast as possible to high ground and watched the "creek" turn into a raging class 4-5 rapids river. Seriously in minutes! Our backpacks were farther down the river where we had left them up in trees and the side drainages to the creek(which had been dry) were now raging rivers too so we were stuck there for about an hour and a half waiting for the water to go down. We proceeded to get bitten alive, hence I believe that is where I contracted dengue fever (later on that story).
We had a gorgeous night looking at the jungle stars, skies like Montana's. The next day, we headed out to our dug out canoe's that "Peter" our 23 year old Pemon entrepeneur arranged for us. He usually didn't explain how things were going to go, we just kinda followed him. We eventually figured out that our co-travelers were usually a "cousin" or "brother" who needed a ride or relayed information or worked for Peter. Peter is a great guy, and had tons of information but to them it is natural and the norm to go with the flow and not explain why we were making "another stop" on the river. There are no internet cafes, cell phone services or even radios. Word of mouth is the way of communicaiton......we learned the river way and how everyone communicates. On our boat was the driver (he had a small engine) his wife, their 4 year old son, teenage daughter,and a few other guys. We stopped to deliver some things at various places (one time to drop off a homemade juice and in exchange a shotgun was brought onto the boat- we never saw it again), dropped a guy off or picked someone up here or there and to stop and chat in Pemon. The whites just stared and wondered. One stop involved a big plastic jug of fermented Yuka that looked exactly like oatmeal. Basically midafternoon the gang was having happy hour. No, none of us took them up on the offer of a sip.
The Pemon run things in Canaima National Park and that is the way they like it. They feel if the government or police or military get involved it will only bring corruption. And it was true, the Pemon are very humble and nice people. We felt like we were out of Venezuela. We felt safe and totally relaxed. The river was amazing. Flowing and flat yet huge rapids every once in a while. We walked around the rapids as the boats are very wooden, long and narrow, and they can only go through with the driver. We watched in awe as the boat's bow, midsection flung itself thru the rapids. Also wondering what was going to happen to our stuff if the boat flipped. We noticed the fermented yuka always got taken out!
Funny story: We took a flat hike through a savannah type area, with Tepuyee's in the back ground. It felt and looked just like Africa. There was an "old" grass airstrip. Peter said it "use" to be used, but now since beer is banned from the park, it was currently being used for smuggling beer. All four American adults said at the same time: "that's not the only thing the airstrip is used for smuggling." There was even a hull of a crashed plane still there. Mostly stripped of course, but still cool.
The Pemon have built nice open wooden encampments for their tourists and our second night, Thanksgiving, was in a beautiful jungle setting next to the river. Thanksgiving was chicken roasted over the fire, salad, rum and cookies. Perfect.
We arrived the next day at Angel Falls where there was a terrible cloud cover. We were suppose to hike up to the falls lookout that day, but Peter thought we wouldn't see anything. I convinced him to please let us hike as we have been in the boat for 2 days...simply for the hike. So off we went, and we were lucky! The clouds broke and we got beautiful views. You can't get close because the water is pounding into the rocks. We all had a fitful night sleep in our hammocks, it gets damp and clammy at night, and even though we had long sleeves, pants and sheets it couldn't keep the coolness away. We were able to get great sunrise pics and off down the river again.
We stopped at the "wellness of hapiness" water fall which Linda named. Actual name: Well of happiness. To walk through the pounding water fall and jump into the pool of water. The kids loved that. We arrived in the town of Caniama where many of the Pemon live and made a cool trip to Salto El Sapo, a huge long waterfall that you can actually walk behind. It was more thrilling than a Disney ride! It hit every sense you have, the noise, the water drenches you, your visability, slippery, scary....it was screaming (literally) fun! It took more than 10 minutes to walk the whole way. That night, we stayed in a cute posada with hot showers and warm beds YEA and were surprised that the sitting US Ambassador was there as well. So, we were lucky to be the only other diners there to sit and hear a performance of the famous Venzuelan children's symphony. They had just started a charter in Canaima, and they performed for the ambassador and US! They were amazingly talented and it was an incredible experience. Next day, off to the Disneysize ride airplanes and back to PLC.
THANKSGIVING/ANGEL FALLS
(short disclaimer: we didn't hire a fancy or well known tour company but a local Pemon indian who was striking out on his own....hence our trip was a bit "rougher" or "local")
We went with our new friends Jim and Linda Forrest on a fun adventure to Southern Venezuela. We didn't do the quick trip to Angle Falls (the highest water falls in the world and the basis for the movie UP), but added a couple of days to the trip and traveled on rivers down to the falls through the jungle. We started off by arriving at the small airport 3 hours away, to our awaiting flights. We jumped into 5 seater planes, with door handles falling off, non functioning seatbelts et al, ( I just thought to myself, "well, what good is it going to do anyway?") and within 2 seconds we were airborne. We landed on a grass airstrip at the Kavac camp where we stayed in traditional Pemon Indian huts. This was also a place where the artists from UP stayed to get some of their inspiration. Part of the day's itinerary was to hike up a creek in a gorge, and see a waterfall in a cave. The hike was gorgeous with beautiful water that had been coming down from the Tepuyee mountains (the mesa-like mountains that are unique to this area). Clouds started to form, and the Pemon indians who speak English as their 3rd language, mentioned "if there is a flashflood, be ready to run." Of course, that did not stop us, as we swam, hiked, bouldered up the gorge with hanging ferns,jungle vegetation, unique red/orange iron rocks and flowing crystal clear water.
As it started to rain just a tad, we were swimming to the last corner to see the cave when all of a sudden we literally watched waterfalls start from top to bottom (like turning on a faucet) begin to fall around us. Of course, the first thing out of all the ignorant white people's mouths (us) was "wow, that is soooo COOL!". The first thing out of the Pemon's mouth's was "SWIM,RUN, FAST, BACK!." A Pemon indian, who was almost the size of Xela, grabbed her like a football and took off, We all got back as fast as possible to high ground and watched the "creek" turn into a raging class 4-5 rapids river. Seriously in minutes! Our backpacks were farther down the river where we had left them up in trees and the side drainages to the creek(which had been dry) were now raging rivers too so we were stuck there for about an hour and a half waiting for the water to go down. We proceeded to get bitten alive, hence I believe that is where I contracted dengue fever (later on that story).
We had a gorgeous night looking at the jungle stars, skies like Montana's. The next day, we headed out to our dug out canoe's that "Peter" our 23 year old Pemon entrepeneur arranged for us. He usually didn't explain how things were going to go, we just kinda followed him. We eventually figured out that our co-travelers were usually a "cousin" or "brother" who needed a ride or relayed information or worked for Peter. Peter is a great guy, and had tons of information but to them it is natural and the norm to go with the flow and not explain why we were making "another stop" on the river. There are no internet cafes, cell phone services or even radios. Word of mouth is the way of communicaiton......we learned the river way and how everyone communicates. On our boat was the driver (he had a small engine) his wife, their 4 year old son, teenage daughter,and a few other guys. We stopped to deliver some things at various places (one time to drop off a homemade juice and in exchange a shotgun was brought onto the boat- we never saw it again), dropped a guy off or picked someone up here or there and to stop and chat in Pemon. The whites just stared and wondered. One stop involved a big plastic jug of fermented Yuka that looked exactly like oatmeal. Basically midafternoon the gang was having happy hour. No, none of us took them up on the offer of a sip.
The Pemon run things in Canaima National Park and that is the way they like it. They feel if the government or police or military get involved it will only bring corruption. And it was true, the Pemon are very humble and nice people. We felt like we were out of Venezuela. We felt safe and totally relaxed. The river was amazing. Flowing and flat yet huge rapids every once in a while. We walked around the rapids as the boats are very wooden, long and narrow, and they can only go through with the driver. We watched in awe as the boat's bow, midsection flung itself thru the rapids. Also wondering what was going to happen to our stuff if the boat flipped. We noticed the fermented yuka always got taken out!
Funny story: We took a flat hike through a savannah type area, with Tepuyee's in the back ground. It felt and looked just like Africa. There was an "old" grass airstrip. Peter said it "use" to be used, but now since beer is banned from the park, it was currently being used for smuggling beer. All four American adults said at the same time: "that's not the only thing the airstrip is used for smuggling." There was even a hull of a crashed plane still there. Mostly stripped of course, but still cool.
The Pemon have built nice open wooden encampments for their tourists and our second night, Thanksgiving, was in a beautiful jungle setting next to the river. Thanksgiving was chicken roasted over the fire, salad, rum and cookies. Perfect.
We arrived the next day at Angel Falls where there was a terrible cloud cover. We were suppose to hike up to the falls lookout that day, but Peter thought we wouldn't see anything. I convinced him to please let us hike as we have been in the boat for 2 days...simply for the hike. So off we went, and we were lucky! The clouds broke and we got beautiful views. You can't get close because the water is pounding into the rocks. We all had a fitful night sleep in our hammocks, it gets damp and clammy at night, and even though we had long sleeves, pants and sheets it couldn't keep the coolness away. We were able to get great sunrise pics and off down the river again.
We stopped at the "wellness of hapiness" water fall which Linda named. Actual name: Well of happiness. To walk through the pounding water fall and jump into the pool of water. The kids loved that. We arrived in the town of Caniama where many of the Pemon live and made a cool trip to Salto El Sapo, a huge long waterfall that you can actually walk behind. It was more thrilling than a Disney ride! It hit every sense you have, the noise, the water drenches you, your visability, slippery, scary....it was screaming (literally) fun! It took more than 10 minutes to walk the whole way. That night, we stayed in a cute posada with hot showers and warm beds YEA and were surprised that the sitting US Ambassador was there as well. So, we were lucky to be the only other diners there to sit and hear a performance of the famous Venzuelan children's symphony. They had just started a charter in Canaima, and they performed for the ambassador and US! They were amazingly talented and it was an incredible experience. Next day, off to the Disneysize ride airplanes and back to PLC.
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