The Mouth of Rio Catatumbo (pictures here!!)

photos were taken by Paul, the man who was bit by a piranha and survived!




hey yáll,

it´s been a while since my last post, but i´ve been sick in bed for the past two weeks. it sucked, but i´m better and can finally eat real food again. a.k.a mcdonald´s, cake, and more hamburgers. anyhoo, i just got back from a cool spot called Rio Catatumbo.

there were 5 of us that took the trip. Paul, Rina, Elise, Mark, and me. This is the same place that me and Carl tried to get to a few weeks back, but were too far away to see the real action. after a 5 hour drive we made it to puerto concha. we actually stood on the same spot where i saw that dead body. we loaded up on beer and rum and jumped in the boat for an hour ride into laka maracaibo. on the way we saw monkeys, birds, and a couple of dolphins. these howler monkeys make the scariest noises. sounded like king kong was behind the trees and about to break some shite!

after eluding kong, we made it to this house on stilts out on lake maracaibo near the mouth of Rio Catatumbo. it was a pretty sweet spot, got to sleep in hammocks and eat fresh fish for dinner. we went out for a night boat ride looking for animals and such. we came across more crocodiles, and the captain gave me a baby croc to hold. it was pretty cute until it peed on my hand. nothing worse than crocodile pee... except for snake pee.

back at the house, we hung out and drank beer until the show started. around 9pm we saw our first lightning. slowly at first, then it picked up in frequency and strength as time went on. everybody had their camera out and were shooting like crazy. everyone thought i was a freak for shooting on film, but i´m old school like that. digital sucks anyways! this went on till late in the night, a few people crashed out around 1am. i stayed up until 3am and shot lightning until i was down to my last three frames. all in all, we must of seen 150 lightning strikes. that´s pretty dang exciting for a bloke from california, where we have no thunderstorms to speak of.

on the way back home we stopped at this chicken shack. they gave us two huge plates of chicken, some yucha(similar to the potatoe), and tomatoes with mayonnaise and eggs. damn it´s good it eat again! (i was only eating water and crackers for two weeks while i was sick). i think i lost my some serious weight! my pants are too loose and i can see my toes again!

later,

-patrick

chavez and the vote

yep, chavez lost the vote.

been hearing a lot of hoopla from a bunch of people before the vote went through. at the hostel, there were political junkies, activists, and journalists. there were also venezuelans with their own views out and about. not knowing who to believe, here´s what i heard on the street:

those for chavez say:

-he´s a great man, doing great things for the people of this country.

-there is free health care for everyone... even tourists! better get those pectoral implants before i leave.

-those without means can get a free meal. the poor people of this country benefit from chavez´s actions



those against chavez say:

-he´s a dumbass, always saying the same thing over and over.

-he´s a dictator, wants to be president for life...but how many dictators have free elections? and after he lost... he acknowledged this and told his supporters to be calm. doesn´t sound like a dictator to me.



hmmmm... when bush lost the election to gore back in the day, he demanded a recount and somehow won the bid for presidency. it came down to one state, florida.. just so happens his brother was govenor of florida at the time. hmmm... if it were my brother, i would do everything i could to ensure his victory. and not to mention going to war with iraq with farce reasons. aka weapons of mass distruction.

i´ll get off on my bush rant now. for the past month in venezuela, i´ve come across a slew of propaganda. from the spraypaint on buildings and mountain rocks, to the billboards with chavez´s facade, to the television smear ads(my favorite being a cartoon where the devil tricks a citizen into voting a certain way.)

i´d have to say that those for chavez had a lot more $ and people power behind it´s platform. i´m actually suprised that he lost. i´m sure he will come back with the same initiatives soon enough.

take care homies, next week i´ll probably be back with some crazy camping story.

-patrick