[Paisleychick-lj] Last week in Caracas

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![Heavy rainstorm][1]][2] [![[info]][3]][4][**kragen**][5] and I have
been doing a lot of stuff on our computers lately and not interacting
with people in Caracas very much. It's been raining a lot too. We
apparently are in the 'wet' season. That all sort of blows. But, we've
also finally made some good contacts with people here, so I imagine we
will be coming back later after exploring Venezuela more. To get our
computers online, we've been hunting for WIFI. It seems that a surefire
way to get WIFI is to go to a mall (Centro Commercial). We have been to
three different ones and they all have their pluses and minuses. There
are loads of varying networks, some of which are open. There are hardly
ever outlets where there is a good signal and a chair or a bench, so we
end up moving around a lot. It's kind of funny. In Cuenca, Ecuador there
was a mall which had laptop stations - a circular table with cubbies all
around so that people could sit and work and get electricity all at the
same time. We haven't found anything comparable here in Caracas, but
it's not for a lack of trying.

[![Blurry dancers][6]][7]Thursday was Columbus Day/Day of Indigenous
Resistance. That morning I saw a documentary by a group of film makers
here in Caracas about [the knocking down of the Columbus Statue in
2004][8]. The crowd's enthusiasm for the willful destruction of the
statue amazed me. I wonder what it would take to see something similar
in the USA? Chavez wasn't happy about this symbolic action - he had to
apologize to Spain for the diplomatically troubling event. Most
everything in Caracas was closed on Thursday. It was kind of like
Sundays. That afternoon I helped a woman with her Macintosh computer. I
had met her sister a couple of days prior in the Sambil mall. I was
happy to be useful. We had to go to the nearby mall (El Recreo) to buy a
firewire cable, since I didn't bring mine with me, but we got it all
figured out. Hopefully she can figure out how to use her machine. That
evening, [![[info]][3]][4][**kragen**][5] and I went to our third mall
(San Ignacio) and there was a public performance of dancing. The music
was loud and the dancing was beautiful. There were also fireworks in the
evening.

[![Porcupine says hello][9]][10]On Saturday afternoon,
[![[info]][3]][4][**kragen**][5] and I took the metro to the end of Line
2 and went to the zoo! This was a lot of fun. Entrance was free, and
kids and families were everywhere. It seems like a very popular place to
have birthday parties and such. I originally thought that it was going
to be depressing, but I was very wrong. Many of the animals were
wandering free, or had large enclosures and were able to roam quite a
bit. Monkeys and birds nattered, jumped and flew around in the trees
above our heads. It took me quite by surprise. There were crocodiles in
a large circular enclosure and there was a **very** curious porcupine.
Ze was very tame (took food from people's hand tame) and cute and ugly
at the same time. I took [lots of photos of zir][11]. On top of the hill
there were larger animals, including one female elephant. She came over
and said hi to a group of people watching her. She said hi back by
playfully sneezing on the kids who screamed with delight. She tested the
limits of the barrier to try and get closer. Once she wandered away,
[![[info]][3]][4][**kragen**][5] and I wandered off as well. We walked
down the path and saw capybarras. I'd never seen them before. There was
a stork, pink and white flamingos and an iguana all just chilling with
the large group of capybarras. They looked and acted like large gerbils,
and very unlike [R.O.U.S.'s (Rodents Of Unusual Size?)][12] Again, I
took [lots of photos][13]. When were going back to the metro,
[![[info]][3]][4][**kragen**][5] stopped and bought me flowers. I bought
some DVDs of movies I wanted to watch. The flowers were beautiful and
the DVDs were lousy. The movies were good (The World Trade Center and
the Devil Wears Prada), but the quality was for shit. They had been
taped in the movie theaters in the states and you could here people
eating and drinking and coughing and sometimes the camera would get
knocked out of focus and the camera operator wouldn't notice for a long
time. Man, that was painful. I wonder how much people get paid to film
those films in the theater? It's risky in the US, but as the films are
in English and are available almost immediately after they come out I
assume that's where they're ripped.

Last night there were loud explosions that rocked our room. We tried to
figure out what they sounded like. Big guns? Bombs? Fireworks? Turns out
they were fireworks. The city was celebrating the metro and the
completion of one of the lines. There were fireworks **all over** the
city. One of the places happened to be the Zona Rental metro stop right
next to our hotel. We went to the six floor where they have a large
balcony and were sometimes eye-level with the explosions. They were
loud. They were pretty. Mainly, they were loud.

We are off to Maturín on Tuesday for the [IV World Forum on Free
Knowledge][14]. We leave at 07:00 on a bus along with a bunch of other
computer geeks. I'm looking forward to changing locations and
interacting with more people. We're going to be staying with a guy we
met on [CouchSurfing][15] for three days and then going to a hotel
afterward. After Maturín we are planning to go to [Angel Falls][16] and
then head west and go up to the Andes and down to the coast. Should be
fun. I'll write more as and when I get the chance.

    [1]: http://static.flickr.com/102/268705376_951da93538_m.jpg
    [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/268705376/ (Photo Sharing)
    [3]: http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif
    [4]: http://kragen.livejournal.com/profile
    [5]: http://kragen.livejournal.com/
    [6]: http://static.flickr.com/84/268715225_152c582d03_m.jpg
    [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/268715225/ (Photo Sharing)
    [8]: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1385
    [9]: http://static.flickr.com/105/270510951_7cf835e45c_m.jpg
    [10]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/270510951/ (Photo Sharing)
    [11]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/tags/porcupine
    [12]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/
    [13]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/tags/capybarra/
    [14]: http://foromundial.solve.net.ve/
    [15]: http://www.couchsurfing.com
    [16]: http://www.salto-angel.com/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/262299.html

-- 
www.murch-sitaker.org - website
www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch - photos
http://paisleychick.livejournal.com - blog

"Stop thinking this is all there is.  Realize that for every ongoing war
& religious outrage & environmental devastation, there are a thousand
counterbalancing acts of staggering generosity & humanity & art & beauty
happening all over this world right now on a breathtaking scale.  Resist
the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake your head & sigh & just
throw in the karmic towel.  Realize that this is the perfect moment to
change the energy of the world, to step right up & crank your personal
volume: right when it seems dark and bitter & offensive & acrimonious &
  conflicted, there is your opening.  Remember magic.  And finally,
believe you are a part of a groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small
but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift,
the beginning of something important, potent & unstoppable."
- this quote was transcribed from the wall of a place of worship