Day 9 in Venezuela

Hey everybody!! We´ve just finish spending about 5 days in a place called Monte Carmelo, which is not too far from Sanare. Monte Carmelo is located up in the mountains in the country side of Venezuela in the state of Lara. Our days have been so jam packed with activites and with our itinerary constantly changing due to lack of communication. The entire time spent in Monte Carmelo was definately time spent well. We didn´t do much the first day or so, but as things got rolling, we went to this small waterfall in a national park called Yacambu. It was rough the first full week we have been here because it was holy week which meant that just about everything was closed. Anyway, the rest of our time spent in Monte Carmelo was deicaded to visiting schools and these places known as cooperatives. Some of the schools we went to were a Bolivarian High School, and an elementary school. We also stoped by, I guess what we would call an adult school, Mision Ribas. So, Venezuela´s school system is similar to ours in the states except for the fact that they only have to main levels of schooling. The first is Primary, which is 1st grade to 6th grade and the Secondary which is their high school level but known a 4th and 5th grade, but high school. Majority of the schools we visited are big like Skyline, or any other major high school in the Bay Area. Some of the activities that we did was get divided into groups and discuss differences between our school systems. Most of the students in the group would probably agree that their system of schooling is better than what we have. Most of us exchanged numbers and or emails and we got a chance to hang out with them and play a game of volleyball at one of the schools. The one thing a lot the Venezuelan students were shcoked at was that we were able to wear earings and dye our hair and didn´t have to wear uniform. The other form of schooling, are these things called misiones. For example, there are three levels, Mision Robinson, which is like primary schooling, for adults, a basic level. Then there´s Mision Ribas, which is equivelent to high school education for adults, then there´s Mision Sucre wich I beleve is the highest level of education one can get through this type of system. We visited Mision Ribas, and spent time talking with some of the adults and coordinadors within the program. The cool thing about this system is that it´s like a public high school for anyn adult needing a high school education, and I think the best part is that the entire program of all three of these Misones is that it´s funded the PDV, http://www.pdvsa.com/, the major gas company here in Venezuela. Also while in Monte Carmelo we visited, and volunteered in three co-operatives (cooperativas). Ocho de Marzo(the 8th of March) , La Alianza (The Alliance), and Mision Arbol. Ocho de Marzo is a Sanare based cooperative that produces it´s own pastas and granolas. Some of the student were able to make and package the granola and pastas and experience what it was like being part of the process. La Alianza, which is about a ten minute drive up from Monte Carmelo, is a farmong cooperative that grows it´s own organic fruits and vegitables, along with the production of yogart. I was one of 8 who had the privledge of working in the fields weeding out cilantro. Although the work seemed hard and exausting, it was actually fun and prodcutive. The fun part was the end of seeing all the work we had done gone to good use of how when we first started to how the rows of cilamtro looked at the end. The other upside to that, was haing your hands get softed by the dirt and your hands smelling like cilantro. Mision Arbol is also in Sanare and the whole point of that was to learn how to make fertilizer using cow poop and turning it into manure to plant trees. Sorry I don´t know much of that specific cooperative. It was a really nice and fun experience because we stayed at a ladies cooperative which produced pasta sauces and maralede. The one thing none of us really like about the stay was the fact that there was only running water at two specific times in the day, which was the morning and the afternoon, the rest of the time was cold bucket showers, and fitting ten girl in one room. All in all it was a very interesting experience and come to think of it, Venezuela its actually growing on the students. actually, I´ve already heard some say that they want to stay longer. Well, I gues I should be going because aparently I have a 6hour bus ride ahead of me to head to the beach and we´re scheduled to leave at about 6:30 in the morning. I´ll continue to try my best as to keep you guys updated, so until next time...Peace.