Mamaita

Last week I moved into a new house, Mamaita (they name their houses here). It's fantastic. I live with my mom Coro and her 19 year old grandson Andrés who are both super sweet. She lives next door to her sister Dulce, who is a wrinkly ex-chain smoking woman who wears her nighty around all day and cracks jokes. There is family in and out of the house all day every day, so it's really hard to keep track of who is related to whom. It's great to have so much commotion, though, and so many people to talk to when I come home from classes. I love how relaxed everything is around there, and that they make no effort to act differently because there are students staying in the house. Also, the food is delicious. Jony, our housekeeper and cook, makes the most amazing lunch for us everyday.


Looking into my room

View from my room

Me llaman la gigante flaca

Last weekend's adventure was a trip to Catatumbo, where I saw Los Relámpagos, a unique natural phenomenon of cloud to cloud lightning that occurs every night for about 10 hours. We stayed in a hut on stilts in Lake Maracaibo where we slept in hammocks, got eaten alive by mosquitos, and witnessed an awesome storm and Catatumbo lightning. I also met Steve, my new friend from London who has traveled every country in the world except Libya and East Timor.