pozo suraupo

One thing I love about teaching here in Venezuela is that the other teachers are a treasure trove of knowledge about places to go and see. Another thing I love is mountains, and also bugs- I love bugs. Did I mention that I love eating good food with friends? No? Well I do- especially Uruguayan barbecue. 

You can see where this is going... I loved this weekend's trip to Pozo Suruape, a funky little eclectic posada outside of Caracas in the mountains. We were told of the Pozo by Mike and Shawna who know a few things about where to eat in Caracas (Mike's search for the best pepper steak in town is legendary amongst Caraquenos). When Michael and Kat put together a trip and dinner for our Capoera friends It all came together: Mountains, bugs, good eating, and good friends.

The owner dabbles on the side with a little iron sculpting- amazing fun stuff all over!

The restaurant itself reminded me a bit of our neighbor's house- cool stuff all over- Jim and Teresa, you would love this place!

As Nadjib said " Gandhi, Chaplin, and an angel- of course that goes together- why have I never seen that?"

The dinner: It has been very special for me to be included into this group of people. I had not heard of Capoera before moving here, tried it because Wilder was interested and ended up really enjoying it. The members are a fun loving, kind, patient group. So fun to share a dinner with them.

Oh no- I took the photo without Porcupine in it.

yes my hair does always look this good before morning coffee

some plants

papyrus

Always cool to check out the bugs- something new under every leaf!

This guy was actually quite small but with a bit o zoom he comes out nicely

TEAMWORK: this was not a tug of war, theses ants were motoring with whatever this little nougat was.

Yellow orb spider- check out how they wrap the leaf into a nest for themselves, cool eh?

oh and also a nice little part of Pozo Suruapo: just sitting there looking around and letting your mind wander. Thanks Mike and Kat for making it happen.

Lisa solves many of the world's problems with that faraway expression on.

You're not going to believe this but...

 I saw all of these things from school. Now first, the beer ads. You are just going to have to believe me when I say that Lisa saw these first. Honest. You can see these from the school cafeteria and when I pointed this out Lisa stated "those have been up for weeks." I eat there everyday- how did I miss this?

I bet the people living here get real thirsty, as opposed to...

the people who live here. Oh wait, that's not a beer commercial. My bad.

 The other thing we saw were parrots! Saw them circling then land in a tree on campus. Climbed up to the school's turf field that was eye level and got to see them from about 10 meters away.

this one seems to be giving me the stink eye.

Last of the Orinoco posts... promise

Time to wrap up our trip to the Orinoco. Just a few pics left and they are mostly just cool plants- so a bit of my science geek self showing through here. In any case, enjoy geeking out with me.

This first one is called the water cocoa plant. Marco grabbed one, gave it a twist then thwacked it. 

and voila!

Bora is a floating plant that just rides the tides back and forth. It looks like it could choke a river completely but Marco said that every once and a while the salt level from the sea rises just enough to kill it all. Nature's checks and balances.

This is a little schoolhouse across from our lodge. You know more people are killed each year from falling coconuts than...

I understand when rams headbutt and peacocks strut there stuff but flowers- seriously you are just showing off.

these are full of water... honest.

just taking some leaf scrap to the compost pile.

mangroves- like the honey badger in saltwater- they don't care.

Luca with his jungle hat

vegetarian

You know the plants are tough when this machete is required to hike through them. I consider myself a hearty outdoors-man that could hold his own in the forest. But after 10 minutes hiking through the jungle without a guide I would be a curled up whimpering husk of a man.

nice boots

told you there was water

So until next time chaps- carry on and huzzah!