Life in Barquisimeto!

sooooooooooooooooooo,

after a 14 hour bus ride that uses freezer technology as air conditioning, very big in venezuela apparently, i landed safe and sound in the great city of Barquisimeto! Pachi was there right as I got off the bus looking quite paranoid since its ¨the worst bus station in Venezuela¨ and then his mom came by in her jeep to pick us up.
Pachi and I had a very interesting conversation on the recent situation conflict with Colombia, Equador, and Venezuela and then Pachi regaled me with the various social programs set forth by Chavez in the last few years including one which Pachi works for currently. Pachi´s program is one that tries to have everyone have a college education, even women in their 50s and 60s who never were able to when they were younger which is the big group that Pachi works with.
The current conflict is on tv 24 hours a day and f16s are flying overhead regularly. basically, its the borders that everyone is very concerned about since Colombia entered Equador without telling them.
Besides that, Pachi is the same as ever (slicked back gelled hair, a t shirt with a revolutionary printed on it, and some stylish facial hair). He showed me around his house which has a garden that grows coffee beans, a mango tree and an ever accompanying dog named Tootsie (same breed as Grandma's old dog Honey!).
I'm going to relex a bit and then hang out with Pachi again when he gets back from work. There might be a beach trip in the works but first we'll investigate the old haunts of Pachi Rodriguez here in his hometown!

Hope you are well and can't wait to share pics and stories in just a few days!

Love, Nick