Kelsey and Brittany's venezuelan parents met up with us in Margarita Island for a day long open jeep tour around the island. At every stop the guides had free soda, beer and water for us! Party trip! We started out going to Castillo Santa Rosa which we had just learned about in our history class! This castle was where the Battle of Matasiete took place that fought for Margarita's Independence. Also, some lady was held hostage in a room in this castle and she lost her baby while she was in there and we went in the room. Kinda weird!Then we went to the Church of the Valley, which is very famous in Margarita. But because we had shorts on we were not allowed to go into the church. So we just admired it from afar. I also bought a little elefante for Eira because she has a collection at home on the coffee table. I think she is going to love it!
Next on the tour was La Restinga aka Venezuelan Everglades. There were mangroves and little streams and yeah looked just like home! We saw some birds and then the guide found a starfish and we all took a picture with it in our hands. Getting off the boat I saw a million fiddler crabs on the shore and an iguana in a tree eating some lettuce! Then we drove along the coast to the westernmost point of the island called Punta Arenas and ate a typical Venezuelan meal. Then we went a la playa and played in the waves. They were huge and very strong!! Kelsey got thrown around really bad, had sand all up in her swimsuit and so went back to shore. So Marissa and I were wave buddies!! We would wait until the last possibe moment before the wave crashed, then yelled out OVER!! or UNDER!!! After the wave passed we would come up from the water and look for eachother to make sure nobody got tossed around. Best wave partner ever! We were in the water for close to an hour and it was really fun!
The end of our tour consisted of stopping at a place where they sell cocada, a drink made with ice and coconut milk. Yummy, but strange texture.
The very last part of our trip was four-wheeling on the sand dunes near the coast. At one point our back window popped off....it was that rough!! Our guide told us the best way to experience this was standing up so we did.
We were exhausted after our fun day in the sun, but we had the driver drop us off at the mall. It's called Sambil and is absolutely huge!I ate a dulce de leche Cinnabon! We were shopping around and then I thought I heard a marching band. What? in the mall? Sure enough, my ears weren't playing tricks on me...a percussion band came marching through. Apparently they were advertising perfume. Weird. But I loved it!
Once we got back to the hotel, we were all beat. Except that Marissa and I wanted to go see the show. and boy am I happy we did...it was SAMBA night. I think the dance orginated in Brazil and so they had the crazy costumes and the fun music. It was a great show! Then afterwards we stayed around to talk to the dancers and they were having another pool party. I tried a new drink called esplash: it was amaretto and orange juice and it was really good!! But maybe I liked them so much because the bartender, Marcelago, was also very good looking! Needless to say it was a fun night!
