Well the birthday bar has certainly been set. It will be incredibly hard to top my 30th birthday week. I felt surrounded by love from all directions and from different continents!
My actual birthday was one great surprise after another. I woke up and made my way to school as normal. I was greeted by some of my girlfriends with presents in hard, including a huge bag of special, hard to find Venezuelan chocolate chip cookies! The day got even better when, unbeknowst to me, my principal sent an email out to ALL the students telling them to be extra nice to me for my birthday, and boy were they! I got so many hugs and birthday wishes- I don't think the kids had ever been that nice to me:). Some of the girls in the 4th grade even got me some cake! I actually had double cake, because my friends got a huge Marquesa for all of us to share at lunchtime. Boy was I a happy (and full!) girl!
After school, I was supposed to have dinner with Ivan just the two of us. I was worried, because the city was an absolute mess. The guarimbas were out in full force, setting up barricades everywhere and generally reeking havoc. I was so afraid that Ivan would never reach me, as there was a lot of trouble on the streets between his work in the city center and my house in the eastern suburbs. He didn't arrive until around 7, and when he did he needed beer. Apparently, all the metro stations were closed except for the one in the heart of the trouble- Altamira. He had to get off there because he couldn't go further, and from there, tried to find a mototaxi that wouldn't price gauge him. He finally found one that charged twice what was normal, rather than the five times normal the others were charging. Once they got on their way they literally drove through tear gas at one point when they were getting to the motorway....I would say that's about as close as you can get to having someone "walk through fire" to get to you! After he arrived, we left for my favorite nearby Italian restaurant. To my surprise, when we arrived, there was a table for twenty filled with all of my friends! They pulled a fast one on me! What was supposed to be a romantic birthday evening turned into a great time with most of my closest friends, many of whom braved flaming garbage and tear gas to get there. Wow did I feel so special!
It's hard for things to get better after such a wonderful birthday, but they certainly did this weekend. Me, Ivan, Ivan's Mom Nereida and 10 of my closest friends flew to paradise: Los Roques. Los Roques is the beach we went to in December that is a half hour flight from Caracas. Most of our group had not been before, so it was wonderful to watch my friends enjoy their beach weekend. At the beach, we celebrated both my birthday as well as Tendai's 40th birthday and Chris and Nereida's birthdays. Lots of Aries in my group! Colleen as always brought the party, complete with 30th birthday shot glasses, 40th birthday coozies and a variety of pirate themed party favors. The pirate eye patches were a great accompaniment to the rum! We visited two islands, one each day, the first being Cayo de Agua, the farthest island in the archipelago. It was so beautiful! There was a sand bar in the middle of the two island connecting them- standing there with water on each side was just a magical feeling. What was not magical was the one hour boat ride there and back that about did Jackie, Tendai and I in. I needed two aspirin and two hours of hammock time when we returned just to recover! But after my recovery time we had a great dinner and Ivan and I finally got our romantic date time walking around the island to the light of a very bright and beautiful half moon. And the stars were just wow! After so much time in the city you start to forget what the stars look like.
The next morning, Ivan and I got another view of the island, hiking to the top of the small mountains at the edge of the little town. From there we watched a beautiful sunrise and got to see the entirety of "Gran Roque". After our morning trek, we had an equally fabulous breakfast and went back to our favorite island from out last trip- Francisky. There we were able to do some awesome snorkeling, eat fresh seafood and walk well out into the water on another really cool sandbar. And this time, I managed not to kill any lizards!
It was such an amazing trip. We were all on cloud nine when we made it back to Caracas, though the traffic and reports of barricades blocking the main highway brought us quickly back to reality. Monday we were all bummed when our superintendent made the call to have virtual school- THEY HAD WIRELESS BACK AT THE POSADA IN LOS ROQUES!!! Epic Sadface. My sadface turned into a panic face when Ivan and I got stuck in the elevator of my building between floors, but Ivan quickly saved the day and we jumped to safety. What a welcome back after a blissful, worry-free weekend! But, that's why those weekends are so important- getting out of the madness helps us deal better with the madness.
I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my entrance into a new decade. And now, in a mere four days, I am off again for Spring Break! Walli and I are heading to Ecudaor, where we will visit the Galapagos Islands and two mainland coastal cities- Guayaquil and Montanita. I will take lots of pictures and send a full report upon my return!
Many thanks for all the birthday love I received from all of you last week as well. I have truly never felt so loved and blessed! Besos!
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