Did you know that when Amerigo Vespucci first came to Venezuela, he saw one of the native tribes' village? They were little huts built right on top of the water, held out of the water by large wooden posts as foundation. This reminded him of Venice, Italy, another city built on the water. And from the Italian word for Venice, Venezia, came the name Venezuela. Little did he know that hundreds of years later, the similarities of these two cities would still be apparent, even though the huts of the natives have long since disappeared. When it rains here, it's like the roads turn into rivers. The water pools even though there are no holes to pool into. Ankle deep, the current is unmistakable. You can see leaves and trash floating down the road. But this only seems to happen really when it gets dark. It rarely rains during the day, and when it does, it's never as hard as when it rains at night. I was on my way home when it started pouring out. I broke out the poncho for the first time. I don't think I looked as ridiculous as I thought I would.
Today I went to the botanical gardens. They are entirely outdoors. They have the usual parts, like a garden full of flowers and ponds, but they also have a challenge course like at Butler and an untouched area of rain forest, save for a tiny path you can walk on. Naturally we went straight for the rain forest. However, I was not too happy because had I known we were going on a nature hike, I would have at least worn tennis shoes instead of sneakers and would have brought bug repellent.
But I still managed to appreciate the coolness of everything.
Outside of the rain forest, there were actual exhibits and displays.
(This is bamboo. I had no idea it was so dense.)
It was a shame I had to leave before I could see the whole thing. Hopefully we'll go back. This is so interesting to visit because I'm taking an Ecology class here, and so I think of all these plants in the adaptations they had to make over time to survive. The days are getting busier.
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