Dad, don´t read this… Mom- you either.

2nd consecutive weekend at Drew´s after 5 straight weekends at the beach. I don´t know what wears me down more. Friday night it all started, Saturday it continued and remained constant until Sunday night. There was pizza, there was salsa, there was beer, there were backrubs. There were games, envy and sarcasm to beat no other. There was even (supposedly) sex in the bathroom, which is why we all had to leave the club.

I was about to recover from this weekend at Gladys´ place on Monday afternoon, when walking into her building she says: “someone got murdered here last night”
She proceeds to tell myself and Guillermina that there was some traffic, one of the dudes (dead now) started getting aggressive and actually took to pushing the car in front of him with his own car. The other dude (killer) got out of his car and shot him point blank before getting back into his vehicle and driving off. So, I can´t help but wonder….will there be any news of this incident? Will the murderer ever know justice for his actions? I was laughed at and told matter of factly- “Angela, NO! Of course not, this is Venezuela- nobody´s going to testify for that sort of thing.” Wow, and right outside her door. I mean RIGHT outside. Gladys heard the shots and ran into the kitchen, the farthest room from the street. It´s not a necessarily dangerous part of the city, but I guess it´s not the safest either.

When I first arrived Carlos, my boss, told me the ins and outs out of the city, as well as some statistics that I really couldn´t believe… or I could believe them, just didn´t want to and definitely didn´t want to write about them for my family to fret over, a world away. The statistic (as true as it may be) that stands out most in my mind is this: there are 70-80 murders a week in Caracas. More than Baghdad during the heart of the war. Of course almost all of these happen in the barrios over drugs and money, but the statistic is still engrained in my mind. Somehow I believe it. Going home from Chacaito I pass 2 funeral homes on the same block. They are always swarming with people. Always. I make sure to check everytime I pass them because I thought it seemed weird that there was so much activity on any given day- at any given time. Doesn´t seem weird anymore.



EL LEON- great pizza, great atmosphere. Love it! Ulia, Sarah, Angie, Baros
AT THE CLUB... Baros, Dan, Drew, Ulia, Mario
Here is where the envy came into play. and as many times as the girls tell him to "stop calling" Mario will still call.
Drew showing the working hand position for caps.
chillin' on the roof, or perhaps I`m chillin- they seem a bit worried.