Venezuela - Travel with Daymar

Ever wondered what it feels like to stand at the base of the world's tallest waterfall or witness a natural light show that rivals the Northern Lights? Join us for an immersive adventure through Venezuela as we team up with Daymar, whose intimate knowledge of the country brings its stunning landscapes and vibrant culture to life. Our journey begins with the awe-inspiring Angel Falls and the mystical tepuis, including the iconic Mount Roraima. Daymar shares fascinating insights into the sustainable practices at these natural wonders, painting a vivid picture of an experience untouched by modern distractions.

The marvels don't stop there. Prepare to be captivated by the Catatumbo lightning phenomenon over Lake Maracaibo, known as the most electric place on earth. We delve into the cultural significance of this natural spectacle and its potential to become a major tourist draw. Comparing it to the Northern Lights, we discuss why Catatumbo lightning should be on every traveler's bucket list. The conversation then shifts to Venezuela's pristine beaches, with practical tips for making the most of your visit to Los Roques archipelago and Morrocoy National Park.

No exploration of Venezuela would be complete without indulging in its culinary delights. Get ready to savor the flavors of traditional dishes like arepas and pabellón as Daymar guides us through her favorite recipes and cooking tips. From the significance of Carnival to the melodies of popular music genres, we uncover the rich tapestry of Venezuelan culture. We also offer crucial travel advice, such as the best times to visit and practical tips on currency use. This episode is a treasure trove of stories and insights that will leave you eager to experience Venezuela’s wonders for yourself.

Map of Venezuela

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol.

Speaker 2: 0:19

I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. Today, we meet up with Daymar, who is a citizen of Venezuela and now living in the US. To be frank, we discuss why currently, this is not often on many travel lists. With that in mind, it's a great armchair tourist destination. We learned about some of the beautiful natural landmarks of Venezuela, including the world's tallest waterfall and a lake that puts on a daily lightning show. We also discussed the awesome food, and we get some great cooking tips. Enjoy. Okay, welcome, tamar. Thank you for joining us, and I understand today you're going to talk to us about Venezuela, which we have never talked to anyone about yet, so we're super excited, thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:15

Thank you for inviting me and for having me in here.

Speaker 1: 1:19

Excellent, so we will talk about my country Wonderful, so start with how long did you live there? When did you come here to Northern California, and do you go back often?

Speaker 3: 1:31

I lived there like almost all my life.

Speaker 2: 1:35

My childhood.

Speaker 3: 1:36

I studied there my career and everything.

Speaker 1: 1:41

I came here six years ago, excellent, and then you were going. If I'm remembering correctly, you're going to college not only to just learn, but also to improve your English. Wasn't that part of it too? Yes, yes.

Speaker 3: 1:55

Your English is great. Yeah, well, it was actually my brother's idea because I was a little bit bored about the. The same class, same way. So my brother told me why you don't pick something that make you feel patient or excited about it, and and stood it and I was like, okay, so I picked psychology and I'm getting better.

Speaker 1: 2:20

that's fantastic. And no, I remember you were talking about that. Yeah, english is not my first language, but you understand it well. You sound great. Yeah, that's big. I know, and I'm traveling in different languages. It's you want to? So bad. I want to communicate with them, but I don't know the language. Yes, yeah, exactly so. So, venezuela, I'm looking. It's on the Caribbean Is.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Trinidad and Tobago part of Venezuela.

Speaker 3: 2:51

Yeah, it's too close, it's too close. It's not part of my country, but it's too close. Okay, venezuela is one of the countries that has tepuis I don't know if you have heard about it. The flat rocks, they are like mountains, oh yeah, and they are so big. We have the longest waterfall called Angel's Fall. I don't know if you saw the movie. Up yes, oh, up, sure. Well, that's the scenario. That's that one, yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:31

That's where they go to right. Is that waterfall at the end?

Speaker 3: 3:35

Yeah, that waterfall is called Angel's Fall and it's the longest one. Oh nice Okay.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting how close Venezuelaenezuela is actually to florida, like, yeah, it seems about just as far from belize to miami. Well, maybe not quite, no, yeah it's still, but still it's it's yeah, all.

Speaker 3: 3:58

Like every island, the caribbean island just runs dead ends into venezuela interesting yeah, and one, one interesting thing that I would like to talk about that place, the Roraima, is that whenever you go there, uh, the, the locals keep like so to clean the place. They, they don't allow you to use shampoo or soap or anything with chemics chemicals oh yeah, with chemicals, exactly so you need to take shower with something like so natural, yeah, and you are. You don't have phone sign signal, so you don't have you can call you. There's no phone and you have to walk like three days to get there and where is this?

Speaker 1: 4:49

Yeah, when? What is it?

Speaker 3: 4:51

The Tepuy Roraima. How do you spell it? R-o-r-a-i-m-a Roraima.

Speaker 1: 5:00

Yeah, and that is R-O-R-A-I-m-a, venezuela. Okay, it's popping up here, mount, oh my gosh. Oh wow, you saw the flat ones, right? Yeah, I'm looking at images.

Speaker 3: 5:16

Oh wow, so it's like one oh, wow, it's like a step of rock, it's like it's not a mountain by itself, but yeah, oh, it reminds me of something like from the wild west and you can find some natural jacuzzis on top of it so that, uh, it says, uh, paradise falls is from up, and it looks like it's the exact same picture is that true?

Speaker 1: 5:39

where it's like there's uh, the cliff there and there's a waterfall. Almost looks like, um, upper yosemite falls like a big fall and then it drops down. And then is there really that pillar, or is that made up from up? Like, is there really like the pillar?

Speaker 3: 5:56

it's exactly like actually actually uh, where it says they it is the longest fall of water in the world.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Oh, wow, yeah, it's, it's beautiful, and it's not called paradise falls, right, or is that? No, it's called angels fall. That's what I remember you saying. Yeah, I think they're just comparing it to the movie up right and this thing, but um, it is very it says awe and most awe inspiring, and with the clouds it's like above the clouds in the pictures that it's showing here. So is it, is it? And it's not an island, it's on land, right, right right, they are actually rocks.

Speaker 3: 6:40

They are not um land or mountain, normal mountains, they are rocks. They are like a big steps. The name is tepui and this is. There is a chain of tepui. I mean, it's not just one, they are a couple of them, uh-huh, and we share those with uh brazil and gujana okay oh, wow, I'm trying to see.

Speaker 1: 7:06

uh is that is? I've never I have. It says um tipui is a tabletop, mountain or mesa found in south america, especially venezuela and western guayana, guayana, um, yeah, yeah, guay. And it says Tipui means house of the gods. Yeah, oh, wow, it's really, it's magnificent, it's beautiful.

Speaker 3: 7:32

Yeah, it's an amazing experience, because even I don't know if it's the water, because if it's cold water, my skin and my hair got beautiful when, I was there. Yeah, it was so shine and my skin was like so beautiful. I love it.

Speaker 1: 7:54

So it's like the, it's a fountain of youth. We all need to go there, right? Yeah, and and so, and you said to get it takes three days to get there.

Speaker 3: 8:05

Well, it takes three days walking to get in the top of it, but from the city that I was it's like five days to get there because you need to get a city and after you need to get like a kind of bus or a truck.

Speaker 3: 8:21

It's like six or eight hours driving and after that next day you start walking and every day you walk between seven or eight hours oh, my goodness, oh yeah, so do people like backpack and things like camp and to go up you can pack as much as you really need, because you are the one who's gonna carry everything, so you make sure that you are um with what is necessary, totally right, and so yeah, and then so takes.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Is it does it take seven or eight hours a day, three for three days to get to the top right? Yes, you have to, I'm assuming it.

Speaker 3: 9:03

Is it set up for backpacking, for people with a tent and a sleeping bag and no, well, it depends, because I I got some company that they do that like they do the tours, okay, so they, they bring all those stuff. Oh god, even food and everything I just had like kind of groceries or snacks, yeah, but good snacks because of the quantity of hours that you walk and things that are like yeah, that that will sustain you.

Speaker 3: 9:40

Yeah, exactly uh, they have the place in the one we can get water, and it was so good. They bring everything, even the bathroom, no, even the restroom, funny. But you are like in the middle of the nowhere yeah right, yeah. Yeah, on the stars.

Speaker 2: 10:05

And what's the elevation? How high does that get it's?

Speaker 3: 10:07

pretty high. Yeah, it's pretty high. I don't remember right now the I just google it, yeah yeah, I'm.

Speaker 1: 10:13

I'm doing the elevation right now, oh okay cool yeah, because it's not, as you know, because there's um but it's the tallest waterfall though yeah yeah, yeah, but that's still like, uh, like boulder isn't what? Yeah, we're like, we're like 55,000 that's my figured, but this thousand or like nine. She lives in colorado so that's yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:45

So the ski mountains are that high yeah okay, okay, but then they go even higher, like 14 000 or something.

Speaker 3: 10:53

Yeah totally wow yeah, well, it's a nice experience, like because you have a around you nature, and like it's delicious about. The weather is amazing too. It's mild weather, so it's you know. Sometimes, uh, when you are in the snow, there is some stuff that I heard. This one was okay, a little bit sunny, but like good weather yeah, you're pretty close to the equator yeah yeah, and actually we have.

Speaker 3: 11:28

My country have just like two seasons, summer and winter, but it's not. It's not that cold or that hot like it's in the middle all the time we have like the raining time and no raining time oh, that's gonna ask if it's that it worked that way the rainy season and not rainy season yeah, it's weird how some places are very much like that another well, I guess california is like that right yeah, so I mean, you know, northern california has more seasons than southern california.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Southern california yeah, similar actually in here.

Speaker 3: 12:01

That's one of the things that I love is the weather, because it's not too hard, like in winter you can live, and summer you can live too, like know that you are dying or you know totally for sure.

Speaker 1: 12:17

So, um like, when is winter, when is summer, what are the months of those times and what's the temperatures?

Speaker 3: 12:31

It's same in here. We talk in Fahrenheit in here, right, so it's kind of 65, 70. Okay, yeah, and when it's December, same December. January, february, march are like the raining time, okay, and the temperatures can be like five less or seven less, like 60, but it's not. The difference is not that hard. And whenever rain, rain, stop, it's hot, it's same yeah it's not.

Speaker 3: 12:57

It's not that hard. Is it humid there in some cities, not all. My city is not it mild, it's not human. And what city are you from? I'm from San Cristobal, s-a-n. Yes, one word, and the next one is C-R-I-S-T-O-B-L. Sorry, a-l. San Cristobal, okay got it.

Speaker 1: 13:23

I'm looking it up. It says Tachira, tennessee.

Speaker 3: 13:28

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 13:29

Tachira. Okay, oh, wonderful. Now I'm looking at pictures, or I'm trying to at least. Very city-like, it looks like what brought you to Northern California, my brother, my brother, my brother was here.

Speaker 3: 13:44

My brother came to work California. My brother, my brother, my brother was here. My brother came to work with a construction company, so I came here, nice, oh, that's great.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Six years ago. You've been here for six years, six years ago, yeah, and I love it. Oh, that's fantastic. I'm looking at beautiful churches. There's a really pretty church there and some waterfalls and very city-like. I see a lake with some tents near it. I don't know if there's a big lake. What's this?

Speaker 3: 14:17

No, the big lake is in Maracaibo, it's in the yeah it kind of looks like it's in the coast, yeah. In the top coast.

Speaker 2: 14:29

That's the Lago de Marsecabo, maracaibo, yeah, there it is. Is tourism very big there? I don't hear a lot of people going to Venezuela. I think it feels like Is it safe? Is it popular? Venezuela is it safe, you know? Is it popular?

Speaker 3: 14:46

Venezuela is a place that I don't know if you have heard about. It's a country with a lot of oil. Okay, it's a kind of it's a rich country, but now the administrators are not so good. Okay, and we have two big emigrations to the country. It was when the war, the second war, and when the industrial revolution. So we have a lot of diversity. We have Italians, Portuguese, from South America, we have Italians, Portuguese from South America, Germans. So we have a lot of different cultures that come.

Speaker 1: 15:30

Yeah, cultures in my country yeah. Yeah that. Come and visit Gosh. Yeah, there's some big lakes. Is that where Maracaibo is?

Speaker 3: 15:40

It looks like In Maracaibo. Yeah, there is something super interesting. I don't know how to call that, but there is in maracaibo. Yeah, there is something super interesting. I don't know how called that, um, but there is lake maracaibo. Yeah, lago de maracaibo.

Speaker 1: 15:52

Yeah, lake maracaibo I was just looking at it.

Speaker 3: 15:55

It's huge have you ever heard about catatumbo?

Speaker 1: 15:59

lighting, lighting no, what's that?

Speaker 3: 16:04

well, that's a, a phenomenon that occurs in maracaibo. How do you spell it? C-a-t-a-t-u-m-b-o catatumbo. Yeah, oh, my goodness, lightning. So that's something that happens every time, never stop.

Speaker 1: 16:28

Oh, so it's lightning bolts and it's filling Lightning, but it looks like thousands of them. Yeah, is it all going all at once? Yeah?

Speaker 3: 16:41

And if you live or if you are close to it, it's all the time like a flash.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Yeah, wow this is on the lake that lake.

Speaker 3: 16:51

Yeah, that's on the lake.

Speaker 2: 16:52

Yeah, in catatumbos wow, these are some dramatic pictures these are very people go to instagram.

Speaker 1: 16:58

You gotta watch that it and there's um. Are they different colors too, or is that filters, because I see some that are purple I mean the orange, I guess.

Speaker 3: 17:08

I guess it depends about the camera, but I guess it's, and you know when. Sometimes how you say when is, oh my God, I forgot the word.

Speaker 2: 17:17

No problem, it's just also the lighting, maybe of the day, yeah.

Speaker 3: 17:21

Yeah, exactly, it depends about how it is cloudy or not. Okay.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Got it? Yeah, it looks. There's so many. It looks like veins, veins. It's just like tons of veins everywhere and it and there's almost more lightning bolts than there is sky. Um, it's that impressive.

Speaker 2: 17:44

I have that's amazing, and it is constant right, yeah, no, it's interesting because people go to, like, to Norway for the northern lights and like, hey, this is probably definitely more dramatic than that and it's kind of guaranteed you're going to see it.

Speaker 1: 18:00

It looks like oh my goodness wow, there's one picture I just found. I'm just scrolling through all of the lightning ones and there's um and maybe they, they. I don't know if they've added color to it, but yeah, there's multiple colors of yellow, blue, red, green, white.

Speaker 3: 18:21

You know what happened. Sometimes the camera's filters change the real colors, because I went to Alaska, to the Northern Lights, and in camera you kept a different color than the one that you see there.

Speaker 1: 18:40

I was going to say, I found something. It says. The most electric place on earth it's Venezuela's Lake Maracabo holds the Guinness World Record for the highest concentration of lightning, with 250 lightning flashes per square kilometer each year, or kilometer kilometer. The storms are the most spectacular at the peak of the wet season. At this time of year, you can see an average of 28 lightning flashes each minute yeah, and is it usually like?

Speaker 2: 19:08

raining and storming when that's happening, or is it just a light? No, it could be in raining or could be in normal days.

Speaker 3: 19:12

I mean that's happening, or is it just a light show? No, it could be in raining or it could be in normal days. I mean, it's all the time, it's a phenomenon.

Speaker 2: 19:18

I wonder if they could try to like capture that electricity. Has anyone ever tried to do that?

Speaker 1: 19:22

I don't think so I don't think so. I don't think so.

Speaker 2: 19:27

Maybe they tried Tesla.

Speaker 3: 19:30

I love the pictures Wow.

Speaker 1: 19:33

I don't know that's oh. I'm so glad you told me about this. This is like I was just in Arizona this past weekend. There was this huge lightning storm and I was in. I was stuck in my car working actually on Friday night.

Speaker 1: 19:50

And the light was. It was. I could see in my rear view mirror and my my side mirrors, all these lightning bolts behind me and also way ahead of me too, like just all around. And then the whole thing, like that's, it looks like, looks like this would still be 10 times more, hundreds, thousands more. That's pretty incredible. And so is it during you said the, or it said the wet season. When is the best time to see that?

Speaker 3: 20:17

well, that's a phenomenon that happens all the year, so anytime someone wants to come, it's a good time?

Speaker 1: 20:25

yeah, yeah, make sure. I don't know. Do they tell, like, do people get hit by the lightning?

Speaker 3: 21:11

I don't think so, uh, I mean, I don't think that that people goes that close you know, like there is a civilization close to it, but like it's not the. It's next to a lake, you know, but you don't need to come that close and the lake is so big.

Speaker 1: 21:28

Where exactly is this where the lightning goes? Is it because I see it's sort of like there's a mouth that leads from the Caribbean Sea to that? Is it happen to be there?

Speaker 3: 21:41

Let me find out in here, because it's in one of the of the sites, like maybe under. It is called Catatumbo River in the place that it's showing Okay, not in the lake by itself.

Speaker 2: 21:55

I did a Google for where it's located. It seems like it's just like one southwest part of the lake.

Speaker 3: 22:01

Okay, yeah yeah, it's one of the south part.

Speaker 2: 22:05

Oh, I see Catatumbo River.

Speaker 3: 22:07

Okay yeah, the River of Lightning, I guess that's not's appropriate yeah, for someone who likes uh, nature, on all those interesting things, because it's super weird yeah, are there towns near that where people go for vacation? Yeah, I guess it's like uh, roraima. Those are places that are like so popular, where in the moment that I went there, I found Japanese, chinese from Australia, a lot of people from different countries. Just they come just to see those places just to visit those places, yeah there's another thing.

Speaker 1: 22:54

It says the catatumbo lightning strikes 3600 times an hour, 10 hours a day, for 300 days a year. That sounds like it's all year round. So yeah, unlike the northern lights that are just on and off, that sounds like this one is yeah it's like sunshine in california.

Speaker 2: 23:14

Huh wow, thank you for sharing.

Speaker 1: 23:18

This is really. It's a beautiful and scary and beautiful at the same time.

Speaker 3: 23:23

Right again, yeah, yeah, well I'm curious and and I like those things, yeah, me too. I'm very curious. And another thing that has venezuela is beautiful beaches, uh-huh, yeah, uh, we have a big coast because it's like in all the country we have a site that is coast, caribbean, and there is some special places, one called los roques. Oh, los roques is r-o-q-u-e-s yes, okay, oh, wow.

Speaker 1: 23:58

It says archipelago, which. What small island. So there's a whole bunch of islands there too. Yes, yes, I know, in sweden there's the archipelago, so that's a little. Oh, it's wow.

Speaker 3: 24:11

And it's the Caribbean seed, so it's all turquoise and beautiful it's so beautiful and the water is so hot Not hot, but like you, enjoy it.

Speaker 2: 24:25

Okay, comfortable and warm.

Speaker 3: 24:27

If I'm going to the vision here I can come out, I don't know, like freeze frozen yes very much so here in northern California, for sure, oh no, no, I even enjoy those because I mean, it's what I have right now, you know, yeah, yeah, and I enjoy them like it's something new. It's a new experience. It's different than what I know.

Speaker 1: 24:51

Oh wow, it's really pretty, so it looks like I'm trying to get a better picture here where it's.

Speaker 2: 24:58

I see a lot of like yeah, whitish sand beaches.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Yeah. Very very light turquoise color. Is it like? Is it expensive to stay there or is it pretty reasonable?

Speaker 3: 25:09

or it depends, because if you go to Los Roques it is expensive, yeah, but if you pick one of the other ones, of course it's like it's cheaper to go. Yeah, but I recommend all the time that you find someone who can help you to get to the tourist place or, you know, like someone who knows the place like you, yeah we'll volunteer your services yeah, yeah whenever you want awesome and uh.

Speaker 1: 25:43

So what are some of the other beaches that you would uh recommend to that, maybe to the locals go to, or that would be something that, um, you know, not as touristy or expensive, but just as beautiful?

Speaker 3: 25:56

yeah, uh, there is a park called morocco uh-huh and they have archipelagos around uh-huh and yeah, those are like the ones that I must visit when I was living there.

Speaker 1: 26:10

Oh, that says uh, is it um?

Speaker 3: 26:13

called callo sombrero or morrocoy, m-o-r-r-o-c-o-y.

Speaker 1: 26:20

Yeah, oh, that's pretty too. Gosh, the, yeah, the beaches I. I would have never thought to go to Venezuela for the Caribbean, but it's beautiful.

Speaker 3: 26:31

I guess each country has something special and something magic. You know, like all of them have something old, even the weather, or the nature, or people, cultures, I don't know, but or food.

Speaker 1: 26:49

Exactly Well, and also let's get to food, or I don't know if there are. Yeah, exactly well, and also let's get to food, or I don't know any other spots that you would highlight, I these were no, no, we can't.

Speaker 3: 26:56

We can't go so far. Those are the ones that I love, oh perfect, that's.

Speaker 1: 27:02

That's exactly what we like and what's the food like well, we have something called arepas.

Speaker 2: 27:09

I love arepas. I try to make them. Have you ever tried them? Yes, yes, great.

Speaker 1: 27:14

How do you say that? I've never heard of it.

Speaker 3: 27:18

A-R-E-P-A-S.

Speaker 2: 27:21

Arepas, arepas. The first time I had them was in Wyoming, at like a country festival. Oh really, I was like you wouldn't think we'd have everything like barbecue beef or something, but it's like no, it was like a food court or food truck they had like a rapist. It was like, oh my gosh, I need to add this to my daily life they're almost like the greek.

Speaker 1: 27:41

What is it the, you know? Like a like a gyro. Yeah, like a gyro, um, but like a taco a gyro um no, the dog is different.

Speaker 3: 27:53

It's a warm dog, but it's different. Yeah, no, it's different yeah, what's?

Speaker 1: 27:58

it's a. It's a. Is it a tortilla, or it's a bread of some sort?

Speaker 3: 28:03

right, it's no, it's like uh, it's no bread, neither tortilla. The consistency is different, but outside it's like a toast, oh okay, and inside the dough is like soft.

Speaker 1: 28:17

Oh, got it Okay, oh yeah. Oh, here I'm seeing other pictures of it. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of like a tamale.

Speaker 2: 28:24

Like a tamale is like made with like corn maize, so I think it's kind of similar or like a biscuit corn maze.

Speaker 3: 28:33

So it's. I think it's kind of similar, um, but or like a biscuit. That's what it looks like. The other picture is different because you is you grill them?

Speaker 1: 28:38

and it is, and so the other pictures now make it look more like a hamburger kind of around.

Speaker 3: 28:43

Yeah, exactly, and you fill it with whatever you want. Oh wow, it's watering chicken beef, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:53

And then I see bell peppers um avocado. Looks like some sort of feta cheese, but it's probably not.

Speaker 3: 29:00

Oh, reina pepiada is the name right for that one is chicken uh-huh, it's like cheddar chicken, yeah, or yeah, with avocado onion. And you, you make uh mayonnaise, or yogurt, greek yogurt, uh sauce, and you mix cilantro and garlic. It's so good, all right, and then do you make this yourself?

Speaker 2: 29:27

have you? Are you? Yeah, yeah, okay, so what's your secret to making sure that it doesn't fall apart? Do you have a secret? I'm sorry, how do you make sure that it doesn't fall apart?

Speaker 3: 29:37

when you make it no, you cannot make sure.

Speaker 2: 29:39

Actually I'm not that good because I try to make something like this and it just uh, you know how, how I make it.

Speaker 3: 29:47

I mean I open it and I eat half toast and half toast. But my mom, when my mom cooked, she made it and she just opened a little bit and she feel it.

Speaker 2: 29:58

She figured it out. Yeah, exactly, you need to be Venezuelan, maybe Not like me.

Speaker 1: 30:08

So, abuela, yeah, abuela, it's a lot of magic, right, right, did it like carol? You tried to make it and it fell apart. Yeah, yeah, and is it corn?

Speaker 3: 30:20

is it? Um, it is a corn. Yeah, it is a card, though, but like it's a process, it's pre-cooked.

Speaker 1: 30:27

Oh, okay, it does make me think of um, you know, the Spanish and the corn husk.

Speaker 2: 30:34

The tamale.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Tamale. Yeah, is it like a tamale? The bread or the part of it?

Speaker 3: 30:41

Yeah, maybe the dough it could be the same, but the thing is you don't boil it. That's the difference with the tamale Tamale, you boil it, you boil it, and this one, you grill it. Yeah, so that's why it's toast outside.

Speaker 1: 30:55

Oh, got it. Oh my gosh, that looks it's making me hungry.

Speaker 2: 30:58

That looks really nice.

Speaker 1: 31:01

And then what else? What are other popular food items?

Speaker 3: 31:05

Well, we have a plate called pabellón, and it is white rice, black beans, I don't know, uh, the sweet plantain. We made it like a leaf and we, I, we grill at home, but sometimes people fry them and with beef, the one that is shredded too like. That's the place that it calls pabellon.

Speaker 2: 31:31

Pabellon criollo sounds like papa john's I know how do you spell it. No, it's not pizza, not at all similar.

Speaker 3: 31:39

How do you spell it p-a-b-e-l-l-o-m like pabellon oh, I see it.

Speaker 2: 31:47

Yeah, so like P-A-V-E-L-L-O-N.

Speaker 3: 31:54

Oh, is it plantains? Yeah, sweet plantains, I think.

Speaker 2: 31:56

I just saw this on the Amazing Race. That was their challenge. They had to make this plate it had an egg on top and beans and it was like some pork rinds also, and avocados and the. The plantains had to be cooked, grilled, just right. I could eat that every day. That looks amazing, oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, that looks. I've never cooked plantains. I think that would be. Have you cooked plantains?

Speaker 2: 32:22

yeah okay, yeah I love them I can't it doesn't seem like it'd be that hard right Just peel and throw them in the pan.

Speaker 3: 32:30

Well, it depends, because, for example, I can bring plantain for my office and I don't peel it. I put it in the microwave, I cook it for two minutes and when it comes out I peel it after it cooks, so in that way it doesn't get dry.

Speaker 2: 32:56

Oh wow, that's smart. It cooks so in that way is it doesn't get dry? Oh wow, that's okay that sounds great. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna ask you what do you fry it? And you fried in butter, olive oil or avocado oil, but you put it in the microwave, no frying.

Speaker 1: 33:05

Yeah, so, and that's a plantain. You take a plantain, you put it in the microwave two minutes, and, and that's a plantain. You take a plantain, you put it in the microwave two minutes, and and that's. And then what do you do once you take it out? Do you slice it? Do you mush it?

Speaker 3: 33:17

I slide it and I cut cheese and I eat it with butter and some eggs. Oh, there's the butter.

Speaker 2: 33:24

Okay, and do you have to like open up the peeling a little bit to let the air breathe?

Speaker 3: 33:32

Yeah, I cut the edges and I make a line through the plantain and I put it like that, and after I open the peel, I peel it.

Speaker 2: 33:42

And do you have to go to a special grocery store in California to find plantains?

Speaker 3: 33:46

Yeah, I just found them in the Mexican stores.

Speaker 2: 33:50

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, because bananas are just like everywhere and bananas I don't know if you guys know is the cheapest food in the world. It's going to cost you like 60 cents for a whole bunch of bananas, but I never see plantains. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 34:05

Yeah, they are good. I like them when they are sweet. There is another plate called patacon, that is with the green plantain okay, oh green plantain.

Speaker 1: 34:20

Yeah, so it's, it's. It's not an unripe plantain, but it's green, or is it unripe?

Speaker 3: 34:27

it's unri, but we call it green plantain or yellow plantain, so that's the one that is unripe. Is the name yes?

Speaker 1: 34:37

Unripe. Yeah, so it would be. Not, it would be bitter, right it was, it wouldn't be sweet.

Speaker 3: 34:43

It's not sweet, exactly, it's for salty meats. And the other one because in my city we are in the border with Colombia and we learn from them to to eat a lot of sweet and salt stuff. So we have some, some desserts that are cheese with guava. You know what is guava? Guava is like a sweet fruit that you do a jam with it, yep, and we eat like that a lot of stuff, even a toast with jam and cheese. What kind of cheese? It's a farmer cheese? I don't know, it's not. Is it soft, is it hard? Is it a little bit hard? And you can even grill them. Oh yeah, yeah, it's a little bit salt. So the next thing is to mix the sweet with the. Oh yeah, it's pretty nice because you don't eat like dove or stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 35:51

Do they just grow everywhere in Venezuela?

Speaker 3: 35:53

Yeah, not everywhere, but there is a lot of farmers that have them.

Speaker 1: 35:59

Yeah, the cheese looks like a lot of well. It says queso blanco and queso lanero. Queso blanco, yeah.

Speaker 3: 36:07

Like white cheese. Yeah, exactly peso blanco, yeah, like white cheese yeah exactly that which makes the thing is is the most similar that I found in here is in a Mexican store. Yeah, and it's called um cheese to fry. You ask it like that. Oh yeah, cheese to fry and it's a cheese that is kind of similar and you can eat them.

Speaker 1: 36:28

Yeah, that's the most similar that I found in here yeah, oh my gosh, wow, and then do I'm assuming lots of meat is eaten? Is it fish as well? Because you're on the? Uh, there's the caribbean, there too, they're popular, uh, popular um meats and and fish that you guys eat.

Speaker 3: 36:49

Oh, we have a fried fish Whenever you go to the beach. You get next to the beach, there is a lot of restaurants and they give you patacon with salad and fried fish and it's the complete fish fried oh your head they clean it inside, but it's the complete one.

Speaker 1: 37:14

I remember being in Costa Rica and they gave me a fish with the scales and the eyes and everything. Do people eat all of it or do they just?

Speaker 3: 37:23

Some people eat all of that. I don't eat eyes, I just eat the meat. We learn how to leave all the skeletal complete wow.

Speaker 1: 37:37

And then so when you, when you eat it, do you take off like the I'm imagining me being there but um, to take off the like, the scales and stuff, do you like have to like scrape it off or cut it off or something?

Speaker 3: 37:51

no, the thing is that you learn how to do it with your fork and you start peel it and when you finish it's complete. Okay, like just the. I don't know how to call the skeletal. Like just the, oh yeah, skeleton it's good.

Speaker 2: 38:07

Yeah, or the bones, yeah.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Yeah, so I won't look totally ridiculous if I while I'm eating it.

Speaker 3: 38:14

No, no, no, no, I don't know, I don't. There is, of course, some people that doesn't, that doesn't like those, because they have the, the, the little bone.

Speaker 1: 38:24

but yeah, oh my gosh, oh, that's great. And then what about like living there, cost of living Is it expensive to live there? Is it pretty reasonable? Like if someone wanted to go there, and how much rent would they have to pay each month to stay there?

Speaker 3: 38:51

even though that we have a crisis there. Uh, it is too expensive everything. There is something crazy, but I don't want to.

Speaker 2: 38:55

I don't want to go to the political.

Speaker 3: 38:56

Yeah, because it's too extensive. But the thing is, yeah, now it's too expensive. You can, you can even expand, same as here, and you don't get that from your work there okay yeah. So when I was there, most of the people have like a goal whenever you have two years working or something that like that, it was affordable to get a house in that moment, okay.

Speaker 2: 39:25

Now it's different yeah, how about like to stay in a hotel? Is like two, three hundred dollars a night, then, or?

Speaker 3: 39:32

I'm not sure about the hotels right now, but yeah, it's expensive. You can go for a dinner. An example you can go for a dinner and pay 45 for one food oh okay, all right. Yeah, it's kind of even a little bit more expensive than here.

Speaker 2: 39:49

Okay, that's why I don't hear them. It's not very popular.

Speaker 3: 39:54

And the difference is the minimum wage. There is not the same as here. It's pretty low.

Speaker 2: 40:02

Oh, okay.

Speaker 3: 40:03

So yeah, it's so expensive.

Speaker 2: 40:05

Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 1: 40:06

So it looks like there's a lot of forest right. It seems like on the top part of Venezuela that it looks like there's I don't know if that's cities or there's a whole bunch of lines and then there's a really big part that's on the south part that looks very green. Is there a lot of? Almost like half of Venezuela looks almost like it's.

Speaker 3: 40:29

Yeah, that's the land. The land place is for farmers Most of all the downside. Yeah, yeah, it's for farmers like plantain or papaya or beef.

Speaker 2: 40:47

Okay.

Speaker 1: 40:47

Yeah, and then what do people like to do in terms of like um activities or like what's a typical day or a fun weekend for families, like what do people typically do together well, um, we go party.

Speaker 3: 41:05

But it depends about it depends about the egg, because when I was there I used to go party all weekend and dance and concerts, movie, theater. No, a lot of hiking, no, a lot of nature. I start like, in my later years there was the moment when I started like exploring nature, hiking, uh, stuff like that, but I was a party girl so for people who would be interested in partying.

Speaker 1: 41:48

What would you recommend for someone to go to? Where should they go? To my city.

Speaker 3: 41:54

Okay, got it. Yeah, thank you so much. You can go party there. That's a city. It's known as a place where people drink a lot of beers. Mm-hmm, we actually had. Uh, whenever you graduate from the university, we have a party. In the one you get boxes. Uh, my, my tent has like 30 boxes of of beer and everybody like is showering, showering with the beers. Oh, my goodness, like celebrating, like celebrating because we are graduate, but it was a big, big party yeah, that sounds like people.

Speaker 2: 42:36

There was a lot of fun that that was yeah, it was oh, that's fantastic okay, well, gosh, we are almost at our time um we're having fun right yeah yeah, so kristen. Anything else we want to do before the rapid fire question, uh, no, I'll let you, I'll let you know.

Speaker 1: 42:57

Okay, looking at the, uh, when uh Carol mentioned from Cuba, and then it kind of it's almost like circles all the way down with all the Caribbean islands into Venezuela, and I didn't't notice that, but it's so true that seems like a, it's almost a big circle. It's right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:15

Yeah, yeah, all right. Well, speaking of partying, what are one of the popular holiday traditions there that you like to celebrate, or is there? I know some countries just have like so many holidays. Is there one that stands out?

Speaker 3: 43:29

Yeah, we have one in february called carnavales.

Speaker 2: 43:36

Okay, yeah, it's like the rio de janeiro carnival it's kind of.

Speaker 3: 43:41

It's kind of similar. Uh, and that's a moment in the one uh, you were customs. We don't have halloween. You wear customs, we don't have Halloween.

Speaker 2: 43:49

Oh, okay.

Speaker 3: 43:50

I mean we get it from US, but like that's one of the in February, carnival is the moment that you wear custom and you wet everybody with little balloons of water. Oh okay, it's like you start playing with people with the little balloons filled with water do you throw them at each other like water balloon flights?

Speaker 1: 44:12

yeah, yeah yeah I was like oh, that sounds just like water balloon fights is that yeah

Speaker 2: 44:20

you come back to your childhood oh hey, I wonder, is it tied to like um mardi gras, where it's like right before Lent also because it's in February? Is it Catholic there, where they have like the Lenten season for Easter?

Speaker 3: 44:36

Oh, yeah, but we call Semana Santa. It's different, it's a different one. Yeah, we call Semana Santa, it's like Saint.

Speaker 2: 44:45

Week. Okay, I was just wondering if the carnival was right before the Easter season. It's before, it's before, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, very good, okay, great, um, and what's the typical breakfast that you would have there?

Speaker 3: 44:56

arepa arepa for breakfast.

Speaker 2: 44:59

Okay, yes, arepa for breakfast and for dinner mostly okay yeah, okay, yeah, nice, and like Japan, they like fish every meal. Like I think I'd go for the arepa. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 45:13

I mean, we make a soup called pizca too. It is a potato soup with um. It's not, it's a broth, chicken broth with potatoes, cilantro, and you put some eggs to be boiled there that's called pizca With arepas next to it.

Speaker 1: 45:33

You hard boil the eggs they hard boil in the soup. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:39

Interesting. The food sounds amazing.

Speaker 1: 45:42

All right.

Speaker 2: 45:43

Is there a specific kind of music that is very popular?

Speaker 3: 45:49

Pop music. We have the Janeras, like the yeah, it calls Janeras Venezuelan music with arpa. Have you ever heard that instrument? The harp, harp, yeah, oh, okay, we have that one and it's one called Cuatro. That is like a little guitar. Okay, it's little, it's small. Cuatro, that is like a little guitar. Okay, it's little, it's small.

Speaker 2: 46:13

Not like a Hawaiian, oh, not like a ukulele.

Speaker 3: 46:16

Yeah, no, it's a small, but like it's different, the sound that comes out is different.

Speaker 2: 46:24

Oh, wow, yeah, All right. And what's the money down there, bolivares?

Speaker 3: 46:30

Oh my gosh, how do you spell that B-O-L-I-V-A-R-E-S? Bolivares, bolivares, okay.

Speaker 2: 46:43

And the exchange rate is expensive. Okay, let's just leave that. We'll try to figure that out.

Speaker 3: 46:49

It's pretty low actually okay I mean you need to get a big amount of uh coins to get a coke, okay all right, no, it's so devaluated the coin there okay.

Speaker 2: 47:04

Is it better, when you go to visit, to have a credit card, or better to exchange cash?

Speaker 3: 47:10

It depends on the credit card, because some credit card charge you international fees. Oh right, yeah. So in that way it's better to get cash and bring it there, because they are not going to charge you each time that you are paying something.

Speaker 2: 47:27

Oh, okay, yeah, All right. And then is there surfing. I know you're on the caribbean side, is there? Do people surf, like in the surfboards in the ocean?

Speaker 3: 47:37

no much, because we don't have big waves waves. Yeah, we don't have big wave. We have in some sometime, but it's not a country that people uh do a lot of surfing yeah, I guess we had the, the western side always.

Speaker 2: 47:55

Okay, well, very good. Well, thank you appreciate that. No, thank you, it's pretty amazing really.

Speaker 1: 48:02

Uh, thank you sharing uh, venezuela, it's so neat to. So what would be, I guess, the last question when would be the best time to travel, if someone wanted to go there?

Speaker 3: 48:12

I will say summer, summer time. Yeah, I will say summer because it's the moment in the one you enjoy more. Okay, if it's raining, you need to stop some plants, or summer is the best time. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:29

And so when you say say summer is the summer, the same months as our summer, so june, july, or we have to, yeah even no, you can take summer since may until september, okay so remember we have like six months, six months, six months raining six months so that's the non-rainy season? I assume, yeah, yeah exactly the non-raining seasons.

Speaker 3: 48:52

Yeah, you're right, nice, definitely want that wonderful.

Speaker 1: 48:56

Well, thank you so much, demar. It was so wonderful to get to see you and, um, thank you, through your experience in venezuela things I had no idea. I am so excited to gosh. I definitely have to go. I want to check the lightning bolts and that mountain.

Speaker 2: 49:13

Lightning sounds very cool.

Speaker 3: 49:14

Yeah, yeah, that would be nice, that would be super nice, absolutely Thank you so much Thank you for having me have a great day. Nice to meet you. Bye. Nice to meet you too, bye.

Speaker 2: 49:27

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app, and if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at when Next Podcast. Thanks again.