Mérida... Finally

It was a little harder to get to Mérida than I expected, but I'm finally here and feeling more than a little excited.

First, Masa and I had a lot of problems getting a bus from Valencia, a connection on our way from Ciudad Bolivar, to Mérida, so much troube in fact that Masa decided to skip Mérida and go straight to Columbia. I spent the night in Valencia, enjoyed cable TV watching 3 hours of The Batman on Cartoon Network, and went to the movies, to see Firewall, before getting a bus here last night. About 30 minutes after the bus was meant to leave, the conductor told us that the bus wasn't going to Mérida that night for some reason I still can't fathom... I thought it was because there weren't enough people going to Mérida, strange since every bus was full the night before, but nearly the whole bus came to Mérida, so the reason will be an eternal mystery to me.

Anyway, I was hoping to met a Japanese guy called Ace who I met in Bèlem when I got here, but didn't have his email address. Luckily, as I was walking into the dorm to drop off my backs, he walked out :) He's going to spend the month here taking Spanish lessons, hitting the gym and learning Salsa, to which I'll add writing a computer game and talking to people at the university and we're pretty much doing the same thing. Since we're so long, we might share an apartment together, but we'll have a look tomorrow and see how much they cost.

I've been so excited about coming to Mérida for so long that I expected my dreams of a relaxed creative academic paradise set in the Andes to be dashed when I got here, but so far it's perfect. The weather was supposed to be crap, but it's beautiful and sunny today. The cable car to Pico Bolivar, the highest peak in Venezuela, was supposed to be out, but it's working perfectly. I'm sure the rain and cold will come sooner or later, maybe later today, but it wont be so bad if I'm inside working anyway.

I was talking to my big(gest) sister, Vanessa, the other day and she asked me if I'd found anywhere I would like to run away to. I said no, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if Mérida would be the place. So far, it looks like it could be. True, I've only been here for 4 hours, but I'm prone to strongly emotive comments when I'm happy, which I definitely am at the moment.

Could I be in trouble here?

Happily,
p.