First Week Survived
January 21st, 2010

Mérida -- Nick survived his first week of travel today, as one week passed without his metaphorical or literal demise. 

The possibility of his actual death is widely considered to have been nonexistent by authoritative strains of thought in his mind, however any number of other types of grievous emotional, psychological, or monetary harm could have presented themselves.

Connections in Aruba and Caracas both presented these risks by way of parallel though different local forms theft.

In Aruba the possibility of fiscal catastrophe loomed large as Nick attempted to traverse an area riddled with ungoverned groups that support their communities entirely through the questionable extraction of money from white people. 

Being a white person, Nick was found highly susceptible to this threat.

However, with the exception of lodgings, which according to local custom must command a cost that can only be justified as the price of admission to the adjacent beaches, money was spent exclusively on taxis and small bottles of beer.

A greater threat was considered to exist in Caracas, however, in the form of aggressive offers to exchange money at incorrect exchange rates by illicit taxi drivers. 

Also the threat was seen in such taxi drivers driving Nick to an ATM, demanding the withdrawal of the maximum amount of money, and leaving Nick in an area of the world with the highest number of murders per capita.

These potential issues were primarily resolved through the reservation of a room at a hotel within five minutes of the airport, and the hiring of a taxi driver who was both clearly licensed and extremely old.

The ridiculous fare charged by the ancient driver was the only damage incurred, and closely resembled that incurred in any taxi from JFK.

Following this was the domestic flight from Caracas to Mérida, which entailed the first interaction with an exclusively Venezuelan logistical operation and therefore entailed the first interaction with complete chaos.

Ultimately the flight was merely delayed by three hours, closely resembling that incurred in any flight from JFK.

In the succeeding days, Nick has been found to have to acclimate himself to air at a higher altitude and primarily composed of car exhaust, a bus system with an arcane and undocumented set of routes and no timetable, returning to school essentially on a full-time basis, and communicating solely in a language which he has never spoken at length and understands only when mixed ad hoc with English by his Mexican family in Texas and used primarily in reference to tamales, Christmas cookies, and how handsome he is.

In short, the interceding days have been found to be wonderful, and exactly the kind of invigorating mess he was hoping for.

Reached for comment, Nick offered the following statement haltingly, “El mercado es muy cerca del centro, y yo compro una manzana alli.”