25 reasons why I love my mother

The Delta

Went to the Orinoco Delta a couple weeks ago (in the eastern part of the country), and got to experience yet another awesome part of Venezuela. I swear, the adventures never end here.

A lot of it reminded me of the Angel Falls area (which is further south -- here it was much more humid). Loved the windy rivers, that the guides know by heart, and every once in awhile they'll pull over to drop a bag of onions or something off at a neighbors. Lots of cool birds (this time, we saw egrets, kingfishers, flycatchers, and turpials). A few mosquitos (well, enough to make our guide cave and ask to borrow some insect repellant), but PLENTY of natural beauty. I swear, if it weren't for the mosquitos, I would pack up and move to a Venezuelan rain forest.

Turpial nests!

Look, I caught a PIRANHA!!!

And yes, we ate what we caught. Waste not, want not. They were actually pretty good, once you found the little bit of meat that was on them.

OK, so as not to leave you with visions of teethy, bony fish, I give you: "Cacao del agua." It looked like a bean pod our guide plucked off a tree, then he slapped it against his leg, and POOF! The coolest flower ever.