Nicole (the psychiatrist on our trip) providing me with some much needed therapy! 

50 liters of gas (approx. 13.25 gals) for $2.16 (yes that says two dollars/16 cents)! Now you all really know what you're getting as gifts. 

At the Rotary Hospital 

the view of Barquisimeto from my room! 

Just new pics to post with captions! Hope you all enjoy!

Instructions for this post to my blog!

ok - i just posted the most recent blog and pics but realized after that the pics were in reverse order so scroll down and read the blog then look at the pics and read the captions. i'm much funnier in order!!

I'm thinking of taking this up! 

Facial piercing - which I eventually removed from him and he gave to me as a souvenir...I made him rinse it in alcohol prior to handing it over to me...get rid of all traces of DNA. 

You thought I was kidding!! (although this one has a growth!) OK - I'm out of control!  

Flowers at the Mission of Our Holy Mother (or something like that). I took about 150 pics of flowers - one more unbelievable than the next - many of which look like penises!) 

Good bye party in Coro 

Last night in Coro.  

Swimming in the rain at the beach at Coro 

The Dunes with Becki and Nicole 

The Dunes of Coro 

One week left!

Well I'm finally back! There is definitely a limit on internet access here but I'm trying. I've arrived in Barquisimeto in the state of Lara and it's an actual city with stores and wireless!! I'm a happy camper! You can take away my phone but please don't take away my internet access ever again!

Well where to start?...We are at our fourth and final destination prior to returning to the conference in Maracaibo on the 28th. We spent one week (actually 9 days) in Coro in the state of Falcon including 2.5 days at the beach where it rained...when it hasn't rained for months there!!! The people there were great fun and it's a colonial city that has some beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets. It seems I'm collecting my fair share of religious icons! I know you'll all get a kick out of that but it's true. I have several items to protect my soul (which could really use it), several pamphlets from masses I've been to (yes mom, masses plural!), a prayer card, a rosary and last but not least a poster of Jesus! (a really big poster). So now you all know what you're getting!!!

After Coro we went to San Felipe in the state of Yaracuy, a beautiful place with mountains and tropical flowers and beach not too far away (although we didn't get there...it's not all fun and games here!!) We did get to see "The Dance of the Spirits" which is a play that reminded me a bit of Tony & Tina's wedding (for those of you who saw it). Very participatory, only with hot coals, body piercings and removals, trances and exorcisms. (It was about withcraft being practiced in the hills of Yaracuy by the indigenous people.) During the entire thing the cast was passing around bottles of rum and whiskey which I thought must be tinted water but NO, lo and behold they passed them to the audience and it was definitely alcohol - which we proceeded to share with 30 people we didn't know...I know most of you are saying YUK but the truth is it was safer than the water!!!

Rotary Info - It's funny that when GSE teams come to the US they stay mostly in one state and visit the clubs there, for instance in CT we have 62 clubs. Here in VZ we are visiting 4 separate states (1 five hours from another) and they have a total of 58 clubs in the entire district which is comprised of 11 states. The original clubs in the states we have visited typically haven't allowed women but the clubs that are offshoots do but the amount of Rotary Ann clubs is amazing. There is an entire support system of women working behind the scenes of the Rotary clubs (and from what I can see they do a fair amount of the work - no surprise there).

Well, that's enough for tonight! It looks like I'll be able to keep up from here this week so write me soon and I promise to respond individually!!

Day 4...I think!

Well, I'm finally blogging and it's four (maybe 5) days into our trip. We arrived in Maracaibo without incident and were met by the District Governor Luis, his wife Armida, PDG Olga, GSE Area Coordinatoor, Hector, Hosts Helmut and Anita and Pres. Elect, Carmen. (Please forgive any punctuation mistakes I'm working on an old DOS keyboard that's also in Spanish and things aren't where I expect them.) From there the next few days are blurry! I am staying with Juan Carlos Hornez, a Rotarian, his wife Alicia and daughter Carina. They have three other daughters who live in Canada and Florida. Wonderful people!

Day One I was 4 bandages into a new pair of shoes and realized that I left several items of importance back home...including my flat shoes, mounds bars (which will be a great welcome home present to myself) and various other items. Each day starts at about 7:30 and ends around midnight with lots of walking and standing thrown in for good measure. We have seen some spectacular projects initiated by or supported by Rotary, including a private Rotary-ffunded Foundation that provides not only a place to go to school for elementary-aged children but a place for families to worship and a place for older children to learn a trade. One man's idea, another man's expertise, yet another's generrosity and the time and efforts of many others has turned an area where once nothing existed for very long, into a prospering community where people care about each other and have new-found pride. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

I apologize for not blogging more or sooner but it's so difficult here because accessibility to the internet is limited (and we thought dial up was slow). We've also been without phone access for much of the time too. I hope I soon get wireless service or find somewhere to connect my computer to make it easier to keep in touch with you all but now I have to go because of the early bell!! Pics and more news soon. Carlene

Becki, Nicole, DG Alan, Claudia, Me 

Greg, Nicole, Paula, Becki, Claudia, Frank, Me & Scott 

6 Days to Go!!

OK I am officially in panic mode! We leave on Saturday and I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in! We had our GSE Brunch today at Jacob Marley's in Orange, Becki came with Paula (mom), Nicole brought Greg (friend), Claudia brought Frank (husband), and Scott (my son) came too, on his way back to school.

This was a crazy week, I finally finished shopping for clothes and shoes (for me) and gifts (for our host families). I bought all kinds of stuff...PEZ, Whiffle bats, balls and gliders (like frisbees), honey, Mounds bars, CT Christmas ornaments, lip balm...all "Made in CT." Now the big problem...the packing...how is it all supposed to fit? Packing for four weeks in two suitcases goes against the laws of nature! And just how did all those clothes fit in one GAP bag? I think I need a suitcase made of stretchy plastic. I've also been going to the tanning center...I thought if I didn't have to bring makeup I could fit another pair or two of shoes! PANIC...PANIC...PANIC!!! Oh well, it's here, ready or not! Wish me luck.

"The Team"

Well, I've met my team. Nicole,(a physician), Claudia, (a graphic artist) & Becki,(a child advocate) and the team members going to Lithuania along with some Rotary mucky-mucks (just kidding) came to my house on Saturday for the initial training session. My team is great, all different, but we seemed to mesh pretty well. Mostly we got to know each other and Rupi (GSE Chairman) talked to us about his experiences as a team leader to India and had the team less worried about the turmoil in Venezuela. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BLAST! I personally cannot wait for this trip! Next week "the girls" are going shopping without the mucky-mucks! Well, we HAVE to choose a uniform so we're heading to the mall! No LL Bean uniforms and sensible shoes for us! We are going to be the most fashionable team in Rotary history! Adios y hasta la proxima vez.

Maracaibo is in the northwest corner...on the lake. 

Well, there are only 48 more days to go! They've moved up our departure date to April 1st and we have so much to do. The worst part about that is I'm going to miss my friend Sam's wedding.

The interviews are over (except for the team going to Lithuania) and I've met two of the team members and spoken to a third on the phone. I haven't met the last one. Their names are Claudia, Nicole, Becky and Sally and we're going to be spending a fair amount of time together in the next month and a half.

Training should start in the next week and we have to pick out a "uniform!" Haven't worn one of those since I worked at Bonanza in 1976!! We'll definitely pick something a little more stylish. The training manual is well on it's way to being a major novel! Those of you who know me know that I tend to overdo and I think I've done just that!!

Lots of things are going on in Venezuela and I thank all of you who have called or e-mailed, worrying about me traveling there. Please be assured that Rotary, as an international organization, has it's finger on the pulse of current events and they have no qualms about canceling our trip or removing us if the situation got dangerous. We'll be fine!

Regarding the bridge from the Caracas airport that is apparently out and will remain so for the immediate future; we will be traveling to Maracaibo which is on the Northwest coast of Venezuela. Caracas is more centrally located on the coast and lucky for us Maracaibo has it's own airport. I've posted a map so you can all see where we're going...especially those of you like me who are geographically challenged!! The best news I had this week was that the time difference between here and there is only ONE HOUR!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I don't do well with jet lag!

Well, I'm off to add more pages to the "Speaking Spanish" section of my Training Manual! Notice I capitalized that...I did say it's on it's way to becoming a major novel!! Adios para ahora! (Bye for now!)

Hopefully next pic will be in summer clothes!