Back From A Blogging Hiatus

This is not a traditional blog in the sense that it is neither a window into my stream of consciousness, nor is it focused around one single topic. The reason for that is that I am sure that next to none of my readers is interested in the random thoughts that cross my mind on a daily basis. Often I think of things to post about and then demur when it occurs to me that having to turn such random ideas into clever posts with appropriate art might require more energy than I can muster. (Confession: I envy bloggers who never post pictures, though secretly skip over most such blogs due almost entirely to their lack of photos -- strange, I know.) Generally speaking, my regular, day-to-day life is really fairly boring, removed from a society I recognize, isolated, often incomprehensible (though my Spanish gets better all the time) and populated by no one else, apart from myself (and my husband for a couple of hours each night), who can put together a complete sentence in English. Despite my penchant for the non-traditional blog, I still enjoy blogging, though it is often not a priority -- as evidenced by this month's paltry showing. I blog because I don't keep a journal and because I know that someday I will want a record of our life overseas and our children as they grew to be contributing citizens of the world at large. I blog because I know there are family and friends, somewhere out there, who are genuinely interested in what we are doing and where we are doing it. I blog because I like to receive comments from my readers.

All of this is a lead up to the fact that I realized today that my most recent post, dedicated to the view from our apartment in Caracas and an afterthought at best, elicited more comments than any single post in my 2 year history as a blogger save only the post heralding the birth of Isaac. This is an astonishing revelation. It was one paragraph of text, 4 pictures and really, I threw it up on the blog because it had been weeks since my last post and I was starting to worry my "regulars" wouldn't come back if I didn't at least make some small effort -- particularly since I have also not been commenting on other blogs for most of the month. The lesson here is: Give the people what they want...and apparently what they want from me is pictures of a dictator-run, third-world, traffic-clogged city and the gorgeous sky overhead.

With that in mind...not long ago we visited a "suburb" of Caracas, El Hatillo. El Hatillo is far enough away that most people we know have been there just once and have no plans to return before leaving Caracas for good. In fact, it is only about 5 miles from our house, but with traffic becomes a day trip. El Hatillo is a small village that has desperately and somewhat successfully clung to its colonial roots in spite of the westernization of surrounding areas. Like most Latin American and European cities/towns/hamlets, El Hatillo is built around a central plaza. Typical of Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru, this square is adorned by a statue of the great liberator Simon Bolivar. The bright colors and architectural styles of the colonial era are visible throughout the small town and it boasts delicious retaurants and an abundance of churro shops. It is also known for its artisan market, though much of Venezuela's cultural heritage has been lost, abandoned or stamped out over the last 30 years and tragically very little is available in terms of traditional Venezuelan handicrafts anymore. El Hatillo is a maze of cobblestoned, narrow, one-way streets and a strange mix of old world and new construction with a gleaming 6 storey shopping mall rising up on the outskirts of town. We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon there chasing the pigeons in the square, indulging in a few too many churros and people-watching.

NB: And with that and the pictures below our blogging hiatus is over. We were taking a break because in the last three weeks we have received 3 shipments of household items totalling more than 175 pieces (huzzah! and sheesh!), and unpacking and finding places for all of that has taken most of my usually ample spare time. Look for a future post about life before and after 175+ boxes came to our now much happier home in Caracas.

a typical street in El Hatillo -- bright colors abound

the second floor Mexican restaurant where we had lunch

so many choices of churro

Simon Bolivar in his usual place

El Hatillo's obligatory church on the main square

not relevant to our visit to El Hatillo, but we thought it was
amusing that the 2 license plates read "Venezuela" and "Wyoming"

narrow streets against the old city wall

typical architecture

the barrios of El Hatillo

Hershey's was doing a promotion during our visit,
so while we didn't make it home with any handicrafts,
we did come back with a great souvenir just the same...

who doesn't love free chocolate?
(note, if we had bought these in the store, they would have cost us roughly $30)