Martes, el 8 de Julio

Well, Pablo let me down! He had a rough night and couldn’t go with me in the morning. I took a taxi to the Plaza Bolivar. (If you don’t know who he was, check him out on Wikipedia or someplace like that!) The taxi driver told me to be very careful, even to take off my wedding ring! This advice kept me alert!
Everything here is Bolivariano! Beautiful old buildings, the government palaces (Where Hugo Chavez works!) and lots of people. I got up the nerve to get breakfast. It’s not so easy when you don’t speak the language. I am a little surprised that very few people speak English here. I had two Arepas con Carne Mechada, Coffee and some very good, fresh orange juice.
After desayuno (breakfast) I was ready for the two small museums near the square. Both were about Simon Bolivar and one was in the house of his birth. Very interesting buildings with central, open-air rooms, all in stone. There were lots of artifacts from the time of Bolivar; clothing, medals, stone coats-of-arms, his bath-tub, etc. Both museums were free!
Next I was brave enough to enter a “Mall”. There I was set on getting some money out of an ATM with my credit card. I was beginning to wonder what would happen if I couldn’t. I tried some machines with no luck, asked inside two banks and then finally got lucky with another machine. So, I know my card works. I have enough now for awhile and know I will be able to get some more,
I took a taxi back to Parque Central and in the afternoon went to a rehearsal of a high school age violin/viola section.  But…. Their playing was outstanding! (See video below.)  They were working on Mahler Symphony # 1. Over and over the conductor had them play passages until they were just what he wanted.  He was not much older than them and this is one of the secrets of El Sistema.  The younger kids are helped by the ones who are not much older. Then the more talented move up and, as I see it, become the conductors and teachers. It is becoming more common for the older students to go to the university for music but it isn’t a priority (as far as I could see).   Bad news – I left one of my cameras in that rehearsal and I believe it’s gone. No pictures of the house of Simon Bolivar or that rehearsal. Too bad!

That made for a long day for me. I went back to the Hotel Limon and went to bed!
Good night to me!