Slang

Below is a list of slang words that are commonly used in this region of Venezuela. WARNING! Many are inappropriate.

Malandro: Gangster (usually refers to teenagers or young adults who have dropped out of school, use drugs and are violent)

Como está la vaina?: How is everything? ( “Vaina” literally means “sheath” and is sometimes used as a slang word for “vagina”)

Perilla: Literally means “goatee” but the slang version means “pussy” and is used as a derogatory term for women.

Chamo: Guy or Dude

Epale: “My man.” used between guys who are friends.

Llave: literally means “key” but in slang it is used like “Bro” or “Cuz” are used in english.

Mi pana: My friend

Echar una: literally it means to “lay one down” but the slang meaning is “to have sex.”

Entrar pingaso: To punch someone hard

Joder: to beat the crap out of someone

Rescado: adj. Drunk

Tener una pea: To be really drunk “hammered”

un ratón: literally means “mouse” but in slang means “a hangover”

Pinga: Huge

Nahguarah: “Oh!” or a surprised expression

Coño: to fuck

Fumar un pito: To smoke a joint (smoke weed.) Pito literally means whistle

Verga!: Oh Fuck!

Echar la paja: to masturbate or gossip

Hablar la paja: To talk badly about someone, Talk Shit.

Pipe: Dick

Maria’s X-rated Birthday Party

The Other weekend , Pablo and I were invited to the birthday party of a woman who worked as a janitor at the church. Maria was turning 40 (although you wouldn’t have guessed it by the “youthful” way she dressed) and was having a party at her house to celebrate. Father Greg bought a cake and some alcohol as a gift and when we got there we discovered that it was a sex themed party. Maria had a penis pinata hanging from the middle of the room and as we entered she stuck a penis or breast shaped pin on us. We also played a very x-rated version of pin the tail on the donkey that even my cousin, a Catholic Priest, was forced into playing . What made the party even more unbelievable is that Maria’s four pre-teen and teenage daughters (the oldest of which was pregnant) and their father was there. Most of the guests got drunk and were openly joking and talking about sex even though there were children in the room. The decorations and activities where like those of a bachelorette party in the U.S. but I am told that sex-themed parties are very common here in Venezuela for many different occasions.

Food

While in Ciudad Guayana, I have had the opportunity to try many new foods. Almost everyday for breakfast, Pablo and I walk to a neighbor’s who sells empanadas out of her house. They are not the wheat flour and cheese empanadas that I am used to. Instead they have an outside shell made of corn flour and they are stuffed with shredded beef, chicken, fish, beans, plantains or cheese. Then they are deep fried. Here in Venezuela empanadas are served only at breakfast and in the evening they serve pastelitos which are the same thing as the empanadas but wheat flour is used to make the pastry like shell. Both empanadas and pastelitos are served with a mayonase based dipping sauce. Very fattening but very delicious.
Another extremely common food is arepas. Arepas are a deep fried corn bread. Sometimes they are made with yellow corn flower and are sweet. These are served with butter or cheese. Other times the arepas are made out of white corn flour and are cut open and stuffed with a variety of ingredients to make a sort of sandwich. Arepas are an extremely important staple in the Venezuelan diet because they are very cheap and easy to make, but unfortunately they have very little nutritional value so many children here are under nourished.
One thing that I have tried and liked very much are the cachapas. They are a sort of huge, thick pancake also made out of corn flour, with melted butter and cheese on top. Cachapas are usually served with some sort of meat like steak or sausage.

Religion in Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana had about 800,000 Catholics but only 44 Catholic Priests. Of those 44 priests only about 20 are Venezuelan. The rest are missionary priests form the U.S., Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy and France. Many of the lay people what more attention from the priests then the priests are capable of giving because of the huge disparity. In recent years many of the lay who want more attention from their religious leaders, have converted to Evangelicalism. There are many more Evangelist leaders then Catholic Priests in Ciudad Guayana because it is much easier to become one. Evangelist leaders only need about 6 months of training, As apposed to years of training that Catholics require, and they don’t take vows of abstinence or poverty. It is hard to say exactly how many Evangelical churches are in ciudad Guayana because many are run out of homes and even in the street. My uncle predicts that in his parish, which has one Catholic church and four chapels, there are about 50 Evangelical churches. At most of these churches you must “donate” to attend services. They even have revivals out in the parks were they will exercise people in order to rid them of evil spirits. In order to recruit people they will go door to door in the barrios and preach. They have even come to my uncles house a few times when I was sitting on the porch but Lucy, My uncle’s fierce German Shepherd, had scared them off. From What I have heard from my uncle, most Evangelicals in his area preach a more negative message saying that if you do not join them then you will go to hell.

Price Control

One of Chavez’s biggest projects in Venezuela is trying to control the price of the basic needs such as sugar, milk, and meat. I witnessed the enforcement of this price control the other week when I was at the mall. My husband and I went downtown with Milagro, a friend on my uncle. She took us to the mall and we saw a huge line at the grocery store. We asked the people in line what they were waiting for and found out that the line was for sugar. We continued through the mall for about an hour and saw that the steadily moving line was just as long as it was an hour ago. Milagro decided to call my uncle to ask if he needed sugar. He said he did so we got in line. Each family was allowed to buy 7 bags (1 Kg each) of sugar. Members of the military were there to enforce the 7 bag rule and to keep order. To get the most sugar possible, we had to pretend we didn't know each other. We each got 7 bags and proceeded to the checkout. The checkout lines were extremely long and it took about an hour to pay. The sugar cost 2.5 bolivares per bag (about $0.75 USD). A couple of days later at an outdoor produce market, we saw people selling sugar for 8 bolivares per Kg.
Today Chavez’s daily TV show was about hunger and price control. He broadcast his show from a warehouse of the government run grocery store, Mercal. He interviewed employees and checked the prices of all the foods. He then compared the prices that Mercal charged to the prices that the “capitalists” charges. He had a whole table of different products that each had a sign with Mercal’s price and the “capitalist’’ price. For example he had a bag of ice tea mix and it said that Mercal’s price was 2.5 bolivares and the “capitalist’s” price was 4.5 bolivares.
I am not exactly sure who he meant by “the capitalists” but I think he was referring to small privately owned grocery stores that would but their products from Mercal and sell it for profit. After he compared the prices of the products he asked a lady from his audience if that scared her. During his tour of the warehouse he would also point out products produced in Venezuela and claim it was the best in the world.
After the tour, Chavez gave a speech to the employees of Mercal, and a Catholic priest. He praised Mercal for for being a good socialist company, owned by the people of Venezuela. Chavez announced his plan to help Mercal expand so that they can put the, overpriced, capitalist grocery stores out of business. He wants everyone in Venezuela to have easy access to affordable, price controlled food. He talked a lot about how socialism has eradicated hunger in Venezuela and that hunger really doesn’t exist in Venezuela anymore.
During my time in Venezuela I have realized that the cost of living is very high. The only grocery stores within walking distance have Chinese owners and it is very expensive. Not many who live here have a car and are able to drive to the cheaper grocery stores. The price to get to one in a cab is about $7.50. Expanding the Mercal markets will defiantly increase socialism’s presence in Venezuela.

The US Dollar in Venezuela

When my husband Pablo and I arrived in the Caracas International airport many people would walk by us and whisper “Change dollar.” Although we thought is was a little strange that they were acting secretive we didn't think much of it and we decided to change the little USD that we had at an authorized money exchanging booth instead. They gave us a rate of 4.2 Bolivares per dollar. A lady working at the Venezuelan tourism office informed us that we could get 5.2 Bolivares for every dollar if we change it on the streets but she did not explain why they offered a better rate in the streets that at the money exchange booths. When we arrived in Puerto Ordaz we asked my cousin, Father Greg Schaffer, why you can get a better exchange rate on the streets. He explained that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has made it illegal to have US dollars in Venezuela because his opposition uses the US dollar. So for a Venezuelan citizen or company to get or have US dollars they must get a permit, which requires a lot of paperwork, or they can try to illegally buy them from US tourists but with the risk of punishment.
This reminded me of a story that one of my high school spanish teachers had told us about Cuba. She was born in Cuba and when she was very young Castro took over. He, like Chavez. made it illegal to have the US dollar. My teacher’s grandfather owned a vending machine company that operated in the US so he had a lot of US change. He did not want to get caught with this money so he brought all his US money to a field in the middle of no where and his family helped him scatter it around. He was so afraid of the consequences he would face if he got caught with the money that he had to throw it away.
Chavez identifies as a socialist but I find it very alarming that he is using the same extreme tactics as communist leader Fidel Castro, to take power away from his opposition.

Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela is made up of two smatter cities, Puerto Ordaz and San Felix. My husband and I are staying in the poorer of the two, San Felix. Cuidad Guayana was founded in the 50’s as a mining town. Everyone who moved to Guayana came to work in the mines or help build them but after the construction of the mines was completed, many were left job less. Puerto Ordaz is a very modern city with malls, theme parks and many other modern day conveniences. San Felix is much poorer then puerto Ordaz and has high unemployment rates. Father Greg Schaffer predicts the unemployment rate in his congregation to be as high as 70%.
Another thing plaguing the inhabitants of ciudad Guayana is HIV. the HIV rate is very high in this city. Many contribute the high HIV rate to the machismo culture that encourages men to sleep around. Ciudad Guayana is very distinct because, for unknown reasons, the male/female ratio is very unbalance. There are many more women here then men which makes it easier for men to have many partners which leads to the spread of disease. This also means that most mothers here are single and have to support their families by themselves. I hope to find out more about the lives of women in this region and gain a better understanding of the gender roles here.

Welcome, Bienvenidos!

My journey begins in Guayaquil, Ecuador on February 3, 2010. After 3 weeks of trekking around Ecuador, I will set out for Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela where I will spend my internship.

I look forward to experiencing Latin American culture firsthand and contributing all I can while I am there.