Family in Caracas

Tia Carmen
Originally uploaded by Jane Rubio.

I'm in Houston now after spending three weeks in Caracas and a week in Bogotá. I went to do some research about my family history. My grandma has two sisters who are still alive, and they both live in Caracas. I stayed with my Tía Carmen last summer, and this summer I stayed with my Tía Hermy. From talking to them, I got some juicy stories, and found out that I have over 50 second cousins, almost all of whom live in Caracas. I hung out with some of them--went to the beach and a river where I did some cliff diving!!!, tried going on the teleferico (it was closed), and got some drinks at the super-chichi, very architecturally impressive Centro Comercial San Ignacio.

This time I was really struck by how sad and even ugly the story of my family is. People hold grudges--big time. There are so many stories of siblings fighting and then not talking for years, so cousins never see each other. Most of my cousins do not know about their other cousins, who live in the same city. I go there as the American and know more of them than they do. The work is just starting; I plan on going back next summer.

Here´s my Tía Carmen cooking me lunch--arroz, pescado, papas, caraotas. . .Yeah, I ate well.