Venezuelan music (Joropo)

There is a large tradition of great Venezuelans musicians along many generations meaning that my country posses a rich music culture and this includes all the genres like pop, rock, dance, and folk music.

Today I am going to write a little about one particular folk music called Joropo.

The Joropo is the traditional music in the plains region of Venezuela, and also one of the most popular music in all the country. Since it is originated in the plains (los llanos in spanish), it is also known as "musica llanera" or "music of the plains."

The instruments used are basically the Venezuelan "cuatro", Venezuelan harp, maracas and a percussion instrument called "furruco." Others instruments may be added like an electric base, a flute o violins. It also might be both, with voice or instrumental.

This regional music, as most of the Venezuelan music, is meant for dancing. Usually the dresses used by the dancing girls are very colorful with very long skirts which they lift with the hands while doing turns very quickly.

Now, because it is easier to understand from images than from a guy trying to write about Joropo, I added a couple of videos  from youtube. The first video is a choreography done by teenagers in some sort of event. The second one is a couple dancing.

Enjoy!

Sports in Venezuela.

Without any question the most followed sport in Venezuela is baseball. It is the only country in South America where baseball is more important than football (soccer). Baseball was brought to Venezuela by the Americans that came to work with the first oil companies in the beginning of the 20th century. Baseball is also the most important sport in the Caribbean sea which is north of Venezuela so that's another major influence.

There is a large number of  great baseball player in the Major League of Baseball which is the league of the United States and the most important in the world. Some of them have achieved great success like Miguel Cabrera in the Detroit Tigers, Pablo Sandoval (known as Kung Fu Panda) in the San Francisco Giants, Felix Hernandez in the Seattle Mariners or Carlos Gonzalez in the Colorado Rockies; just to name a few. In the 2012 World Series a total of nine Venezuelans participated.

(Miguel Cabrera).

The Venezuelan winter league was founded in 1945 is played every year from October to January and it is followed for most of the Venezuelans. It has only eight teams, which are:

-Leones del Caracas (Caracas Lions).
-Navegantes del Magallanes (Magallanes Sailors).
-Tiburones de la Guaira (La Guaira Sharks, my team by the way).
-Cardenales de Lara (Lara Cardinals).
-Tigres de Aragua (Aragua Tigers).
-Aguilas del Zulia (Zulia Eagles).
-Caribes de Anzoategui (Anzoategui Caribbeans).
-Bravos de Margarita (Margarita Braves).

(Teams of the Venezuelan Winter League).

The team that has won more titles is Caracas Lions followed by Magallanes Sailors, Aragua Tigers and La Guaira Sharks.

Now, I have to talk about the sport number 1 in the world, football (soccer). Even though baseball is still the most viewed sport in Venezuela, football has increased really fast in the last decade specially because the Venezuelan National Team has achieved some important wins and right now is close to qualified for the next World Cup in Brazil. The sub-17 team just qualified to the World Cup in Arab Emirates but we are waiting for the adults to do as such. Venezuela has never been in a World Cup yet.

(Venezuela National football team in 2010).

In the national football league there are two major teams which are the Caracas FC and Deportivo Tachira. Every time this two teams play each other there is a massive attendance in the stadium.

Another sport that has increase in ratings in the last few years is basketball but still it is not very followed.

What is your favorite sport? Which sport is the most followed in your country?

Oil and Gas.

I am sure that many of you have heard that Venezuela is an oil producer and exporter. It is member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporter Countries (OPEC). My country is one of the most important oil exporters in the world and it has the largest oil reserves, but the irony is that we have a big poor population. Many people wonders how come Venezuela is so rich and the Venezuelans are so poor? At the same time you see a lot of people expending a lot every day, the shopping malls are full every weekend. You might see poor people with better cell phones than you. Venezuela is a country of contrasts.

A popular tale says that when God was creating Venezuela he puts gold, petroleum, diamonds, pearls, iron, and so on; but The Lord realized that was too perfect for a country and so he decided to put the Venezuelans. I don't believe that tale is completely truth because most of the Venezuelans are really good and working people but the point is that we have all the opportunities to be a great nation and we are not.

I am pretty sure that a sociologist would love to work in Venezuela and study the Venezuelans but what I want to point in this post is that because we are a oil producer, the government subsidies most of the cost of gas for the national consumers. That means that gasoline is cheap. VERY cheap. Cheaper than water, literately. You can fuel a tank with only a few cents of dollar.

Maybe you are thinking "that's so good, I wish gas were that cheap in my country". But reality is different, it has two sides.

I will list what I consider to be the pros and cons of having cheap gasoline.

Pros: 

-We save a lot of money.

-We can hang out more and not worry about the price of fulling a tank.

-We can give or ask someone a ride easily. 

-A business depending in vehicles saves a lot, like taxi and bus lines.

Cons: 

-Nobody uses bikes.

-The air is polluted.

-A big and efficient railroad system hasn't been developed.

-Everybody wants to have a car and sometimes more than one car or motorbike so traffic is terrible.

-Car pooling is something really rare to see.

(Rush hour in Caracas).

Personalty I think that having cheap gasoline is fine but it shouldn't be so cheap. Many governments have tried to increase the gas price a bit with no success. People gets really mad every time someone in the government mention the possibility of having the gas price increased. Prices of alcohol, water, food, or everything else can increase and people will be fine, but don't mess with the gasoline price. That's another topic to be discussed between sociologists.

What do you think about this situation? What products does your country produce cheap?

Simon Bolivar University.

I haven't written since about two weeks ago because I started my last trimester in the university and I am also doing community service which is mandatory in order to graduate. My major is International Trade and I study in Simon Bolivar University (Universidad Simón Bolívar in spanish or USB), which is the topic of this post.

The USB was founded in 1970 and the idea was to create a learning center specialized in science and technological majors. It has around 900 teachers and more than 7500 students. It is a public university meaning that you don't have to pay to study there (just a symbolic yearly fee) and all the services are free or almost free.

A coffee plantation before, this university is located in Sartenejas valley which is in the outside of Caracas. It has a really good weather because it is surrounded by a lot of nature and clean air. It has a really beautiful and huge garden with trees from all the regions of Venezuela and some from other countries where you can see ducks squirrels and many birds.

(The rectoral house was the main house of the coffee plantation, it keeps the colonial architecture).

For me is the best University of Venezuela not only because I study there :D but also because it is so much prettier than any other university. The education level is very high and maybe the only bad thing it has is that it is limited only to technological and science education and a few economic majors such as international trade and business administration.

Between the many interesting things the university has I will name some:

-The chromatic garden: it was designed by Venezuelan plastic artist Carlos Cruz Diez and there are only three of this gardens around the world (I think the other two are in Belgium and Germany but I am not really sure about it).

-The library: it has five floors and it has tons of books of course. But maybe the mos interesting thing it has if you are only visiting is the big door at the entrance. It was a door from a military fort in Peru used by Simon Bolivar during the independence war of that country. It was donated by the Peruvian government to the university and it has been open only three times since then.

(The chromatic garden and the library in the back).

-The mountains around the university: there are not big but if you like to do exercise and enjoy the nature at the same time you can go hiking or biking in these mountains. I would difference two main areas in the mountains: the pine tree forest and the original forest. You can get to see a really wonderful view of Caracas from there.

(Air view of the university)

I feel really fortunate to be studding in this university and it is located near my house which is a plus!

Which university are you attending to? What are the most interesting things about your university?