Travel Synchros

Travel synchros are among the most interesting. They happen unexpectedly and usually take you by surprise.

On a recent trip to Frisco, Texas, Megan and I took Lyfts everywhere we went and learned how diverse this community is – Pakistanis, Indians, Mexicans, Muslims – so I had ample opportunities to practice my Spanish. On one ride, we had an Hispanic driver and when I spoke to him in Spanish, he was delighted. We talked about how difficult English is to learn. I asked where he was from and he turned out  to be Venezuelan!

He was from Barquisimeto and had come here to make some money and learn English some could practice his profession in the U.S. – animal husbandry. He said things in Venezuela were terrible, thanks to the “loco” dictators Maduro. “People don’t have opportunities to improve their lives.” He said a number of people form Maracaibo had moved to the area to escape the oppression.

We lived in Maracaibo for 5 or 6 years, in an oil camp where the families of Exxon employees lived. .My sister was born there. I remember it was much hotter than Florida, central air conditioning didn’t exist, and that we had huge trees in our backyard. One afternoon, I spotted a monkey in the one of those trees and ran inside to tell my parents. My mom came outside to take look and I told her I was going to climb the tree to befriend it but figured I should have a banana to offer the monkey,

Just moments after my mother had come outside to take look, we learned that a rabid monkey had escaped from a circus that was in town. One kid in the neighborhood had already gotten bitten and had been rushed to the hospital. He subsequently spent 3 weeks in the hospital getting rabies shots in the stomach.

Eventually, authorities arrived at our house and shot the monkey.

So when the driver mentioned Maracaibo, that’s  what I remembered.