Venezuela!

It is absurd to be here in Venezuela! I have always wanted to come to South-America too see how people live here. I have met many Indians from these countries around the world, but have never actually been here, so this trip has made me understand a few things about the Indians from here.
It is very unusual for me who am from one of the richest countries in the world, Norway, and come here to Venezuela and the prices are twice as high as in Norway. I am just shocked about the prices! No wonder people are poor here, when even I with my salary much higher then people here have, have big problems with these prices. To buy anything is a big deal anyway, I would rather not buy anything, cause everytme I want to buy something they need my passport ID, name and address where I am staying.
Makes me kind of paranoid... There are a few things here that I dont understand, I must say...Why am I not allowed to take a picture of the Hotel? and why do they need my finger prints to exchange money? How come you need my passport id to buy a t-shirt? Why do I have to sign that I ate breakfast for 250 bolivares, when a breakfast buffest is included in the room? Simple questions, but I doubt there is a simple answer...

But besides all these political questions Odd-Erling and I have had a wonderful time here! We did a duo-concert where he played the baryton-guitar and we also played the traditional sami drum.
The event we where playing at was actually the opening of a photo excibition by Antonio Briceño called "520 Renos" (520 reindeer). He had been i Sapmi for a while taking pictures of sami people and learned alot about the sami people. He had some portraits of some people I actually know, which was really fun to see on the other side of the world. I was really touched when we got a guided tour through the exibition with him. I don tknow how to explain the feeling I had when I kind of came home to Sapmi on the other side of the world. The exibition was just perfect! His art was fantastic and so thought through, I dont have words. I actually had to stop myself from crying while I was there. It was such a big honour for me to play at the opening!


While we were there we also got to participate in a meeting with the wise-president of the Indigenous peoples standing commite in Venezuela. The wise president of The Sami Parlament in Finland,Irja Seurujärvi-Kari,was also there. And I was hosted by the Norwegian and Finnish embassy in Venezuela, and also the Swedish embassy was there. It was very interesting to hear about the differences between the sami people and Indians in Venezuela. There is such a big difference in the law and rights for the different indigenous people in the different countries. But it is amazing how we are helping and learning from each other and sticking together.


Info about the exibition

Homepage of Antonio Briceno