While in Venezuela, the six of us (Professor Norris, Jennifer Bennett, Hillary Bellman, Nick Phillips, Kalow Huff, and Neil Rauh) took a side trip to Colonia Tovar.  Colonia Tovar is located about three hours in the mountains from Caracas.  The drive is long and bumpy.  The road is very narrow and curvey.  It only permits the passage of one car safely.  However, it is a two-way road.  In order for this to work, each car must honk loudly before entering into a curve or else collision will be inevitable.   If there is another car coming from the opposite direction, one of the two cars must pull off the road as much as possible to permite passage. Needless to say, the drive was quite entertaining!

          Colonia Tovar is a small town of German ancestry.  Many years ago, Germans settled here because they were not accepted on the mainland.  Therefore, they created their own small village up in the hills.
 

The village has been greatly influenced by the Venezuelans and no longer do the people speak German.  However, many of the shops and homes are built in traditional German style.

Prepared by: Jennifer Bennett