Venezuela in a Puzzle. Monagas State, Part 1

I am Venezuelan; my country is located in the Northern Hemisphere and in the North of South America, tropical climate with two seasons, one rainy and the other dry, territorially organized in: 23 states, the capital district, the Federal Dependencies (the islands), the Federal Territories and a reclamation zone.

Map edited by me

I have proposed to put together a puzzle, telling you a little about each of the states that make it up and my experiences, I wanted to start with the state of Monagas, because here I was trained as a professional at the Universidad de Oriente, where I spent much of my youth, I have very good memories of that time of my life.

1st piece of my Puzzle The State of Monagas

At an early age I came to live in this beautiful city, to continue my professional studies at the Universidad de Oriente, because of economic problems, it was not easy! and for various reasons I was constantly changing my residence. I had full time at the University, it was very complicated to look for a job, I got a scholarship in the university dining room, that guaranteed me two meals a day, my breakfast many times was just a black coffee. On Friday afternoons very few students ate, there was always food left, so they gave me some portions and with that food I had breakfast, lunch and dinner for the weekend.

Photo: Maturín

Painting is one of my passions, since I was a child I used to draw with pencils, then charcoal, thanks to my sister who also painted, she gave me a case of oil paints, for me it was also exciting to paint with oil. In one of my walks through the city I found a small gallery of a famous painter in the area called Hector Luis Caldera, he allowed me to stay and see how he painted, I learned that he had done higher studies in France, until I asked him to work with him without pay, I just wanted to learn the art and make my own paintings. At first he refused, but I was very insistent and he let me do some work on Saturdays, I learned to make frames, marquetry, prepare the canvases as a base for oil painting, at that time he sold one of his paintings and compensated me for that, for me it was a blessing, I did not expect it, I am very grateful for that. Then he asked me not to continue, I understood his reason, for him it was not fair for me to work without receiving anything in return, but knowledge was the most important thing at that time.

I thought it was incredible to have found him on the web, here are his works

Photos Héctor Caldera: 1 Blog, 2 Twitter

I think I got sidetracked.... Hehehehe.... What was I going to talk about?..... Ah of the State of Monagas, its capital is Maturin, it has 13 municipalities. It is located in the east of the country, it is a plains state, there is a great agricultural production. The Universidad de Oriente Núcleo Monagas, were divided in 2 parts, one where the Basic courses were held in Maturín and the other part was in the town of Jusepin, Cedeño Municipality, where the Faculties of Zootechnics and Agronomical Engineering were located, When I was going to the University I passed by a traffic circle that called my attention, I always wondered who was that woman, Juana la Avanzadora, I had heard about Juana de Arco, but I did not know anything about this insigne woman, she was a slave and heroine who actively participated in the war of independence.

Reference: Photo 1, 2

Sometimes, he attended mass in the Cathedral Church located on Bolivar Avenue. It is dedicated to Our Lady of Carmen, has two towers that measure 55 meters high and its dome is 18 meters in diameter. Inside there are 36 multicolored stained glass windows on the sides and 7 central windows representing San Marcos, San José, San Simón, San Lucas, San Mateo and Nuestra Señora del Carmen.

Reference: Photos 1, 2, 3

On weekends I would go for a walk to La Guaricha Park, it is a kind of zoo, where there were Tigers, Lions, Snakes and other species, it was a very nice walk in the middle of the city.

Photo: La Guaricha Park

Maturin, is one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities I have visited, it is characterized for being a city where rain is abundant, we could say that in the rainy season, it rains every day, something that really surprises me is that regardless of the amount of rain that falls, in minutes it is dry, it has a drainage system that dries very quickly, I speak from my experience, I have several years that I do not visit it, I do not know how it is today with the population growth.

All content is original

The information obtained from the Web is indicated

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Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Reference:

Wepia. Viaje Mágico por Venezuela. El Nacional. Año, 2.006

Portada photo edited by me

https://www.notilogia.com/2018/03/simbolos-patrios-regionales-estado-monagas.html

http://www.leyresorte.gob.ve/?p=56271

https://www.notilogia.com/2015/11/poblacion-y-demografia-del-estado-monagas-venezuela-2015.html

https://steemit.com/turismo/@bicicleta84/maturin-love-una-ciudad-del-estado-monagas-venezuela