One of the furthest places from Michigan where I have lived for over a month is Venezuela. Although I was born in Winfield, Illinois, I grew up and lived in Venezuela most of my life. My parents were missionaries in Puerto Ordaz, in the north-east, and in Caracas, the capital, for fifteen years (from 1988 to 2003). My grandparents, now retired, were missionaries in Venezuela for forty years. In 2004, when I was eleven, I attended my first American school here in Grand Rapids. After a year of raising support, my family moved to Italy. I repeated fifth grade and finished middle school at an international school in Mestre, Italy. I later attended high school at a boarding school in southern Germany. Right now my parents and younger brothers are at home in Italy. Even though Italy is the furthest country from Michigan, I decided to write about five significant geological features of Venezuela, geological history, and current geology. First of all, one of the greatest geological features of South America is the Andes. The Andes are one of the major mountain ranges in Venezuela. The Andes mountain range is the longest mountain range in the world. To be precise, the mountain range is 4,500 miles long and 500 miles wide (Andes). The Andes extend along the western coast of South America through several countries including Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The average altitude of the Andes is 13,000 feet. You might not think it, but in some places in the Andes there is snow and even glaciers. Mount Aconcagua, Argentina, is the highest elevation in the Andes, at 22,841 feet above sea level. The Himalaya Mountains are the only other mountains higher than... middle of paper... Ed Learning. (n.d.). Venezuela. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/southamerica/venezuela/Geology and Mineral Resource Assessment of the Venezuelan Guayana Shield. (n.d.). USGS. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/2062/report.pdfThe Andes. (n.d.). - Windows on the Universe. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.windows2universe.org/geography/andes.htmlThe Orinoco River. (n.d.). How things work. Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://geography.howstuffworks.com/south-america/the-orinoco-river.htmU.S. Geological survey. (n.d.). Mud volcanoes of the Orinoco Delta, eastern Venezuela. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70023450World Atlas. (n.d.). Lake Maracaibo. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/lakemaracaibo.htm