Aventura Caracas

... parked his car – a red Toyota or somesuch. He was very upset when we refused to get in, saying something like “black taxi, red taxi, what's the difference?” and flourishing some pad of receipts that apparently proved he was an official taxi. We stuck to our guns, however, and marched off to the waiting line of big black Fords, one of which whisked us to the hotel that we had booked by email, in the allegedly quiet and safe district of Altemera. I ...

... to the bus station. Back to Cory! The obvious corruption has made Caracas one of the last places we want to visit again, and made us a little weary of Venezeula altogether. If anything else happens, we might leave to Columbia early. We are now in Santa Fe, a small fishing town and we are staying at a posada on the beach. Although the surroundings are beautiful, we are finding that we are having a difficult time getting away. We tried walking towards the adjacent ...

... to all. There is Omar and Josephina whom are looking to leave and have there own house and look alter Luis one child. There is Sawtella whom I mentioned earlier. There is Sardy whom is the coordinator. There is Marisol who is a temporary cook. Thats it besides the other admistration workers in Caracas who visit occasionally. So 13 boys all up I think. Mostly around 10years old. The place is about 2 hours drive out of Caracas however it is actually not that far out. It ...

... e. Ich fand´s we***** schlimm. Wied** im Auto ging´s weit** zum "Panteón Nacional", ein** ehemaligen Kirche, die heute ein Gebäude mit den Gräb**n venezolanisch** Helden ist. (Dort sagte mein Guide, ich solle mein T-shirt in die Shorts stecken, da mich sonst d** Uniformi**te nicht reinlassen wu**de, he he.) Danach fuhren wir durch das Botschaften-Vi**tel und zum Abschluss auf einen Huegel, wo sich auch die am**ikanische Botschaft befindet. Dort hat man eine schoene ...

... But my Spanish isn't up for that anyway. The problem we face is that Spanish speakers seem unable to speak slowly or use simple constructions. The airline lady had asked if we spoke Spanish first, but when we had said only a little, that was a green light for her and she began blabbering as though we were fluent. It has been a real eye-opener for me and I aim to do better when speaking to people who do not know English well from now on. So, the recipe is to slow ...

Saturday 27th October 2007 - Day138 After our bus dropped us off at the wrong station in an even more dangerous section of town Homero was kind enough to pick us up which was another adventure through the streeets of Caracas where anything goes. In the afternoon Garvo was recruited to play for the Grayskulls in an an of season crucial hockey game after Tito was unable to play offering some excuse about pulling a muscle. Following ...

... 2 weeks we were on the verge of a violent argument. Amidst all the controversy, lies and exaggerations it is almost impossible to get a clear picture of what Chavez has done or not done for the country, one thing however is brutally clear; he has turned neighbours into enemies, supporters into fanatics and inspired such an intense, burning hatred amongst his opponents that in the volatile world of Latin American politics this surely  ;cannot be a good thing.

... which now means that we're going on a 6 day cruise around the Yasawa islands. Round 10 to Venezuela, since no good came from losing the camera. Round 11: Wealth related issues Venezuela is much wealthier than Peru for the simple reason that it has some of the biggest oil reserves in the world. It also has one of the most left leaning leaders in the world, in Hugo Chavez, so a lot of the benefit is going to the little people. This means that the poor in Venezuela have a ...

... night...ahh last night....of course we joined our posse of colombianos....they are most definitely our bodyguards in the more dangerous streets of caracas....anyways, it{s great.....so we went to check out a couple concerts that were happening, one punk rock and metal rap, the other salsa and merengue....both very fun....i had no idea that there was such a significant punk scene in venezuela........very creative for sure......and the youth here are sooo ...

... a coconut) with my friend Leah. After 3 ½ days in Venezuela and a good hike I was pretty tired and ready to head back to La Guaira and hang out for a while before the ship took off for Brazil. I enjoyed my time in Venezuela. It is a country that is all at once Caribbean, Latin American and South American. It is home to the Amazon, the llanos (plains), the Andes, and the coast. It is a youthful place with an uncertain future. To me the most ...