Best Western Margarita Dynasty Porlamar

... this one includes all food and drink up to 11pm – fantastic, my first all inclusive experience whilst backpacking! I even have a hairdryer and a fridge in my room, so it is very luxurious. They don’t speak any English here (but do know a little German), so somehow I am managing to get by on my amazing Spanish skills :s I think my most in-depth conversation has been with Guaco the parrot that sits by reception and can only ...

... I am so glad, it is imense!! (to follow).

My Spanish is coming along nicely. I was speaking with the cleaner of Tita in the morning of leaving and wanted her to slow down, so I did......."muy desayuno, por favor", she must think he is crazy asking for very breakfast! I will not forget now how to say "mas despacio"!!!! But this was fun tambien.

... avisar no hotel de Aruba que íamos atrasar. Tentou falar inglês, espanhol e até francês e no final deu certo. Curioso foi percebermos quando chegamos a Aruba que a menina do telefone era portuguesa!!!! hehhe!!!
Continuando em Caracas....enfim saímos de dessa cidade as 21hrs e chegando em Curaçao o vôo estava..... longe.... já tinha ido a muito tempo para Aruba, afinal tínhamos chegado ao primeiro mundo, né?!

Zo daar zit ik dan op Isla Margarita... het was lastig genoeg om er te komen dat wel; Op schiphol aangekomen was er gelijk al een vertraging van 2u, Arke Fly ¨kost niks, maar dan heb je ook niks¨... 9u, 2 kleffe maaltijden en geen onboard entertainment (moest los voor betaald worden) later kwam de captain met de mededeling dat het weer boven Isla Margarita te slecht was om te landen en dat we 1st naar Curacao zouden vliegen... Ah nee he, geen Curacao!!!! Dus toch naar curacao ...

Hola a todos! I'm in Venezuela since the 22nd, and it is a huge change since Miami! Ben arrived one day later that me because he missed his flight in France, so my first night in Caracas was kind of hectic! What a mission to find a hotel there, something not too expensive but not too dangerous either... Thanks God people here are really nice, so I finally found a place to sleep much better than under a bridge! :-) Caracas is ...

... bolívar earlier this year. This is the same as the old bolivar but with three noughts crossed off (that`ll be 4.5 to the pound then), and the two currencies run in parallel. If someone asks you for 4,000 just give them 4, and vice versa - I hope that`s clear now. With inflation running at around 20%, Venezuelans are pretty keen to get their hands on Yanqui dollars, and there is a strong black market for foreign exchange here - this is also a surefire way ...

... But is that all humans should strive to? Just surviving? Humans are materialistic, they say, so they need a dictatorship to try and curb these desires, and make humans live a more moral life. I don't think that the desires will fade, but only suppressed, and if there is no collective means to reform the system so that people can mutually benefit from any change, then I think the resulting outcome will be capitalism...and the failure of the Cuban Revolution." Yesterday, I ...

... getting buses out to different beached we realised that we weren't going to find our slice of paradise so we concentrated on two of the things that Venezuela does very well in our opinion - food and beer. At the cheaper end there are the empanadas, hot dogs and burgers. At the higher end there was an amazing Italian restaurant called Positano. But back to the empanadas. They are deep fried pockets of dough filled with chicken, cheese, fish, whatever you want. You bite the end of one ...

... friendly people, told me about all the things I could to in the area, invited me to whole bunch of beer throughout the whole journey and then they just happened to be headed to the same town as me - Juangriego - so they invited me to drive with them, as they had a car, saving me some 30-40.000 bolivares for the taxi there. But that wasn't even all - they invited me even to dinner as well! What gentlemen! Then they also offered to share a hotel ...

... production put on just for the guests of the resort (95% of the guests being over 65). The show consisted of traditional Venezuelan dancing and a live performance by a local signer. The dancing itself was mildly entertaining and I found it hard to believe that the chaînées déboulés and pirouettes were used in 17th century Spanish colonies. I left for a moment to get my camera and document the dancing and when I got back I found out that the singer had been serenading ...