Caracas Cumberland

... in a two-engine plane flying over the Gran Sabana. We passed directly over Canaima and marveled at the natural beauty of the location. The falls, the two rivers coming together, the hotel and grounds. It was extraordinarily attractive and beckoned you to experience it at ground level. My real regret was having to cancel the trip to Canaima and Salto Ángel that my wife, Sandy, and I had intended on making when she came in late July because of my being enlisted as manager of the ...

... somewhere for a bit to eat. The streets are covered in litter and there are many buses and cars parked on the curbs. I say Cars and Busses, more like rust buckets, all getting some much needed repairs which are done by local upstart mechanics with hammers and plyers... We decided to splash out and enjoy a dinner at a restuarant on the sea which was called Cristal Mar or Rip off Corner as we found out. We were advised that all the food on the menu was "no good ...

... of brown. Brown filled with the mestizo poor. Brown filled with Chavez-backed supporters. Poor here is not hard to deny. All you have to do is look at the mountains to see the shacks of shacks stacked on top of one another. Ironically, in Western standards, they have "The Million Dollar View." But from their point of view, thatīs not for me to judge. Yet there are some interesting curiosities Iīve noticed here. With ...

... it is hard to imagine them finding anything. I still can't work out why they gender split the lines for bag searching when they then have men searching both lines' bags. No two people gave us consistent answers as to what these measures are for. But the silliest was that the checkpoints were to slow down the traffic. The machine guns would seem superfluous given that there are also judder bars. The guides were mostly ...

I have been stuck in Caracas for the last couple of days, waiting for my money to transfer through. Aside from wandering around the "nice" parts of the city by metro invaded by huge shopping malls complete with designer-label-clad youths and middle classes, I have been observing the huge number of barrios/slums that cover the mountains - visible through the gaps between the numerous skyscrapers. I really want to visit these places, so am trying to get in touch with a think ...

... blbec mi rika, ze se nemusim bat, ze tam je spousta kokosu) Rano zahajuju svuj navrat domu... ve 4.30am vstavam, objednanej taxik neprijede, nastesti opodal stoji dalsi. Podrimuju v taxiku a kdyz otevru oci, vidim povedome doky ...sakra ja chtela na letiste. Taxikar pouziva mene vybirava slova a valime to zpatky na letiste. Na muj let ceka asi 8 lidi a nas boeing stale nikde... mistni se bouri, ze to je jasny, ze to zas neprileti jako minule. No pro tu hrstku lidi se fakt ...

Damn Catholics and their Sundays off. Caracas is bustling, but apparently useful businesses like internet cafes are mostly closed, which resulted in me wandering the streets for an hour until I found this one. Super annoying. Anyway... Yesterday was spent lounging around the first class lounge waiting for my flight out of Houston. It went surprisingly quickly, and there was much ...

The flight was only 3 and a half hours to Caracas, and we arrived at the airport about 5pm. It was nice to be back in a warm climate again! We explored the possibility of a taxi to a suburb of Caracas called Sabana Grande but the price tag of US$120 put us off. Instead, we opted for the public bus costing US$2 but ended up not going to Sabana Grande after all. We tagged along with a Spanish couple and took a tube then a 2 hour bus west to Maracay, where we stayed for one night.

... can't see myself ever ordering fish over chicken, beef or pork (especially not ribs) I may on occasions sample fish from other peoples plates (though if the heads still on, forget it!) Snorkelling Apart from one paranoid moment in Los Friales where I was seemingly being chased by hundreds of small fish (thank god for flippers, though I might have knocked a few out) the snorkelling has been fantastic. Whilst a lot of the Coral on the west coast has been ...

... where I was staying appeared to be in the middle of a market and I was not able to find anything regal about it, there was an establishment offering Sauna and Massage next door but I didnīt think it was a health Spa! I decided to explore within one block of the hotel. I had some lunch in a bar nearby and whilst eating my lunch I found what appeared to be a pink worm in it, I was releaved to find in was an octopus leg (not what I ordered though) Later that day I ...