Gran Melia Caracas Hotel

So long South America. What a sad day! We are heading out of the South Americas (onto the US so not so sad but still...). We have had such an adventure travelling around 10 countries in 3 months. Our last few days have been a little crazy. We hoped on a bus to Venezuela, only 25 hours. For all those who were worried about our safety have no fear Colombia and Venezuela both had the largest military presence we ...

... down on the city . We did this again ,its OK .I did not have high expectations as you know what its going to be like before you do it. The weather was shocking as you can see by some pics. I did tho enjoy the ice scatting , its actually real good fun.I hadn't done it for like 10 years , but i was pleased to find out , Ive ...

... put a smile to my face. This is what I love about traveling, breaking barriers. Breaking peopleīs reality as much as my own. But then again, no one seemed to mind me except for this lady sitting next to me. She was curious and I wanted to practice my Spanish. And sure enough, we end up talking about trivial topics when all of sudden a succession of loud popping sounds interrupt us. I immediately duck and cover my ...

... told that staples are price controlled. So we asked what effect that had. The result, unsurprisingly, is that staples are exported and sold for dollars which can then be changed on the black market for double the official rate. That is why there is no milk in Venezuela, although the official explanation is the world milk shortage. Perhaps I'm out of date, but has anyone else heard of a global milk shortage? But against these criticisms, one ...

... to sort out changing some flights and then we went to pick Sophia up from school and chilled out. We had another delicious home cooked lunch before we headed out to book a ticket for the bus that night. We went for a quick arepa with Homero and the waiter was funny as he brought Carly's veggie arepa describing it as the 'weird' one. Homero then dropped us off at the station and we settled in for the 10 hour bus journey to Ciudad Bolivar.

... my aussie mate Joules who has just finished living a proper Caracas horror story I'd recount it here but it might be easier to read his version of events here http://images.travelpod.com/travel-blog -entries/joules/rtw_in_9_months/1164475 860/tpod.html. We down a few drinks at San Ignacio and then head to the cramped Greenwich bar which plays lots of classic rock mixed with a bit of Daft Punk. The next day we go to a baseball match to watch Ujers team "La Guaira" play the beer is delivered ...

... really puts a shadow over any day dreaming I planned to do out my window. I'm also plagued by strange butterflies in my stomach and I cant exactly explain to myself why they are there. I assume or have decided they are caused by the fact that 4 months of my life seem to have gone by in a blink of an eye and the next chapter seems scarier than the day our plane took off for SA from Sydney on the 17th Feb this year. As excited as I am about touching down in ...

... s (rum and coke). If you are ever in Venezuela before ordering one make sure you've mastered the phrase "Mas Coca Cola por favor" (more coca cola please) Politics No matter who you speak to everyone has something to say about the politics, how the country is run and President Chavez and you can't help but get wrapped up in it all, after all Chavez dominates the media with his own radio shows and his own TV show, both of which air for as long as he ...

... s*d, I c*n't even convey it properly. The drive home to L* Gu*ir*/L* M*quiette w*s uneventful, but we munched on some fruit th*t Tin* *nd Eric h*d bought *nd it w*s pretty ne*t. It w*s * sm*ll, h*rd green-shelled thing *nd you bite the shell to puncture it *nd then split it in two with your fingers. Inside is * br*in-like fruit with * l*rge pit. You pop it in your mouth *nd suck on it until the br*in eventu*lly disolves, bit by bit, *nd then you spit out the pit. It's re*lly ...