Margarita International Resort & Village Porlamar

... I saw all those towels laid out on the sunbeds in the morning…

The hotel I am staying in here is right by the beach and is called “Hotel Miramar Village”. Despite the fact that from the name it sounds like somewhere you might find in Benidorm, it is actually very nice. There are lots of hotels up the same road getting progressively further from the beach, but I thought it was worth the extra £1 per night to stay here ...

... 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.

... Em um hotel com bebidas liberadas imaginem o que seria o primeiro dia! Uma bebedeira! Muitas tequilas no bar do Roberto no centro da piscina do hotel! Quase todos voltaram garotos para o quarto! Com exceção da Mari que deixaria a surpresa pra mais a frente na viagem. Todos os dias neste hotel foi assim. Piscina e bebidas pela manhã e jantares com bebidas pela noite. Tem um restaurante mexicano neste hotel que ...

... van het dorp, en lekker lezen in de schaduw. Om 18u ingestort en na een nacht van 14u ben ik vandaag weer helemaal fit geloof ik. Ik denk dat ik nog even wacht op de wind (schijnt morgen weer aanwezig te zijn) want ik wil eigenlijk toch wel een paar uurtjes op een plank staan hier. Maar ik denk dat ik morgen of overmorgen toch wel een boot pak naar het vaste land. Hopelijk zijn daar wat meer backpackers en zijn de prijzen wat lager. Groeten vanuit El Yaque, Venezuela

... t seem like the express ferry at all !?!) but we made it to the island eventually! The area is nice, though you need to get out of the city to actually enjoy the landscape. Today, we took a small bus to the other side of the island, in a place called Playa Parguito, next to playa de Agua. Really nice place, with white sand, cool waves and little stands to buy food and drinks on the beach. This is what I call vacation!!! ;-) 

... Peru wins hands down for bleeding ears and hailstones as big as your head. Aficionados of knife-point robberies and other people`s pubes will find that Venezuela is the destination of choice.
My flight to Caracas is at 07:00 tomorrow morning, with a connecting flight to Puerto Rico at lunch time. I won´t relax completely until I`m sitting on the Puerto Rico plane with a little Venezuelan exit stamp in my passport though. There`s just a niggle at the ...

... against Chavez's "Socialist Revolution" by the opposition parties...and the increasing economic and political partnership between the two countries over the last 10 years...I have been struck again by the internal corruption that is paralyzing Chavez´s government. The usual anti-Cuba propaganda attacks the current situation in Venezuela for the wrong reasons. Fear mongering, especially during the time of the November constitutional reform elections, focused on Chavez´s ...

... are ready for all manner of financial services? And how can we possibly posit (as we have since the 1970s) that credit is a "human right" without recognizing the dangers of debt? These propositions defy both history and common sense." I think this is really important. Not that micro-finance and micro-enterprise do not benefit the poor, but the development world has to be aware of its limitations. Currently, these are the latest buzzwords in the field, and are being hailed ...

... back, but she had told me to go to the airport, get my ticket there and pay in Bolivares. Boy, did that pay off, because I got the ticket for the 35 minutes flight to Caracas for only $20 USD, since I had changed into Bolivares on the black market! The Check-in and Security was super fast, got into the plane and off it went. A great flight, besides the fact that my stomach was feeling like ****, probably from something I had eaten the day before.

... point across. It ended up being the youngest boy and me vs. the oldest and the middle boy. The rules were simple: hit the ball and then run to whatever space on the field that you felt was the base at the time. If you were within 3 feet of this random space you were safe. If you were tagged, it was up to the person who hit the ball to decide if he was out or not. By the time my team got three outs it was time for me to leave again so I never got to have an at-bat ...