Pipo International Hotel Maracay

... with the Michele Thomas lessons on the iPod and the books we have and stumbling through in a very haphazard way.


Maracay on a Sunday afternoon is a bit like being on an outsized industrial estate where most of the units are closed save for the odd burger van selling, urm, burgers. If there's one thing that can quickly get me in a mood it's not being able to get food when I need it. The usual fastfood outlets were open, Burger ...

... was to leave this continent for a while.

This 23 day trip has been nice and relaxing and I would recommend it for seeing some of the most gorgeous beaches ever. But it did feel just like a 'taster' of all these countries so you never really got a feel for anywhere before you off travelling again.. and the travelling part was reeeally tough going and you generally needing a day to recover - which on this kind of travel meant you had one day to truly enjoy ...

... down to Choroni and Puerto Colombia, 2 tiny towns about 5 minutes walk apart. We found a little posada and chilled out in a big way for the next day or so. We found a pasta place to get some food in our very empty systems and then the next morning headed to Playa Grande, a beautiful Caribbean beach with palm trees, clear blue waters and plenty of sunshine... The perfect way to spend our 'sickie'!

... the building at night, contributing to the ghostly atmosphere. The rooms contain a number of bunks (we reluctantly accepted the mattress but tossed the suspicious-looking pillows). No tents allowed, so we chalked it up to character building (again) and called it home for three nights. The Inparques guys and the Chief of Station allowed us to use the kitchen, so we were fairly comfortable, although we're still not quite ...

... bus, no complaining and did what they could to help fix the tyre, with almost every car that passed pulling over to make some joke or or offer a hand/lifts back to the village. There seems to be little in the way of schedules here, every thing happens quite slowly and at everyoneīs own pace. At the same time, you couldnīt describe puerto colombia as "sleepy", because the blaring venezuelan music and number of people wondering around makes it feel very "awake"! There are ...

... there and i really enjoyed it. We found a great hostel which was very cheap and cozy and got the opportunity to meet up with some other traveller. We also had our first night in a discoteche, great times. Yesterday we left that city and headed the boarder to Brazil! Accomodation was one of the hardest issues in this country. It was so hard to get anything, and when we did get room, we had one or two dissapointing experiences. But about this last two ...

... and find the beach. We see a stretch of waste ground, with the sea in the distance. We wander down, through the rubbish and half completed buildings, past the open drains, until we reach what looks to be sand. Before we proceed any further we are passed by 2 policemen on motorbikes. One of them stops and says something in spanish to us which we donīt understand. He then says "Playa" ? Yes we are looking for the beach. "Playa peligroso" (as he says this he makes a gun ...

... Posada in Puerto Colombia was their side business). Our experience in Puerto Colombia was so rich! There are so many things that Iīm not mentioning that were wonderful. Donīt forget that itīs a fishing town, so every night you ask the restaurants what the catch was for that day, and then you eat the freshest, cheapest fish dinners you can imagine. Dorado (Gilt) was the lucky fish during our time there, and I ate my fair share of it. --Greg

Spent the last four days in Venezuel literally island hopping with my French companions. Here the water is crystal clear and the beaches are lined with palm trees. However, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ENTER THE TOILETS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. VILE DOES NOT DESCRIBE IT!! Bush toilets do the trick. Bring ear ...

... wasnīt very fun for me due mainly inpart to my lack of motivation to work out in the last year. After finding no ATM and no Supermarket, we returned to the station, bought tickets for 35,000B ($17) a piece. We loaded our backpacks with bread and water got on the bus and said farewell to Maracay. The way the bus system works in Latin American would make a german throw a fit. If a bus is schedualed to leave at 6, it will leave at 7. They do not depart unless the ...