80 deg difference
Trip Start
Dec 15, 2004
1
5
Trip End
Jan 02, 2005
Caracas,
Venezuela
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Backing up a bit, we spent two days in Ciudad Bolivar. The write up in Lonely planet didn't have tons to say about it, but there was a few museums featuring some local artists which would have been interesting. But, due to the holiday, they were all closed, along with most of the rest of the city. I understand that people want to be with their loved ones during the holiday (except for us bad children :) but it's sort of exasperating to try and visit a country that is closed. Via various cabs and airplanes, we arrived in Caracas for 24hrs in the big city. We decided that, since it was our honeymoon after all, we'd splurge on the $90/night Hilton. Hot water, firm mattress, sheets, air conditioning, carpet, 17th story... not what we had been used to. Unfortunately, the toilet didn't work
Ending up the Honeymoon in Style
. Oh well, details.Again, we were faced with the staff of Venezuela not being in a rush to get back to work after the holidays. We struck out on two vegetarian restaurants, the Internet bar, pool and gym (the last three being in the hotel). Lucky for us, we were staying in a 25 story hotel, so we did the stairs! (I know, you all think I'm sick, but we had a lot of sitting around the day before!)
We did end up wandering around Caracas and seeing some of the buildings, including the church which Simon Bolivar (El Libetador, which almost everything in V is named after, including the currency) tomb is. It is a interesting city, there are large (1500ft) foothills on the North and South side of the city and there are red, tin roof shanty houses covering every available inch of them. It's quite amazing how these people live, all squeezed together.
The flight home was uneventful (the pilot was sober as far as we could tell) except for the fact that it was delayed by snow/ice in Denver. The plane was supposed to land at midnight, but due to snow and ice in Denver, where it was coming from, the plane was 4hrs late landing in Fort Lauderdale, hence we were late. Thank goodness my brother, who had spent our vacation babysitting our gerbils and plants, was there to meet us. I don't think our normal shuttle home would have been open at that hour.
So, that ends our Venezuela adventure. Back to work, to start saving for the next adventure!
