Blogs from Caracas, Capital, Venezuela, South America

Day 443 Thursday 27th December Our alarm went off at 4.00am, which is just the most ridiculous time to start a day. Our flight isn’t till 7.30 but the woman at the hotel suggested we should take a 5.00am taxi to the airport, we both thought this was way too early but being a local we thought she knew best. We finalised our packing and got ourselves together just in time as our taxi arrived ten minutes early. The airport on Curacao is on the other side of the island but it was still only a twenty minute drive. The taxi drive once again cost us 70 guilders ($40), which is pretty steep but it got rid of some of that currency. Of course at 5.15am the airport wasn’t operating but there ... read more

I have been home now for a couple of weeks. It is great to be back home. A number of people have asked me what I got out of my Camino and if it was what I had hoped for or anticipated. Very difficult questions to answer. First of all, I am not certain that I knew what to expect or what answers to get. My Camino marked a milestone between two parts of my life: i.e. my professional life and my life thereafter, that is just to begin. I did not have fixed formulated questions in my mind before I set out on my walk, as far as there were questions, they probably came to mind and were refined during the many hours that I walked on my own. Did I get answers, I do ... read more

This morning did some of my last preparations. Went to El Avila, my favorite training ground and trekked 600 m up. A nice walk that covered about 6 km; that makes it an approximately 20 degree inclination. good for legs and knees. Going down as usual more complicated than going up. Reminds me of the way down on Kilimanjaro. I will see a bit of that also on the first day, walking from St Jean Pied de Port to Roncevalles. We will see how that works out. Tomorrow packing the backpack. Hopefully I can keep the weight down to to 7 kg.... read more

My first public note in this blog. I have been thinking and about and planning this trip for quit a while; probably as long as I have been thinking about retiring.... Both occasions have arrived and I feel somewhat tense and anxious. I have been prepairing physically very hard for this trip going to the gym in the morning and in the afternoon walking with a backpack most of the days. In the weekends long walks in El Avila (12-15 km). I hope that that I am prepared. My trip officially starts on Monday the 24th when I will be traveling to Madrid and later (Tuesday) connecting to Pamplona and Roncesvalles where I will spend the night. I have chosen to stay in Roncevalles and to take a taxi to St Jean Pied de Port early ... read more

und wenn nicht alles gut ist, dann ist es auch nicht das Ende. Passenderweise ist dies tatsächlich nicht das Ende, sondern der Anfang meiner Reise, und so stört es kaum, dass derzeit wenig mit dem Attribut „gut“ versehen werden kann Bei nicht allzu besonderer Gesundheit am Flughafen ankommend konnte ich zunächst feststellen, dass meine Kreditkarte nicht mehr funktionierte – das eigens für die Reise heruntergesetzte Limit war scheinbar überschritten. Ein kurzer Anruf bei der Bank sollte das ganze eigentlich beheben. In Caracas angekommen konnte ich jedoch feststellen, dass eine Limiterhöhung wohl grade doch nicht mehr drin war. Budget-Reisen par force majeure also! Nur gut, dass der Flug dafür überbucht war und dieser daher mit einer halbstündigen Verspätung erst gen Caracas abhob. Meine Spanischkenntnisse hatte ich scheinbar auch überschätzt – zumindest verstand... read more

¡Hola panas! This is my first blog from my 4-week trip in Venezuela! República Bolivariana de Venezuela lies in the north of South America, has an area of about 912.000 square km and more than 28 million people. Venezuela is our southern neighbour!!! Many Venezuelan tourists visit Curaçao, many Curaçao people "used to" go to Venezuela, but not that much anymore. Many still go for health reasons, as Caracas has excellent clinics and doctors/surgeons where they offer services that aren't available in Curaçao, or that there is a long waiting list for. In Curaçao we use many Venezuelan products as well. There is poverty in Venezuela, but it's not worse than in other Latin American countries. Venezuelans are known for being very nationalistic, patriotic and chauvinistic. Well....I believe they have the right to be as such ... read more

Caracas Saying goodbye to the Southern hemisphere, we left for Santiago airport at 5:30 am on February 24th and we finally boarded a plane that left on time! This will definitely be our last early morning flight. After one stop and two movies (Due Date and Just Go With It) we arrived earlier than schedueld in Caracas, Venezuela and breezed through customs and luggage claim. However after that we had quite the experience, to say we were bombarded by the locals is an understatement. They were expediting their taxi services to the city as well as their "cambio", which is the money exchange. In Caracas there is a black market for money exchange and some people can fetch up to a maximum of double the bank rate, needless to say we made use of "no, gracias" ... read more