Blogs from Caracas, Capital, Venezuela, South America - page 6

The first in a long series of travels began on Friday, this bus ride started out about an hour late as the Colombian police decided to search our bags. This was my first such experience in South America; I am not sure whether I felt burdened or comforted by it but probably a little of both. The first two hours of my journey were very nice. I had a seat in the front, which means extra leg room and a frontal view as it was a double decker, meaning that the front of the upper deck are two large windows. I opened the curtains covering them, at which point one of the drivers (there are multiple drivers so they can rotate on long journeys) asked me to shut them so as to prevent the heat. I ... read more

So the elections came and went and well... nothing much happened. The weekend was the quietest weekend I've ever experienced in Caracas and by monday most things seemed to be back to normal. A bit of music and fireworks on sunday night, long before they'd even announced the results, was all that came out of it. Chavez of course instantly declared himself the winner, based on candidates from his party winning in the majority of the states around the country. But the truth is that he only really managed to win farmlands, causing one newspaper to refer to it as Chavez's agricultural revolution. In all big cities and states which are important economically and touristically (not many), the opposition seemed to have had somewhat of a walk-in victory, signaling that it might be more difficult than ... read more

... a big, fat, roasted, crunchy ant. It was a Colombian snack brought to me by one of my students so I simply had to try it. Although it tasted surprisingly much like a peanut I was not quite able to get over the fact that it was actually an ant and for the following half hour I couldn't stop feeling like Mowgli from the Jungle Book. But at least now I can tick 'eating ants' off of my list of things to do before I die. So far Venezuela has provided me with plenty of first time exeriences but for some reason some of them stand out in my memory more than others... like: Filling up a tank for less than a pound. The idea that petrol is basically free here surprises me everytime I ... read more

Hey Leute, Vorweg: Bene und mir geht es super gut! Wir sind SA nach einem total angenehmen Flug in Caracas bei 32 Grad angekommen und gleich im Intercontinental abgestiegen - das den dortigen alten Charme und einen riesigen 3,4 tiefen Pool besitzt. An dem Nachmittag haben wir noch die kleine Altstadt erkundet, die aber leider, im Vergleich zu unseren reichhaltigen eurpaeischen Innenstaedten in ca. 2 Std. abgehbar ist und wenig Spektaluaeres hat. SA abend sind wir schon um 20 Uhr ins Bett und haben bis 7 Uhr am naechsten Morgen durchgeschlafen! ... das war echt toll. Nach meinem morgentlichen Schwimmen, gabs ein gutes Fruehstueck. Gegen 10 Uhr haben wir uns mittels Taxi (per Bus ist uns dann doch zu gefaehrlich) auf zum 2100 m hohen Avilaberg gemacht, auf den wir mit der Seilbahn gefahren sind. Dort ... read more

the best thing i saw today, without doubt was a poster of big man chavez. it was him, with a massive grin on his face, holding a baseball bat as if he was about to swing it. glorious. today was also the 2nd time i had walked into a chavez rally of sorts. venezuela has elections coming up, and in plaza bolivar today there was a live band and whatnot, with pretty much everyone wearing red tshirts. hilariously enough, today i wore a red tshirt as well. today was certainly the right day to wear red in caracas. so yes, this band were pretty darn fun, and the call and response with all of the followers was pretty immense. i felt a little out of place, due to still being the whitest man in latin america, ... read more