Hi All, I finally found an internet cafe, at the end of a mad week rushing from one meeting to another, where our host always went over time so tyhere were no breaks in between, and we never got home before 8pm when the local internet cafe was closed. I have no groceries, no time, and only just got US dollars changed...going to try to upload a few pics but first will say a little bit about our adventures: went out to a village on a bus 2 hours´journey. 2 bolivaros coming back the driver charged 10 bolivaros (think that´s how [View Full Entry]

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Ya estamos en Venezuela disfrutando con nuestra familia y amigos. We are already in Venezuela having a great time with our friends and families. [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 (Saturday) - I only had a day in Caracas. My bus arrived after 6 and my bus to the border of Brasil was set to depart at 3:30. I was fortunate to spend the time I did have with my new friend Orla, who I had met on the bus the day before. The beginning of our day was one of baggage issues. I wanted to leave my big bag in the terminal but the baggage check worker never showed up. The woman in the company I was to depart with was not willing to help by letting me [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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In anticipation of the mayoral elections this sunday, the government has issued a ley seca (dry law), meaning that there will be no sales of alcohol allowed anywhere for the whole of the weekend. While some people here are conjuring up the most gloomy of domesday scenarios for elections day, including the idea that the whole country will be effectively shut down without electricity, internet and water, others believe that absolutely nothing will happen. But most people seem to agree that if the opposition manages to get anywhere near the percentage that they are hoping to get there will be at [View Full Entry]

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... 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 [View Full Entry]

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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 morge [View Full Entry]

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Yes, it's official (it's in the news so it must be true); Caracas is currently the murder capital of the world with 130 murders per 100 000 inhabitants (compared to less than 2 in London) - and that doesn't even include prison-related murders or police violence, so it wouldn't be too adventurous to guess that the real ratio is substantially higher (although I'm really not sure what kind of statistic that is... I mean... over what time?). Despite the fact that crime rates have gone up 67% since Chavez took the lead ten years ago, many people here, especially in the [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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