Blogs from Isla Margarita, Insular, Venezuela, South America

We arrived in Isla Margarita on the 28th following a 2 hour flight from Asuncion, Paraguay to Sau Paulo, Brazil; a 3 hour stopover; a 6 hour flight from Sau Paulo to Caracas, Venezuela; an 8 hour wait in the airport; then a short 50 minute flight from Caracas to Porlamar. We traded some American money for Venezuelan Bolivars with some guy at the airport as we knew that the black market rate (as illegal as it is) was way better than the official exchange rate (6.2-6.4 as opposed to 4.5 official rate). Once we landed in Porlamar, we had to take a cab to our hotel in Playa El Agua as no other mode of transportation was available and ended up costing us Bsf.120. We stayed at 'Posada Nathalie' which turned out to be a ... read more

October 22 - 26, 2008 Margarita Island, Venezuela After a long day of travelling ( Bogota, Caracas, Margarita Island ) we arrived at Margarita Island and checked into Hesperia Resort for a few day of relaxing. This is a really nice part of the world with beautiful beaches and some great facilities. This is not really what we expected as the countryside is small mountains ( we were thinking flat ! ) and it is a very, very nice place. We did exactly as planned and pretty much stayed around the resort except for a few hours in Porlamar, the main city on the Island. The Hesperia is a very nice resort ( claim to be 5 star - maybe not, but a very good 4 star for sure ). Good beach, good pool area and ... read more

From the great city of Quito we flew on March 20th through Bogota, without getting abducted by anyone interesting, and landed in Caracas, the crime capital of the world according to some. Managed to get through the airport with our shirts and over to the local airport for a short flight to Isla de Margarita. We´ve had a very laid back time here. Not alot to do and one has to just take your foot off the accelerator and chill or you can go a bit nuts. Very hot here. I mean very hot. Our friend Richard very graciously provided us with a comfortable apartment on the beach in the active fishing village of LaGuardia - active for the fishermen. We stayed for 2 & 1/2 weeks and it was a treat to live in a ... read more

I stayed in San Francisco a day longer than planned. Actually I stayed in San Francisco airport a day longer than planned. I assumed what happened to me only happened on airport. It turns out that it doesn’t and I am glad that it doesn’t. I got to the airport in ample time even though my position at the back of the queue would suggest not. I don’t know if it’s a South American thing but pretty much everyone in the queue seemed to be taking the worldly possessions on the flight with them. Ironing boards, TV’s you name it. About 5 minutes later a women came to the back of the queue and said that due to the plane been overloaded they were not going to be able to take all of the passengers on ... read more

Message de France : Je ne comprend pas toujours bien ce que les gens aiment des grandes villes comme ici. Les architectures , les musées. Bien sur que ceux qui y viennent en vacance sont dans des resorts avec le grand service, les spectacles et les plus belles plages. Pour nous ici dans la baie en tout cas c'est la pauvreté que l'on voit, en ville : la saleté. Sur les bateaux les gens sont inquiets et ils ont peur. La réalité est tout autre. .. La première soirée ici il y a eu deux voiliers qui ont vu quelqu'un essayer de partir avec leur dinghy. Maintenant il y en a des navigateurs qui couchent dehors. Aussi lorsque nous quittons nos bateaux nous désignons un voisin en surveillance. Je ne sais pas mais j'aimerais voir les ... read more