Blogs from North-Eastern, Venezuela, South America - page 2

We awoke to a mixture of sun and cloud, but by the time we returned from the bakery (with our dry bread for breakfast and lunch, an attempt to reign in the spending after an expensive time in Caracas!) and had wandered up the 50m stretch of beach, it was fully overcast. Despite this it was still warm enough to lie on the beach in a bikini (speaking only for myself of course) and we did so until the first drops of rain at lunch. The afternoon was spent on the beach, but under the cover of the hostel's outdoor restaurant, reading and watching the rain and occasional catch of the fishermen being filleted on the beach and brought to our restaurant. In the evening, before tucking into fresh fish and fried calamares, we met the ... read more

We set our alarm early and headed out to get more money before check out. We had brought more dollars than we otherwise would have after advice from American Dan on the Cotopaxi climb who suggested ATMs were difficult. Difficult!? More like impossible! We went to ATMs at 3 different banks, putting our cards in, some letting us put in our PIN codes and select amounts, others not working at all, but all ended in the same result: no money! The Venezuelans have an ID card and they have to enter the two first or last digits before obtaining cash. We, of course, don't have this. The foreign office suggests "00" could work. It does not. Neither does numbers from sort code, card number, bank account number, PIN number, passport number etc. We asked for help ... read more

two days in Cumana...... read more

Having never seen, let alone swam in the Carribean before, we decided it was about time this was remedied, so headed to the north and somewhat east coast of Venezuela, where we had heard the sun shone and the beer flowed....oh, and there was a spanish school. Life had been a bit frustrating for jeff, not being able to communicate, and I was feeling pretty rusty myself, so we decided to lock ourselves in for a week of spanish classes. This may sound strenous, but by a week of classes I mean 4 hours a day, and living and learning in a hostel liberally strewn with hammocks, across the road from the beach, where breakfast and dinner are provided really was quite relaxing after weeks of moving around and foraging for ourselves. oh, and everyone there ... read more

We arrived in Puerto Lopez after a hard slog on the bus. We arrived in the early hours of the morning in the bus station and asked a cab to take us to a hostel we picked out in the lonely planet. He charged us 2 dollars each and although pretty expensive we were too tired to argue. The taxi took about 15 minutes, ahh 2 dollars isnt so bad we thought. We arrived at the hostel and asked the night porter if they had space. Half asleep, she told us that we would have to return in the morning. No idea why, probably because she was sleeping. we roamed around the streets trying to find somewhere to sleep. Not cool, especially in Venezuela and with all our belongings with us. After trying about 4 hostels ... read more