Margarita Island, Venezuela


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South America » Venezuela » Insular » Isla Margarita
October 26th 2008
Published: October 27th 2008
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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 decent food and drinks ( all inclusive ).

Margarita Island is not far off the Venezuela coast on the Caribbean and it is about what you would expect of a Caribbean resort area. We enjoyed hot ( real hot ) days with a couple of afternoon showers, ( typical ) but a very relaxing time in a beautiful place.

I managed to get in a round of golf at the resort. Could be a nice track but needs to be completed. ( No sand in the Sand Bunkers. I still went in them though ) and a few small things to be finished. Not too complicated and easy to walk as it is mostly flat. Great views of the small mountains and the sea.

It is very interesting to hear the ramblings of country President, Hugo Chavez, on the radio and T.V. He basically takes over the media at will. These long and boring speeches are right out of Fidel Castro’s notebooks. We never heard one person who is happy with the current situation with this government. Too bad as they are missing some much needed tourist business, and dollars, due to this questionable political situation.

The currency controls that are in place are questionable and it promotes “black market” currency dealers. The rate is 2.15 to a U.S. $ and we heard that you could get as high as 3.5 for the same U.S. $ from a “currency dealer”. Basically the hotel and other services rates are based on a “fair” U.S. dollar price. ( or the same for Euros ) and the screwed up currency doesn’t seem to be too much trouble unless you live here and are spending the local currency. It is hard to believe that this power crazy leader has already changed the country flag, changed all the money, changed the country crest, and even changed the name of the country and he tried to get a policy changed that would allow indefinite re elections for him. ( was voted out in a referendum ) What next ???

Early tomorrow we fly to another part of Venezuela, on the mainland, for a visit to Angel Falls as the last leg of our adventure.

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