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Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff



The next couple days were spent relaxing on the nearby beaches and our nights at the seawall in Choroni. One morning we walked on a trail that led up to an overlook above the town. We passed an area spotted with crab holes. As we came upon them the little blue crabs would scuttle back in their homes just out of reach of my camera’s lens except for a few times. Amy was especially good at stalking them.

On our way home we decided to pay a little extra for a private car instead of subjecting ourselves to the party bus from hell.

Day 9 – Caracas, Venezuela
Our original plan today was to buy tickets to a baseball game, but we were stymied by an impressive amount of bureaucracy and lots of waiting in lines. It was probably a good thing we weren’t successful since it rained for the rest of the day.

Day 10 – Caracas, Venezuela
Today Simon & I ventured out to the Parque Del Este, a large park in the Altamira neighborhood within walking distance of the apartment. The sun was out and there were tons of people out enjoying the day. Basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and even some kids breakdancing. Simon broke out the ping pong bats, ball, & net and we got setup on one of the concrete tables. In the middle of a six game beating (Damn you, Simon!) we took shelter as it began to rain, yet again.

Afterwards we headed back & grabbed some Venezuelan street burgers. The burgers start off with a highly seasoned patty of beef (like carne-asada). A slice of chedder cheese and another unknown to me cheese. Lettuce, fried onions, and these tiny fried chips. Ketchup on both sides of the bun, mustard, mayo and one or two unnamed sauces. Oh and a fried egg with a slice of ham.

It always bugs me when catalogs advertise shorts & swimsuits in March. I get that in places like L.A. it really is spring, but sending those images to Chicagoans like me is just mean. Luckily for me I can relive sitting on a warm sandy beach while writing this post about my trip last fall. Enjoy.

Today we woke up and made the trip to playa de chao which is only reachable by boats. The boats are these small fiberglass jobs that skip along the ocean powered by a big outboard motor.

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

Saturday after taking our time waking up and packing we spent the rest of the day on an arduous journey to Choroni. The day before Amy & Simon had warned me of 3 major annoyances:
1. The touts would be constantly bothering us.
2. How cold the first bus would be
3. A second bus ride so epically awful that the only way to recover is to spend a couple days lounging on a sun drenched beach.

Indeed the touts (nice word Simon) at every opportunity harrassed us, but to no less degree than the ones in Beijing. Mostly they wanted us to board their particular buses, but there were also some selling snacks.

Before getting the first bus in Caracas I was sweltering in the heat wearing rolled up pants & a t-shirt. By the time we arrived in Maracay I was bundled up in a long sleeve shirt, parka, and a wool cap.

No lie, the second bus from Maracay to Choroni was the most exhausting ride I’d ever been on. We packed into a school bus with every slot totally filled. My legs were long enough that I couldn’t sit with my knees together touching. I was totally wedged in, which ended up being a good thing after all. The first half of the trip was up a mountain winding through the switchback roads that while on the hairpin turns can only fit a single car at a time. This mean the driver had to pull a rope in order to blare the horn warning oncoming traffic all while negotiating the turns, one handed.

Unbelievably, the second half of the ride down the mountain was worse. We were going downhill so we were going much faster, the turns seemed sharper, a steady rain had fallen, and a heavy fog reduced visibility to mere feet. Adding to our discomfort was the heavy based Latin pop music blaring from the enormous sound system.

When we finally arrived in the town of Choroni I was so taxed both physically & mentally. It was such a huge relief to check into our rooms and to walk around the small town. We briefly walked over to the nearest beach which was incredibly beautiful with swaying palm trees. Even better was the seawall where all the tourists & locals hung out in the evenings.
Look at how happy we are to be in Choroni!


Next time: Speedboats! Wild Packs of Dogs! & Floods!

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

Awesome panoramic by flickr user ervega

It seemed like just as soon as I arrived in Peru I was leaving for Venezuela to see Simon & Amy. The days that I was traveling from city to city were when I really wished I had a traveling buddy. Even with my pack being relatively small it still would’ve been nice to have someone trustworthy to look after my stuff while I went to the restroom. Or maybe learn just a couple more Spanish phrases that were different then the ones I depended on.

Fact: I have no concept of the size of large land masses. I thought the flight from Lima to Caracas would be one or two hours instead of four. I’m glad I didn’t try & take a train.

Landing in Caracas is like landing in any of the other developing cities I’ve landed in like Beijing, Shanghai, Lima, Mexico City, etc. Namely, that on exiting the secure area one get’s bombarded by taxi drivers looking for fares. Normally, I’d just walk a little farther out of the terminal, haggle a fair fare, and hop in, but not this time.

I should explain that of all the places I’ve visited Caracas was the one I feared/respected the most. Partly this was due to the subtle language differences that different literature had when describing Caracas compared to Lima. See for Lima crime was called out as something that may happen while for Caracas crime was something that would happen.

Mostly what had me spooked was Amy & Simon’s insistence that we hire from a specific taxi company. Like most large urban airports Simón Bolívar is on the outskirts of town and it is not uncommon for crooked cabbies to use this to their advantage to get an extra “tip” from unsuspecting tourists.

Soon enough I was at my friend’s very cool apartment in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas drinking tea. Dinner that night was the best of the trip so far. We ate at a country/western-style steakhouse within walking distance. First we had some arepias which are these tasy corn meal cakes and then we split a huge platter of various meats & sausages served over a bed of french fries and topped with slices of avocado.

After dinner Simon & Amy took me to a nearby shopping mall for some ice cream and people watching. They pointed out that Venezuelan men have a propensity to wearing comically large fanny packs.

Next time: A journey so harrowing it takes days at the beach to recover

Hello from South America!
If you´ve been expecting daily pictures from my trip I´m sorry to report you´ll have to wait until after I get back in December.  I shoot my photos in the RAW format which while it allows me to turn crummy photos to less crummy also requires more serious computing power than the average internet cafe offers.  Fear not, I have been taking photos & writing some notes along the way that I´ll post in the future.

I´m currently in Cusco, Peru after spending some time in Lima and Caracas, Venezuela.  I´m spending my time here acclimating to 11,000 feet of elevation which for this born & bred Chicagoan is significant.  On Sunday I´ll be joining a tour group for a 5 day trek along the Inca Trail that will lead to Machu Picchu.  The famed Incan ruins are one of the 7 wonders of the world and I´ll be honsest that part of the reason I´m here is to see if they stack up to The Great Wall.

At the almost halfway point of my month long trip I can report that both Peru & Venezuela have been wonderful places to visit with some unbelievably awe inspiring scenary and by & large an extremely friendly populace that is happy to put up with my butchering of their language.

More to report soon,
jeff

Note:  This webpage has been giving a Junior High School rating which is impressive since the majority of this site is just big pictures.

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