Venezuela and Curacao

Patria, socialismo democrático y vida....'patriotism, socialism or die'. This is the tag line for one of the first notable billboards I saw on the drive to Caracas from the airport. This advertising effort for socialism is all over the country. Before planning to visit Venezuela, I did not know the degree to which the country was struggling to be socialist and that it affected everything from government monopoly of natural commodities (i.e. oil) to everyday things like buying eggs at the supermarket.

As a tourist, I was affected most by the currency exchange. There is something called the parallel or 'black' market where American dollars are exchanged at a higher rate than the government issued rate because foreign money is not easy to come by. So, for example, if I was to take bolivares out of an ATM, I would receive 2100 bolivares for every dollar. On the black market I could receive 3500 bolivares for every dollar. To bring that to life...if I had dinner and it cost 50,000 bolivares, with the government issued rate it would cost approx $25 vs. $16 with the black market rate. Venezuela was a very cost efficient trip especially on the black market :)

My friend Leo, who is Columbian but lives in Venezuela with his wife Marcia were kind enough to put us up in their apartment the nights we stayed in Caracas. The first night we stayed in Caracas for about 7 hours since Alyson (friend from AMEX) and I had a flight to Merida at the crack of dawn the following day. The first day was spent acclimating to the altitude and eating lots of delicious foods. Cachapas, which is grounded corn batter filled with jamon y queso or however you like it, was delicious. I also had fabulous fish on the trip, Merida is especially known for their trout. Yum. In addition, we checked out a heladeria (ice cream parlor) that had around 200 ice cream flavors including salmon, pepsi cola and calamari to name a few.

Most of the trip centered around outdoor activities and enjoying the beautiful, lush Andes. On the second day in Merida we went canyoning - which is repelling down a rope through a waterfall and treading through streams, rivers and jumping into small bodies of water. In wetsuits and helmets, we tackled three waterfalls, one of which was so powerful that it was impossible to keep balance. I was so disoriented from the impact of the water coming down that by the time I got to the bottom all I could say was 'gracias' several times to the guide that helped me unharness my safety rope...first for helping me, but second because I made it through ok! The remainder of the canyoning trip was fun and exciting until I hurt my ankle. There were three rocks that we were to slide down slowly. I made it through the first couple fine but the last one I slipped off of and landed on my right ankle. I had it wrapped in gauze and was told not to put too much pressure on it. This took place right before the big daddy waterfall and hike back down to the van that was take us back into the city. It was a very exciting first day, to say the least!

In the days to follow we did more outdoor activities like bike riding. We began our bike ride 56km from Merida, mostly downhill and a little bit of off-road biking. The grand finale was to bike up a hill that would never end. We must have been going vertical (think Andes mountain steep) for a good 15km. Keep in mind this is after a long day of biking and enjoying the small cities we passed through. Sheesh, I was completely out of shape and nearly passed out from dehydration. Quite an opposite experience was the teleforico (tram) -- the longest one in the world which is located in Merida, that we went on the day after. It was a low energy day on our way to the top of a snow capped mountain. It was sort of cool because as you got closer to the top the vegetation changed dramatically from large, lush trees to cactus like plants. The one day we did do separate activities, I went horseback riding through the Andes and had a wonderful picnic at the top of a mountain peak with a crazy Frenchman guide, Jackie, and an Austrian law student while Alyson went paragliding.

Another hobby we took part in was shoe shopping. The Venezuelans are crazy about shoes. There were so many shoe shops we must have visited over 20 stores in Merida alone. There was every kind of shoe color, shape and style - it was fun!

On our last evening we decided to try a street food vendor across from our hotel. Boy, was that a bad idea for me. I had major stomach pains on the flight back to Caracas. When we arrived I spent half the day trying to get better, the other half shopping :)

The following day Alyson and I traveled to my 30th country....Curacao which is part of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). What better way to spend my 30th country but on a beach....sleeping and reading! It was such a treat after all of the activities we had done in Venezuela - to do nothing. Though my favorite moment in Curacao was a day I decided to swim out to a platform about a quarter of a mile from the beach. It was built as a part of our hotel but apparently the bridge that connected land with the platform had collapsed. There was no way to get up on this platform since it stood about 3 feet above the water. Someone who must have tried getting up had tied some wire to the base of the platform but it was pretty hard to maneuver while swimming to stay afloat. Just as I was about to give up there were these three Dutch kids that swam out to try as well. We all tried to get up there for a good long while and we were about to give up when these three Italian guys swam over like a swat team. They re-engineered the wire and they made it up and helped us get up as well. The view was amazing (there were two stories on the platform) and it felt good to accomplish something, even on a relaxing part of the trip.

If I had to pick three themes for this trip, I'd say it was physically challenging, culturally enlightening and motivating for future plans and aspirations. On that note, this is the end of my 30x30 journey, but not my travels. Thank you to those who provided fabulous suggestions for places I visited- they will be forever memorable. Also, thanks for the rockin company steph, kevin, cat, amy, malik, alyson, leo and marcia!!!

Argentina and Peru

The main characters:

Cat (Catherine) = great friend from CA, roommate, traveling buddy, google guru extraordinaire

Amy = well traveled, care free co-worker/friend of Cat’s

Malik = co-worker, friend, traveling buddy that photographs like it’s nobody’s business

Bill = friend of Malik’s and ex pat of beautiful Buenos Aires

And the story begins….

Cat and I decided several months back that we’d go somewhere…just not sure where the where was until about a month before the trip. We decided on Buenos Aires, which worked out great since Malik was planning to visit his friend Bill. We coordinated our schedules and started planning our travels.

I took Copa Airlines, a Panamanian airline, down to Lima, Peru where I’d eventually end my trip. I had about an 8 hour layover so I decided to go to a district called Mira Flores. It’s in the fancier part of Lima. I organized a round trip to and from Lima airport from a taxi driver by the name of Segundo. He dropped me off and we agreed on a time to meet so he could take me back to the airport.

There, I walked around till I was tired, shopped till I was tired and then ate my first (one of many) delicious meals. It was fish/shrimp sauteed in a cream sauce, Peruvian style. While I ate, I overlooked the sea with the sunset in the background and watched paragliders letting the wind take them to wherever the heart desired.

When my time was up, I went back to our meeting place but no Segundo…. I waited for a good twenty minutes before I needed to take another taxi so I wouldn’t miss my flight. I felt TERRIBLE since I didn’t even pay him for the portion of my ride coming from the airport. Thoughts of him needing to feed his family made me feel even worse. I figured at best, he’d have good karma with his next ride. I checked my bags in and was on my way to the gate when I heard my name… “Susana! Susana!!!”! I look to the left and see Segundo! He claimed that he was at the meeting spot and that I wasn’t there. Either way, I was really impressed that he found me. I quickly paid him the last of my US dollars and was on my way.

At the airport, I met Malik and we started our journey down south on an overnight flight. Landing into Buenos Aires, I felt a sense of relief that I was finally there and an excitement because I had never been to South America and it already felt really different. Overall, I spent 24 hours traveling, so when I got to a bed I crashed out. Soon thereafter Amy and Cat arrived and we were off for the day. We met Malik and Bill for brunch in an area called Las Canitas. It’s a super cute neighborhood with lots of great bars and restaurants. Bill, who had been living there for about 7 months, seemed to have a lot of ex-pat friends there. It was like Cheers, except in BA.

Afterwards we caught a futbol game and this was an interesting experience. The fans were going loco; making music with their cheers and a beat with anything that was in smacking distance. In the evening we went and had some Argentine carne. Now that’s what I’m talking about. We had about 5 different cuts of meat, papas, vino, ensalada and dulce de leche for dessert and all for about $10 per person. Life was really good at this point.

We continued to eat really, really well the next couple of days. In between all of the eating we also went to visit Evita’s cemetery, visited the place where Evita’s house stood (at one point in time, it’s now only a statue), visited Evita’s famed balcony where she spoke to her people, drove down Avenida 9 de Julio: claimed to be the widest street in world (it was pretty wide, but apparently NOT the widest said our tour guide). In addition, Cat, Amy and I took a tango lesson and watched a tango show afterwards. The lesson was awesome – our teacher was this little man that had some serious skills. Either way, I have a new appreciation for the art of tango.

Mid-way through the trip, us gals took a trip to Iguazu Falls. The falls are an UNESCO World Heritage site and for good reason. The 275 waterfalls make for a unique experience. Niagara Falls? Hmmm, you ain’t seen nothing yet till you visit Iguazu! What makes the falls really special is the surroundings since it’s in the tropics. It was so lush and incredibly warm. Although it rained in BA everyday, I still managed to get a little tan from being out at the falls for a day.

In my pictures you’ll notice butterflies….there were LOTS of them. Do you see butterflies and think ‘how pretty’? After this trip, I will never look at them in the same way. They were ALL over the place! They would try to fly in my ear, would land anywhere they could on me and their favorite place to land appeared to be on hats. At some point in our hike around the fall when there were so many, I would run through sections in order to avoid dozens that were waiting to inadvertently tickle me and gross me out. Back to the falls….we visited both the Argentine and Brazilian side. Every view of the falls provided a unique one. We took a jungle tour – which really turned out to be a plant tour. Our guide was so passionate about the plants that he made it interesting, but boy, were there a lot of bugs around. I’d definitely recommend checking it out the falls and the jungle tour, but only if you like plants :)

Cat, Amy and I were scheduled to go back to BA on a 5:30pm flight – which would have been perfect so we could get back to eating more steak. Unfortunately our flight was cancelled and we ended up getting sent to a nearby hotel to wait and chill out for about 10 hours till the plane arrived. The hotel was a pretty nice one….we had a buffet (though the food wasn’t as good as in BA), played ping pong and danced under the stars to live music. It was surprisingly a fun, unexpected night.

Back in BA we did some shopping, which was excellent! The day after we were supposed to go to Colonia, Uruguay but the ferry was sold out! Apparently it was a long holiday weekend and the Argentine’s go to their summer homes in Uruguay. Instead we went to check out the MALBA museum nearby – it’s a modern art museum. Really cool inside and it was the perfect amount of content…not too little and not too much. For lunch we met some of Bill’s friends. What was for lunch you might ask? Vino, carne, huevos con papas and of course for dessert, dulce de leche ice cream. This is also the lunch I tried blood sausage and kidney for the first time. The blood sausage was actually pretty good – it had a lot of flavor and the texture wasn’t too weird. The kidney, on the other hand, was not a winner in my book. In the evening Cat and Amy headed back to CA and Malik and I went to a Mediterranean restaurant where we watched belly dancers and a male belly dancer that was not very good at balancing stuff on his head.

Afterwards we met up with Bill and his Argentine friends and went to the poonchie poonchie. What is poonchie poonchie? It’s the sound techno music makes and is what the local peeps use to describe clubs. Anywho, we went to the poonchie poonchie and danced till about 6 in the morning. What I really liked about clubbing is that people were getting their groove on, not necessarily in a ‘I’m trying to mack on you’ way. If you don’t understand, I guess you just have to go see for yourself. It was a refreshing environment.

My final day in BA was spent shopping, eating some dang good empanadas and departing for the airport to Lima. We decided we’d sleep in the airport since our flight to Cusco was at 5:30 in the morning and we arrived into Lima at 11:30pm. I don’t remember the last time I slept in the airport but it worked out ok. We found some really comfy benches right next to our gate so we wouldn’t miss our boarding call. Malik woke me when it was time and we proceeded to board our flight. One of the ticket checkers ran out to the plane as we were about to board and asked if we were Malik and Suzzy to which we answered ‘yes’. He said that we were on the wrong flight to Cusco and that our plane had already left!!! So much for being alert! Luckily we were put on a flight not too long after our original flight and we left for Cusco.

There I stayed at a place called Ninos Hotel very close to Plaza de Armas, the main square. The first day there was really just about acclimating to the altitude (11,500 feet above sea level) and catching up on sleep. Between poonchie poonchie and sleeping at the airport, I was a little sleep deprived. That evening Malik tried the alpaca – it’s one of the typical dishes in the area. I tried a bite and thought it was OK. It tasted like beef and had a really chewy consistency that I didn’t really like.

We left for Macchu Picchu early the next day. We took a taxi, to a bus, to a train, to another bus and were at the trail after five hours of travel. Our tour guide took us through all of the major sections of the lost city of the Incas and we got to spend a lot of time taking pictures. The pictures just don’t do justice to the beauty of Macchu Picchu. I want to go again at some point to do the trail – one day was just not enough. Upon returning to Cusco, we went out to dinner and then I proceeded to pass out J

The following day was all about doing touristy stuff in Cusco. Saw the cathedral, the Inca museum and the temple of the sun. All of it was good, but I will say that I won’t need to do more touristy type trips, especially involving cathedrals, for a while. Also, Malik tried the guinea pig – another specialty dish for lunch. I have a picture of it….it literally came out the way it’d look like running around in a pet store. Nonetheless, he bravely tried it but it didn’t really work out because it was disgusting. I tried a piece and it tasted extremely floral, like it was masking something gross. Also it was really chewy and the meat was thready. I give it a thumbs down. The evening was better though. We met up with my friend Lyde, who also lives in NYC and her brother and another friend and had a great dinner outdoors.

The day after Malik left and I did a self guided tour around Cusco. The city is built on a hill so I went walking all around the hills and got to see how the other half live. No wonder the people are in shape! I did some serious power stairs that day….can’t imagine doing it everyday! In the afternoon I did some shopping and went to my favorite hole in the wall restaurant. There, I ate with the locals and had some of the best soup in my life and a typical Peruvian plate, all for $.80. I could eat like that everyday….

Early in the morning I left for the airport and began my arduous travel back home from Cusco to Lima, Lima to Panama and Panama to NYC. One of my BIGGEST pet peeves about flying is when I specifically request a window seat, which the ticketing agent acknowledges but still gives me a middle seat. On my last leg home, I was looking forward to getting into my book that I had been reading on my trip, “Under the Banner of Heaven”. I got to my row, only to realize that I was in a middle seat – not to mention it was between an old granny with man hands and a chubby kid that had the arm rest up and was spilling into my space. I asked the stewardess if I could move seats but there wasn’t a chance. I ended up spending part of the trip perfectly angling myself so that I could use part of the arm rest the granny had put down and not be touching skin with the big boy. Eventually I pulled down the arm rest and had my space but I just wasn’t in the mood after a long day.

That was my trip! I feel like I got to do so much in two weeks and that some down time was much needed to think about those things I put off in my normal, everyday life.

Edinburgh, Scotland

I was really excited about this trip for several reasons: 1) it was my first trip in 2007, 2) it marks country #25 and, 3) got to see and travel with my friend Steph, who moved to London last year, and her beau Kevin.

After taking a red-eye on Friday after work I got off the plane there was a beautiful greeness all around, as far as the eye could see. It reminds me of how much I miss vegetation.

WARNING: if you're taking a weekend trip and pack light like me, get ready to justify your existence and passion for travel! ...... I had a rude awakening when I got to the customs fellow. I recapped most of my convo with the customs official at the bottom of this entry, it was too amusing looking back, but I assure you I was as red as a tomato with anger at the time.

After I got out of the airport, I made my way to city centre. I met up with Steph and Kevin at a rented apartment right down the street from Edinburgh Castle. It was super cute and centrally located. We made our way down to a cafe to get breakfast. Had some delicious bacon - real bacon - it was so good! Kevin got some haggis for us and we tried it out. Not too bad! It tasted like a garden burger.

We started our journey by walking down to Prince Street on the new side of town. The city was one big facade - you can walk down a mile and it looks like an eternity away. We made our way up to the Nelson Monument. At the very top there's a ball that raises and drops at 1pm so that the boats in the harbor can sync their clocks. The ball drops with the firing of the cannon at the castle - I guess this is where the tradition began. We waited until 1:03 and saw nothing. The second we all looked away, guess what dropped?

We did some more walking and went to a gallery. Afterwards we went to the Whiskey Museum where we did a scotch tasting - well, more like steph and kevin did a tasting and I had a couple of spoonfuls of each just to get the taste down. BTW, famous words by Kevin who's a bit of a scotch connoisseur "Good scotch is really good" - this was before the drinking even began.

At that point sleepyness was catching up with me so I went to the apt to take a power nap. After I was refreshed and ready to go, we went and had dinner at Freshers? The place is known for their seafood and man was it good. That was one of the most delicious meals I had had in a long while. The dessert was AMAZING....Steph got sticky toffee pudding - it was heavenly. I had a lemon tart that I was feeling. We're kind of full and happy from a couple of bottles of wine and headed to the City of the Dead tour.

Apparently there is a poltergeist that lives in Edinburgh, along with other characters. We toured a graveyard that people have had random scratches/cuts and have been "knocked out", which our guide referenced again and again. It was fun but not uber scary...well not till I was sleeping that night and I woke up with weird scratch marks. j/k :) Rounded out the night by listening to some fiddle players.

The next day we started early and spent the first half of the day at the castle. The royale jewels were pretty cool and it was amazing to see how small things were back in the 1600's. Apparently I am on the tall side since my head was near the top of the door way for some entrances. Imagine that. There was also a demonstration on how to make a kilt (but it's actually called something else for the highlanders but I don't remember at the moment). It was amazing since this one piece of flannel fabric that served as a sleeping bag, day wear, evening wear, rain gear and man purse. The view of the city was also phenomenal.

After the castle we had lunch and then walked down the royal mile to the queen's residence. Unfortunately it was locked so we ended up spending time at the park walking around. We walked some more (notice a theme?) and went to another cool museum. The venue was incredibly large and housed all types of art from many periods - reminded me a lot of the MoMa in NY. We spent the rest of the evening eating, dining and chatting the night away.

I flew back the day after and that was my short, long weekend!


This is the conversation with the customs guy - imagine this:

me: [in my pj's with a shoulder bag and nothing more]
him: [an old Scottish man with a white mustache]

me: hi
him: hi, may i see your passport

me: sure [pass passport]
him: how long are you visiting for?

me: oh, just for the long weekend (giggles)
him: it's an awfully long flight to take just for the weekend [start the stare down]

me: yes, that's true, but i like to travel so it's ok
him: where will you be staying?

me: not sure, I'm meeting friends here
him: you don't know where your friends are? you must not be good friends

me: well, I am meeting them here and they flew in from London last night
him: why didn't you just go to London to visit them? why here?

me: well, I've been to London plenty of times and if you looked at my passport, you'd see that
him: you don't have any stamps for London [me now remembering my passport was renewed last year, oops]

me: i have a new passport, check the date
him: do you know that less than 10% of Americans have passports (I think the number is a little higher but I didn't question it)

me: well, I travel alot
him: let me see your return ticket

me: i don't have it - i was going to check into closer to my departure date
him: (checking every single entry in my passport)

me: [feeling uncomfortable because all the other Americans are waiting for customs to let me through]
him: [no 'thank you', no 'welcome to scotland'. i get stamped and pass through as though i hadn't been a victim of 20 customs questions]

the end... :)