Some like it hot!
Ok, folks. 30 minutes spare and with an internet connection available, so time to get the South America trip blog up and running. Photos to follow later so you´ll just have to be happy with text for now.
Flew into Caracas last Thursday. Ridiculously early flight out of Heathrow terminal 2 at 06:25. Meant being in the queue for airport security before it even opened at 5am. Aaaagggghhhhh. Hate early mornings. Hate having to kip at an airport even more. Was lucky and found a nice set of four seats together to lay down on. However just 30 minutes later, the cleaning staff arrived to say I had to move because they wanted to shampoo the carpets. Comfort then disappeared as I tried to get close to something resembling comfort on a pair of seats. Not easy. Slept a bit but not much. Very difficult when the airport security announcements about not leaving bags unattended keep being played all through the night at full volume. Flights were both on time (into Frankfurt and back out again). Nice wake up at Frankfurt when you get off the plane to find it is 0C and you have to get on a bus back to the terminal. Fortunately departure gate for Caracas was right next to the bus drop-off point. Then got overfed for the next ten hours. Lufthansa managed to fit in two full meals, a round of sandwiches, and other bits inbetween. Arrived Caracas to find temperature of around about 30C. Dispensed with the fleece fairly rapidly. Taxi ride to hotel was an experience. Cab with no air conditioning, driver was a maniac. Luckily there was a very large traffic queue at one point. One of the bridges on the main highway between the airport and downtown Caracas collapsed a while back and they are still rebuilding. Means traffic from a 3 lane highway has to merge down onto a very small road around the old bridge. Hotel Floresta was good. Rooms clean and comfortable. Even had the privacy of a single room for the 1st night. Thought about maybe having a look at a bit of Caracas or going down to the bar to see if anyone else on the trip I´ve joined up with was already there. But the opportunity to just chill and catch up with some sleep won out. Even managed to find Scrubs on tv (may be a while before I see a telly again).
Next morning came far too soon, but did get plenty of sleep so can´t complain too much. Lots of people down for breakfast. Of course first person I met had to be another Brit, and a local one at that: Sue from near
Midhurst in Sussex. Gradually met up with the rest of the group and the tour leader (Dave the Hat). We have a mix of nationalities (Brits, Americans, Swedes, Aussies, and a Canadian) and ages (mid 20s to 60). Morning briefing on plans for the next few days and a chance to get to chat with other people in the group, a change of rooms to triples (teamed with an America called Brad and an Aussie called Mara) and then off a brief city tour in the afternoon. Got to see quite a few sites in the city centre and a bit of a drive around the outer limits of the centre. Cathedral is impressive, lots of stuff relating to Simon Bolivar (founded Venezuela and did lots of other stuff in Latin America) to see. Think my favourite was the Panteon.
Enough for now - running out of time and need to get this published. More to follow next time I get some internet time.
Flew into Caracas last Thursday. Ridiculously early flight out of Heathrow terminal 2 at 06:25. Meant being in the queue for airport security before it even opened at 5am. Aaaagggghhhhh. Hate early mornings. Hate having to kip at an airport even more. Was lucky and found a nice set of four seats together to lay down on. However just 30 minutes later, the cleaning staff arrived to say I had to move because they wanted to shampoo the carpets. Comfort then disappeared as I tried to get close to something resembling comfort on a pair of seats. Not easy. Slept a bit but not much. Very difficult when the airport security announcements about not leaving bags unattended keep being played all through the night at full volume. Flights were both on time (into Frankfurt and back out again). Nice wake up at Frankfurt when you get off the plane to find it is 0C and you have to get on a bus back to the terminal. Fortunately departure gate for Caracas was right next to the bus drop-off point. Then got overfed for the next ten hours. Lufthansa managed to fit in two full meals, a round of sandwiches, and other bits inbetween. Arrived Caracas to find temperature of around about 30C. Dispensed with the fleece fairly rapidly. Taxi ride to hotel was an experience. Cab with no air conditioning, driver was a maniac. Luckily there was a very large traffic queue at one point. One of the bridges on the main highway between the airport and downtown Caracas collapsed a while back and they are still rebuilding. Means traffic from a 3 lane highway has to merge down onto a very small road around the old bridge. Hotel Floresta was good. Rooms clean and comfortable. Even had the privacy of a single room for the 1st night. Thought about maybe having a look at a bit of Caracas or going down to the bar to see if anyone else on the trip I´ve joined up with was already there. But the opportunity to just chill and catch up with some sleep won out. Even managed to find Scrubs on tv (may be a while before I see a telly again).
Next morning came far too soon, but did get plenty of sleep so can´t complain too much. Lots of people down for breakfast. Of course first person I met had to be another Brit, and a local one at that: Sue from near
Midhurst in Sussex. Gradually met up with the rest of the group and the tour leader (Dave the Hat). We have a mix of nationalities (Brits, Americans, Swedes, Aussies, and a Canadian) and ages (mid 20s to 60). Morning briefing on plans for the next few days and a chance to get to chat with other people in the group, a change of rooms to triples (teamed with an America called Brad and an Aussie called Mara) and then off a brief city tour in the afternoon. Got to see quite a few sites in the city centre and a bit of a drive around the outer limits of the centre. Cathedral is impressive, lots of stuff relating to Simon Bolivar (founded Venezuela and did lots of other stuff in Latin America) to see. Think my favourite was the Panteon. 
Back to the hotel and a group meal at a nearby Chinese restaurant. First opportunity to practice my Spanish skills. Fortunately I´m not the only veggie on the trip. Nas from San Francisco means we have two people looking for veggie options, and seeing as she is one of the other 2 or 3 on the trip who speak some Spanish we managed to get some good Chinese veggie food. Back to the hotel for a few more beers (just as a way of getting to know people obviously). Four of us headed back into the centre to see if we could find a club. Little success though. Did have a drink and a boogie in a bar, but then eventually ended up in a mall just up the road from the hotel. Late night though: 2:30 am. Back into hotel room - thought I´d creep in quietly not to disturb the others only to find Brad had shut the connecting door in the middle of the room and I walked straight into it. Oh well its the thought that counts.
Enough for now - running out of time and need to get this published. More to follow next time I get some internet time.
posted by Alan at 1:17 pm
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