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Diane's DiaryFebruary 22 Tuesday We watched our episode of West Wing this morning and than took a taxi to Plaza Mayor to do some shopping. Normally, we just take the dinghy as it's much easier and avoids the $4 roundtrip taxi ride. However, we just got our cover back from Orient Canvas as they had it for repairs. With the wind is blowing pretty hard, we could launch the dinghy if we really had to but decided not to today. It would not have been a comfortable dinghy trip with the wind blowing although it is much calmer than yesterday. We had lunch in the mall, went to the pharmacy and to the supermarket. At night we went to the trivia night in the restaurant to raise funds at the marina for a local orphan who needs some surgery. We started to sit with some friends from Texas seated at a table. They never told us they had the table reserved for others who were coming later so we sat down with them and ordered dinner. Tex Reb and a bunch of other Texans came later when we were just eating dinner and Texas Reb asked us (not very nicely) to leave the table! I couldn't believe how crass they were! I was so mad. This is not the first time Nancy has been mean to us and she has had a run in with some other cruisers also. Precocious Gale, Ray and Gail, sitting at the same table later came over to us afterwards and apologized which I thought was very nice. But for me the night was completely ruined. We wound up sitting at another table by ourselves to finish dinner and started the trivia but of course had missed the first round at this point. February 23 Wednesday The wind is still blowing and it's actually a bit chilly out! We watched an episode of West Wing with breakfast this morning. The show is on at midnight so we just tape it and watch it in the morning. Anyway, Elias came over - the US Embassy called him looking for us! We had sent the Embassy an email the day before and they called us on the phone number we had given them last year. Anyway, at first we couldn't understand why they were calling and thought maybe something had gone wrong with somebody in the US. But than we remembered the email we had just sent them. They called back and nothing was wrong, they just wanted to tell us that American Citizen Service's unit closes at 11am daily and if we arrived after that, we wouldn't be able to be serviced. So, looks like we're just going to have to go to Caracas on the overnight bus and wait until Monday to go to the Embassy. We'll go Friday night at 12:30am, which is actually Saturday morning. We'll hopefully see Giulio Saturday or Sunday. I am not looking forward to the bus trip as it's now going to be 10 hours long. We started to put the dinghy together this morning after getting the cover back from getting repaired. We had to put the entire thing back together again. Anyway, Jeffrey from Panache came along and wanted Larry to go help him with getting his new dinghy back so Larry went with him. They also went to Plaza Mayor so Larry could pick up his new passport photos. We had them taken already but Sylvester had told us the wrong size for the new photos so we had them taken again. It was just off by 2cm, which is not a lot, but we didn't want to take a chance and have them the wrong size when we got all the way to the Embassy. I had to call Mom and Dad, the hotel and Giulio this morning but I couldn't get the computer to work so I had to go up to the pay phone to call them. In the afternoon, I made an excellent carrot soup from my favorite cookbook. It came out superb and will definitely be high up on my list on dishes to continue making. I also made chicken picatta, which I haven't made in a while and also came out good. I wasn't feeling too well in the pm so laid down for about an hour. February 24 Thursday We watched our normal episode of the West Wing TV show while eating breakfast. First, we listen to the local net here in PLC, than the Safety and Security net and than eat breakfast so we don't finish with the TV until almost 9:30am. After that, I did some logs. I went over to the bus station to exchange our tickets for the Friday night bus, as it's always better to buy the tickets the day before. Anyway, we had to pay almost $2 to exchange the tickets - I didn't know there was an exchange fee. If we had just kept our original tickets from the 7am bus we wouldn't have had to pay the fee since they cancelled the bus. Oh well, the fee was not very high, it's just the principal that we exchanged the tickets originally for the later bus and than wound up not taking it. We took it easy today, as it will be a hectic few days in Caracas coming up with no sleep tomorrow night. We watched a DVD "Robocop 4" at night but it was pretty bad. The others in the series we good but since this is number 4 I guess the quality has gone down some. Anyway, with the number of movies we have seen so far, we sure have gotten our monies worth out of the DVD player and I'm glad we bought it. It gives us something to do at night. However, when we go to the out islands we won't be watching any TV at all. February 25 Friday We watched our usual episode of the West Wing this morning with breakfast. Today is going to be a long day since we won't be getting to sleep tonight so I wanted to take it easy. I made some phone calls this morning. I tied to take a nap in the pm but just couldn't get to sleep. I did walk 2 laps around the marina in the pm. I looked for a taxi driver to take us to the bus station at 11:30pm but had a hard time getting one. Finally, Carlos the carpenter told us he would take us there. We were worried the marina wouldn't be able to find a cab for us so late on a Friday night as it's been known to happen. Anyway, the bus was not a "semi cama" as they call the sleeping buses, but just a regular bus. It was absolutely freezing on it- I had on a heavy sweatshirt and windbreaker and was still freezing- even my face and nose we cold! The bus stopped for the first time after about a 30-minute ride. Why it stopped so early since we had just left is beyond me. We next stopped about 6am at the normal bus stop on the way into Caracas. The bus went through Los Llanos on a dirt road with lots of potholes in it so the ride was not that comfortable. February 26 Saturday We arrived in Caracas at 8:30am so the total bus trip was about 7.5 hours actual driving time. We had stopped for about 1 hour between the 2 rest stops. It's a good thing we didn't take the 9:30pm bus out of PLC as this would have arrived in Caracas before dawn. Anyway, we didn't know if we would get into our hotel room at this early hour but decided to give it a try, as we had to get rid of the bags anyway. Well, we were able to get into our room although it still needed to be cleaned which was very lucky for us since it was now only 9am. We had walked the few blocks from the bus station, as we didn't have much luggage anyway. Anyway, we went next door for breakfast and when we came back the room was ready. Since we both didn't sleep at all on the bus ride we both slept soundly from 10am-2pm. We went to lunch at Little Cesar's pizza nearby- OK but not terrific. We called Giulio and he said he would pick us up around 7pm and we would go to their house for dinner. We walked through the old US Embassy grounds for a while and than went back to the room and went to sleep again. Giulio picked us up around 7pm and it was nice to see him after so much time. We stayed at their house for dinner and arrived back at the hotel around 12:30am. Larry got his new computer so he was very excited about that and can't wait to use it. Everyone looked fine although they all looked tired, as it was a long day for them. We wanted to see them tomorrow also as there was still so much to talk with them about, but they didn't say anything so I guess they just had other plans. If we had known that, we would have just come to Caracas for 1 night only and wouldn't have had to pay an additional night in a hotel. The only reason we even came on a weekend in the first place was to see them but I guess they just had other plans for Sunday. Anyway, we'll just go to the big Sambil mall tomorrow and see if we can buy some blank DVD's for our new DVD burner. February 27 Sunday We got up around 8:30am so it was nice to sleep late for a change and not run to listen to the various nets on the SSB and VHF radio like we normally do. We went next door to the hotel and had a light breakfast at the local restaurant. After that, we called Andrea and Gaby's son Alex to change some money. He took our US check and gave us 2600 exchange rate although the correct exchange rate in Caracas should have been 2700 so we were a little annoyed he did not give us the correct rate. Oh, well, the most we were getting for a check in PLC is 2550 so we are still getting more here. Alex dropped us off in his car at Sambil mall at 11:15am but unfortunately the mall didn't open until 12 on Sunday so we just had to wait until it opened. We couldn't find any DVD's at a good rate and just walked around the mall. We had a nice lunch in the American food chain Chili's. Prices have really gone up as last year 3 of us had the exact same meal as 2 of us had this year! Of course, the government here is saying there has been no inflation at all! Bullshit! Anyway, we got back to the room around 4pm. I dyed my hair while Larry played with his new computer. We went to TGIF for dinner but both of us didn't feel too well at the restaurant- I don't know why. Service was very slow so we didn't get back to the hotel till after 9pm. There were lots of people in the streets since it was a weekend so it was pretty safe to walk around though you just need to be careful. February 28 Monday and March 1 Tuesday I didn't get a good night's sleep and woke before the alarm clock went off at 8am. We decided to go to the US Embassy first and than come back and pack, take showers and check out of the room by the 1pm checkout time. We went to the small restaurant next door for a quick breakfast. We left for the Embassy at 9:30am and got back at 11am. The Embassy was not crowded for US citizens although there was a huge line in a separate section for locals seeking US visas. We renewed Larry's passport very quickly but it will take several weeks to get a new one. It was actually cheaper renewing our passport here than in the US as we pay the official rate for the fee and cash our USD at the 'parallel' rate. However, we still had to pay to ship the passport via a local delivery service for around $8USD. Than of course we had to pay to come to Caracas although we would have come anyway since we wanted to see Giulio anyway. But it wasn't that bad getting us out of PLC for a few days and we got to see Giulio. Anyway, we went back to the room, packed, took showers and just hung out in the room relaxing. It's going to be a very long day, as the bus doesn't leave until 8:15pm. We went to MacDonald's for lunch although I got a sandwich wrap at the American deli restaurant that was pretty good. Larry just wanted to eat at McDonalds's but I don't like all that fried food. We walked to the park again and just sat there for a while. We didn't want to do much as we knew we would be very tired for the long bus ride tonight. We met Giulio later in the hotel and he took our US check and cashed it at 2700 exchange rate. We went to an early dinner at TGIF again as it's only a block away from the hotel. We took a taxi to the bus station and arrived at 7:30pm. The bus left almost on time and we had a double decker 'semi-cama' bus as they call it. The seats recline a great deal and you can put your feet on the foot rest so it's pretty comfortable. The only drawback is that the seats were very narrow- like a crowded airline seat. However, this bus was not nearly as cold as our ride up here. They had 1 movie- XXX with Vin Diesel in it. Even though we had already seen it we watched it again as there really is nothing else to do except sleep. The "reading" lights are too dim to read a book. The bus did only 1 rest stop but it lasted from 1-2:15am, which was far too long. I have the feeling they didn't want to get into PLC any sooner as we would have arrived in the dark so the bus arrived at 6am when it was just starting to get light out. Both of us didn't really sleep on the bus although this bus was much more comfortable than the last one. We took a taxi back to the marina. Larry stayed up the whole day but I was tired so went to sleep for a few hours. Both of us didn't do much the entire day, as we were both tired from no sleep last night. We went to the restaurant for dinner, as I didn't have anything on the boat to cook. March 2 Wednesday I went shopping to the CM supermarket and video store with Jeannie and Geri. I got a bunch of new DVD movies. We got back around 12:30pm, had lunch and I put all the groceries away. I was still tired from the trip back so I took a nap in the pm. I made some carrot soup, salad and meatloaf for dinner. I also brought all the laundry in as we had a big pile from Caracas. March 3 Thursday At 10:15am, Geri and I took a taxi to Exito, shopped and then walked over to Fiorca and some other stores. We got back to the boat around noon. I had a slight headache in the am so I lay down to take a nap. I did take a walk around the marina but only did one lap. I made the excellent steak au poivre for dinner along with the carrot soup. I called my parents from our Skype phone at night. The official exchange rate was increased today to 2150 from 1920. All the papers kept saying it was going to increase all along but the government kept insisting it would not. I felt it was going to go up which is why I was holding off not converting too much USD. Hopefully, this means the black market rate will also go up. March 4 Friday At 9:30am, Larry and I went along with Geri and Bob from Freestyle to Makro. Larry doesn't usually go but he wanted to buy a new printer so he came along. I actually prefer going shopping by myself or with the other ladies. When Larry comes he distracts me and also buys a lot of junk food, which we don't need. I think he has gained a lot of weight lately but he keeps insisting he has not. I don't want to eat all that junk food Larry buys. Anyway, now that the exchange rate has increased, we know the prices in all the stores will go up so we wanted to buy as much as we can before the prices are raised again. The new printer and an extra cartridge were about $100USD. Our other printer works but we can't find any cartridges for it so we can't use it anymore. |