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Diane's DiaryJuly 19 Friday We definitely have decided to cancel going to CMO & have S/V Plenum watch our boat while we are gone. We felt bad telling CMO we weren't coming as they are friends of S/V Mima but we both didn't feel comfortable there. I hope we are making the right move. We walked over to CMO so we could tell them face-to-face. They were very gracious but I'm sure the GM was mad about the whole incident. We walked back to the Dinghy Hospital again to ask some more questions. Then we gave our anchor chain to be galvanized. We spent about $300 to galvanize lots of chain & several anchors. We had heard this was the best cheapest place to do it. Apparently it is much more expensive in the US. Also, because of US regulations, they cannot put on as much galvanizing material as they do here so it's a better job here. July 20 Saturday Our local VZ friends on S/V Sotavento (it means leeward in Spanish) came to PLC today & we finally got to meet them. We had been corresponding with them for over 2 years now. He, Guilio, was on one of the cruising email lists that Larry was also on. Two years ago when we said we were taking this trip, Guilio told us to contact him if we came to VZ. We have been emailing ever since. It was nice to finally meet him, Giancarla & 1 year old son Luca. They brought us to the express bus station so we could buy our tickets for Monday. They have graciously invited us to stay overnight in a rental apt they have which is currently vacant. They will pick us up from the bus station in Caracas on Monday. What nice gracious people. It has certainly given us a very positive view of Venezuelans. We have really appreciated all their hospitality. We invited them over later to use the pool so they came over in the late afternoon. Luca really didn't go in the pool at all though. Then we went back to their boat for dinner. We would have invited them over to our boat for dinner except it's a real wreck since we are trying to leave. Also, they have Luca & AC on their boat so it was easier on them if we went over there. We said OK but wanted to have them over to our boat when we got back. We had a good time with them & didn't get home till after midnight. I can't remember when we last stayed up this late. July 21 Sunday Guilio & his family came over this morning to say goodbye to us. We will see them all tomorrow in Caracas. They have even invited us over to their house for dinner Monday night. We feel very fortunate to meet such wonderful people. The rest of the day we spent packing & getting ready to leave. We want to bring some things back home that we don't use on the boat anymore so we can have some more room. July 22 Monday After a hectic morning closing the boat up, we left PLC on the 11:30 executive bus to Caracas. The tickets were only $12 each for a ride on a deluxe bus with super cold AC, movies, coffee & waitress service. This is the expensive bus so it is for only those locals who can afford it. Luckily, the bus wasn't too crowded. I hate buses- I have a tendency to bus sickness. My stomach was queasy the entire trip but at least I didn't get ill. The bus stopped about halfway for a bathroom & restaurant stop. The bathroom wasn't to clean- you need to pay for TP- but it was passable. I had brought our own sandwiches with us to use the rest of our food up & also I didn't trust the cleanliness of the restaurants here. We arrived in Caracas around 5:30 & Guilio was there to pick us up. He brought us to his rental apt - very nice. It was partially furnished- luckily it had a bed but no sheets or towels. It hadn't even occurred to me to bring them. Luckily, Giancarla thought of it & left stuff for us. It was a beautiful apt - 3 bedrooms & 3 bathrooms. For some reason, all Venezuelans seem to have a lot of bathrooms in their houses. Anyway, he drove us over to his apt- condo actually- & we had dinner at their house. This apt was even more beautiful then the rental place. Unfortunately, due to the high crime rate in Caracas, many locals live with bars on their windows & high security features. Unfortunately, crime is very high here. We had a wonderful dinner with them & then Giulio drove us back to his rental apt where we spent the night. We were both so exhausted from the last few days that we fell asleep right away. July 23 Tuesday Giancarla came to drive us to the taxi stand this morning. The airport is approximately 1 hour away from Caracas on the coast while Caracas is inland. She could only drive us early, as she is a University professor & had to teach a class. It didn't really matter to us if we got to the airport early as we had heard traffic in Caracas is horrible. Mass transportation is not very good although they do have a subway system. Also, gas is around .15USD per gallon so at that cheap price everyone has cars - & big American gas-guzzlers at that. So, we arrived at the airport about 3 hours before our flight. However, the airport is undergoing renovations so many of the shops were closed. We bought some rum from the duty free shops but it was about 4 times more expensive than Margarita. We hadn't wanted to lug the bottles from the boat but I guess we should have. Oh well… our flight to Miami was fine- no problems & we even got served a meal & got a free movie. However, when we got to Miami we found all flights to NY were temporarily cancelled due to heavy thunderstorms in NY. They had already canceled many flights today. Ours was the last flight to NY for the day & was oversold. Luckily, our plane was not cancelled & was just an hour late. Welcome back to the US!! |