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Larry's LogWe had a very nice day sightseeing on Saturday. Giulio's daughter, Samantha, and her boyfriend, Miguel, drove us around to several nice places. They picked us up around 10 and we went to have breakfast in an area called El Hatillo that was very pretty. We walked around and looked in several stores, the most interesting of which was one devoted to crafts and articles from the Amazonas area of southern Venezuela. We then went to a large national park near Caracas called El Avila, which is also a mountain range that separates Caracas from the coast. There is a 'teleferico', cable car, that goes from Caracas to the top of the mountain and we took that going back down. Miguel drove his car, a 4 wheel drive wagon, up the very steep road to the top and it's a good thing he had one, or else we couldn't have gone - in 2 spots the road was washed out and you needed a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get through. Once we got close to the top, we ate lunch at a small restaurant (had fantastic fresh strawberry and blackberry juices) and then continued on. At the top, the views were really wonderful although there were many clouds, but sometimes they would clear enough to see down the mountains. Looking north, you could see the Caribbean near La Guaira, and of course, looking south, was the sprawling city of Caracas with 7 million people. It was a great view and the air at the top was very refreshing although a bit cool, especially for us coming from sea level. Miguel and Samantha took the car down while we took the cable car. The new system had only been opened for one year. There had been an old one, closed for many years, and you could see the remaining towers along the mountain, slowly rusting away. The kids said there were plans to rebuild the line that went to the coast. They met us at the bottom and brought us back to the apartment where we were staying. Giulio would pick us up later to go for dinner at his apartment. About 6:30, Giulio picked us up and we went to his apartment and had dinner with his family again. Giancarla had made pizza and since I love pizza, we had a very good dinner. We spent to evening talking and Giulio brought us back around 11. It had been a very nice day. Sunday, we went to Puerto Azul, where Giulio now kept his boat. He picked us up around 9 and we ate a quick breakfast out and then went back to his apartment. We had to take 2 cars since his mother in law was also coming and Lucas' car seat took up a lot of room. Fortunately, it was only an hour drive to get there. Unfortunately, it was raining. It rained pretty hard in the morning and let up a bit on the way there but it started again once we got to his club. We did manage to walk around and see the facilities and he and I went on Sotavento, his sailboat, but we didn't get to do much else. Diane, Giancarla, Luca and Lydia went directly to the pool. We went to have lunch at the outdoor restaurant and that was pretty good. Luckily the place had a roof since it started raining pretty hard again. The club was huge, had a large pool, tennis court, several place to eat, a basketball court as well as the 120 boat marina with haulout facilities and 3 apartment buildings where members could stay. Giulio said there were 6 thousand members. With the rain not stopping, we left after lunch. As we drove by, we could see the damage caused by the horrible flooding and mudslides in 1999 to this area. Most of it was cleaned up but you could still see some houses that had dirt piled up inside the entire first floor. Giulio told us that the mud was up to 12 feet deep - over 5000 people died. There was a boulder about 14 feet in diameter that was placed in a spot in from of his club as a testament to the power of the water; it hadn't been there before. We drove back and Giulio dropped us off at the apartment where we were staying. Everyone was tired and they had to get ready for work tomorrow and get Lucas into bed. We would see them tomorrow. We made arrangements for Samantha to drive us to the eye clinic where I had my appointment for the laser surgery to make sure everything was OK and to look at the place. Monday morning, Samantha picked us up around 8:30 and after we got something to eat, we went to the Centro Medico clinic and we checked on my appointment. After some confusion, everything seemed OK. We then checked on the cost of complete physical exams for the both of us since we hadn't had any in about 3 years. The cost was very reasonable and we may do it when we come back the next time. After visiting the clinic, we went to the university Samantha wanted to attend but was taking some preliminary classes now. She had a class at 1:30 but was going to take us to the central part of Caracas to see some of the sights there. After we parked the car, we walked to the Metro, their subway system and it was pretty nice; the cars were clean and air-conditioned and the stations were pretty clean also. The cost was about .20 cents but unlike New York's, the cost was distance dependent, even though the lines were fairly small. We got to the downtown area and it was a nice day, with some clouds so pictures were good. We went into the first official building we saw, the National Assembly (like the US Congress) and it was very impressive, with a huge central fountain and columns lining the outside. We walked around that for a while and went on to some others. Unfortunately, since it was Monday, much of the places were closed so we couldn't see much. The Alcaldia (Mayor's office) wasn't admitting people due to the recent political problems. Even the Cathedral was closed for siesta. We walked a bit more nut decided to get lunch at a large mall. So we took the Metro there and had a very nice lunch at a place similar to TGIFridays'. Samantha went to class after lunch but said that Miguel would meet us after his class and drive us back to the apartment since he and his parents lived just 5 minutes from where we were staying. So we went with her back to the university and waited for Miguel for a bit. He came and we decided to go to the university gardens since our guidebook said they were very nice. We walked over and they were very nice although some of the specialty exhibits needed some work. Unfortunately, it started to rain so we left after only being there for about an hour. Miguel stopped at a store so we could buy some things and then dropped us off at the apartment. He was a very nice guy. Later in the evening, Giulio picked us up and brought us back to his apartment where we had a small party with some other sailing friends of his who had just come back from Spain. They had lived there for a few years but like Venezuela better. We all had a good time. Tuesday we went up to Colonial Tovar, billed as a "bit of Germany stuck in Venezuela". Samantha and Miguel drove us up to this interesting little town in the mountains outside Caracas. They picked us up at about 8:30 and stopped for a quick breakfast and to get some cold pills. I didn't feel too well but didn't want to miss seeing this. The traffic was pretty bad since it was a holiday and it took about 2 hours to get there. The road going up into the mountains was pretty good but we went through several little towns that were choked with traffic. Once we got there, we saw that the Tovar was also very crowded with visitors. Oh well, we would just have to be one of many. The town itself was very quaint and pretty interesting. It was founded in 1843 by a group of German settlers who had come to Venezuela at the request of the government to provide services that the Venezuelans didn't have. But on the ship over, there was an outbreak of smallpox and the government basically just ignored them once they arrived. Supposedly, they were so angry at this treatment that they just isolated themselves for over a hundred years, building their community the way it would have looked in the Bavarian Alps. The town had "German" style buildings but it was very touristy now, although there were some of the original buildings left - evidently the restaurant we ate in was one. It was very interesting (and the food was excellent; we had the German sausage special plate - different types of German sausages with potatoes and sauerkraut). The small museum was good and had pictures of the dirt road (the only one for many years) leading to the town through the mountains. It must have been a very difficult trip in those days. As it turned out, our trip back wasn't too great either. We walked around and did some shopping (Diane and Samantha anyway) and I took some nice pictures of the countryside and some of the original buildings, like the church. There were 2 separate buildings to the church - evidently one for men and one for women. Around 4, after our wonderful strawberries (grown locally) and cream, we started to head back but stopped at the charcutery (butcher shop) to buy some of the fresh sausage we had eaten and bring it back to the boat. Diane bought about 6 kilos (13 pounds) and Samantha bought 3 kilos for Giulio. We hit tremendous traffic on the way back. It took almost 3 hours to go what should have been just 90 minutes. The guidebook said that the traffic is bad on weekends and holidays. Well, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip however. Samantha dropped us off at the apartment and we just went to the nearby MacDonald's for dinner. Eating can't be gourmet all the time. The next day was a quiet one. We had called Giulio last night to say we would just hang around the apartment during the day and wanted to take them out to dinner tonight. He said that would be fine and so, in the morning, we walked to the little bakery and the market near the apartment and had some breakfast and bought stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. I mostly just read and relaxed in the morning and Diane did the same, except she took a nap after lunch. That evening, Giulio called and said that just he and Giancarla would go out to dinner that evening since Samantha and Lydia, Giancarla's mother, would watch Lucas. We had invited all of them but Giulio felt that it would be better at a nice restaurant without a 2 year old, so they picked us up around 7:30 and we went to a very nice Italian place, although the first 2 places we tried were closed for some reason. Dinner was very good and I had a dish that was made with Reggiano Parmesan cheese (the best) and it was excellent. It was made at the table by bringing out a full wheel of the cheese on a rolling table and pouring the hot pasta and butter into a depression made in the cheese and then scraping the insides of the cheese to make the sauce. I had never seen that before - very showy and of course the cheese was wonderful. Thursday we left to go back to PLC. We got up early and Giulio came by around 8 to take us to a cab to get to the bus station. We stopped to have a quick breakfast and then we went off to the bus. We said goodbye to Giulio although we would see him again in about a week. We planned to come back to Caracas so I could get my eyes 'fixed' at the place where the Lasik procedure was perfected. The bus trip back was fine and we saw 2 videos, although Diane thinks the woman at the bus ticket counter in Caracas tried to get more money from her by not giving the right change. After some argument, Diane got the correct amount. We got to PLC around 4 and got a taxi to the marina. We saw all our friends and said hi, and called Mima when we got back to the boat. Steph was back from her visit to the States and we invited them over for a drink. They were going to the seafood restaurant on the beach for the weekly feast but we were too tired to go tonight. They came by around 5 and we had a drink before they left for the restaurant. It was nice to them all again. The next day we got a little more settled and started getting into the swing of doing things on the boat again. Diane made some phone calls and then went shopping with Steph in the morning and I worked on the web site and got on the Internet after that. Once she got back from shopping and we got some of the groceries away, we walked over to CMO and went into town with Tom and Steph, had lunch and went to pick up our remaining slipcovers from the seamstress. They were done pretty well except for one cover in which the pattern didn't match very well. But since it was on the cushion that couldn't be seen very well, I let it pass - after all, at $27 to make 10 slipcovers you can't expect perfection. The rest were pretty good though. We went to get some ice cream before taking them back and then we got 2 cabs to get us and the large cushions back to the marina. When they got back, Steph went back to CMO by cab but Tom helped me carry the 3 large cushions back to the boat. After getting everything back into the boat, I drove Tom back to Mima and stayed for a drink (or 2). I got back to Destiny around 6:30 and Diane made some more of the German sausages we bought in Tovar. |