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Larry's LogThe bus left on time and was really pretty nice except they had heavy curtains over the windows, supposedly to protect the passengers from people throwing things at the bus, but I think it was more for 'internal' security. They showed a movie, in English with Spanish subtitles but the video cut out 15 minutes before the ending. Oh well. The bus made one stop after about 2 1/2 hours, about at the half-way point. The stop was for about 30 minutes so people could eat, go to the bathroom (such as it was) and stretch. We did all of the above. We finally got to Caracas after 5 hours and 30 minutes and Giulio was there to meet us. We loaded the bags into his Blazer, and he drove us to the apartment, which was very nice. Giancarla had even brought over sheets, towels and some things for breakfast the next day. He helped get everything upstairs and then I changed clothes and we went to his apartment for dinner. Dinner was wonderful and their hospitality was terrific. Giancarla's mother was there but his daughter was off visiting some friends. Their apartment was really nice with a terrific view of the surrounding hills. Giulio even let me check email from his computer. After the 'after dinner' drink, Giulio drove us back to where we were staying. He said that either he or Giancarla would be there in the morning to pick us up and bring us to a taxi stand and make sure we got to the airport OK. We just collapsed after he left and we thanked him again for his generosity. The next morning, Giancarla came by at 9:30 and drove us to the taxi stand and made sure that the cab would take us to the airport. The ride to the airport was actually back along the road we took from PLC to Caracas and was about 45 minutes. Our flight was at 2pm and we got to the airport at 11am, and had plenty of time to get through the many security checks. Security in Caracas even caught a metal can opener Diane had in her carry-on, something that had been through other airport security checks before, since she had long ago forgotten about it. The flight was uneventful and we got to Miami on time. Unfortunately, the flight on to NY was delayed due to bad weather. We finally got in at 12:30am and to my In-laws' house at about 1am. The time in New York was certainly not as traumatic as it was last year, but we did have the anniversary of the 9/11 disaster while we were home. We stayed with Diane's parents for a few days and then moved back into the house. The tenants had left it in very good shape and although we still hoped to rent it again, we thought there might be some problems since the rental market was not good. Eventually we made the decision to sell for a number of reasons. The sales market was excellent and we felt that we didn't want to live up north anymore anyway. At first we tried selling on our own but in the end went with Gail Silverstein of ERA Insite in White Plains. She was excellent and the house sold in 5 days at full asking price. Unfortunately, the people who bought the house were using our attorney already for the sale of their current house. Since he already had a relationship with them on the sale of their old house, he couldn't represent us also, so we had to find another lawyer, who seemed fine - only does RE law. The deal was really pretty easy although there was naturally, some tenseness, like when they did the inspection (found nothing wrong), did an oil tank test, (no leaks) and the appraisal. As of this writing (9/22) the closing will be in a month since the new owners were going to Italy for 2 weeks and then their lawyer was going there also for a different 2 weeks. The agent will watch the house and make sure nothing happens (hopefully). We also had to get rid of, or put into storage, the rest of our stuff, like the large freezer and entertainment unit we had left in the house. We slept on an air mattress for the last few days - not very comfortable. We also saw lots of friends although some were difficult to get to see. We only saw Heidi once since she wasn't feeling well the second time we were going to see her and the time before she was working too late to really spend much time. I saw my good friend Tony (who made the trip from NY to Bermuda) 3 times and went sailing with him once. We went sailing again just before we left on the Hudson River with some friends - they had just learned how to sail but seemed to be getting the hang of it. We saw Joe (he was supposed to make the trip to Bermuda) who came down for a weekend and brought a bottle of Goslings, from Bermuda, and we gave him a bottle of Cacique, from Venezuela. He brought some engine parts he had gotten for me and we discussed the web site for his business. We agreed on what it would look like and he later sent me some pictures and text via email. I put it together and he loved it. Before we left, since the timing was good, we went to the Newport Boat show. Amazingly, we happened to run into Willie and Liz from Mystique. We had last seen them in Martinique when they were heading home while we were heading back south. They were moving back to their house in Rhode Island and were getting the boat ready to sell. We also saw Green Flash, who offered to let us stay at their house. We were staying in the Newport Marriott so we gratefully declined. I met someone else with a small business who asked if I would do a web site like Joe's. I said sure and he later sent me some pictures but didn't get his domain set up in time for me to test it before we left. We also got together with Ralph and Barbara from Black Cat while in Newport. We got their email address by asking CrewsInn, in Trinidad, and contacted them since we remembered that they had a house in Rhode Island. We had a great time with everyone. Finally, I did some purchases at the show. I bought Giulio a new GPS and also some other stuff for myself. I was glad that I didn't buy too much there since we almost didn't make it on the plane with the amount of stuff we already had. On September 19, after making sure everything at the house was OK, and taking some pictures as a remembrance, we left for Long Island to catch our plane back to Caracas. I was worried about the amount of stuff we had though, 4 huge duffel bags, 2 carry-on bags and Diane had another flight bag with stuff. We got to my In-laws house at about 1pm - the cab was scheduled to pick us up at 2:45 since our flight was at 5:10. We relaxed, cut Cinnamon's (our cat's) nails, and waited. Naturally, the cab was late and had a passenger already. In order to get all our stuff in, the driver had to take out the spare tire in the trunk and leave it until he got back. Diane was frantic but we got to JFK Airport OK and got a Skycap to help with all our stuff. At the check in counter though, the fun continued. Of the 4 duffels, 2 were overweight (more than 70 pounds each). The girl at the counter also said they wouldn't let Diane on the plane with the extra carry-on. If it had stayed that way, we would have been charged $300 extra for the overweight bags and the extra check-in bag. They also asked about our 'one way' flight to Venezuela. The supervisor (we had gotten one by now) said he was worried that Venezuelan Immigration might not like it when we arrived without a flight out of the country. We explained though that we had originally arrived by boat and that we would eventually be leaving by boat. That seemed to satisfy him, and as it turned out, Immigration in Venezuela didn't care at all. Also, luckily, the girl at the check-in counter said if we wanted to, she could give us a large box to repack some stuff and consolidate the extra bag. So, in front of the counter, we opened up the overweight bags, took some stuff out and dumped the extra bag and its contents into the box. The clerk then taped it very well and then the box and our other luggage left for the plane. We got charged only $100 more for an extra 'bag/box'. We got to the gate after everyone else had boarded but saw some people still getting checked by security at the gate. We handed in our tickets and walked on, found our seats and were thankful we got on with just 20 minutes before they closed the gate. The flight itself was fine; we even got free alcohol, which we took full advantage of. We arrived in Caracas 40 minutes early and had no problem with either Immigration or Customs, who didn't even bother to ask for the form we had filled out on the plane. Amazingly, everything got there intact. Giulio was there to meet us and we took the bags out to the service road, he got his car and we went back to the apartment he was letting us stay in again. We took all the bags up to the apartment and then collapsed. The next morning, Giulio came over around 9 and we went to get some coffee and then to check on some work that was being done in his apartment. He was having his hardwood floors redone but there were some problems and we would need to check again. We then went to the bank but in order to change currency, we needed Giulio to deposit our US dollars in his account and then withdraw it in Bolivars (Bs). We also got charged a 1 percent fee for the transaction. After the bank, we went to a very nice lunch and then back to his apartment to check on the work. The floor wasn't dry yet so the worker said he would come back on Saturday, so we went back to the apartment we were staying in, got our bags and box, and went off to PLC, arriving at about 7:30, after a 5 hour drive. We managed to get everything on the boat with Giulio's help and then went to dinner. After we got back, we just crashed. |