Ramblings from South America-Anaconda's trip home

[Jack Giesecke]

Ana, Thank you for this report and for sharing your family with us. I would like to make a trip to your Country on the Goldwing for sure.

It is hard to imagine how anyone could leave a home in such a beautiful Country.

Enjoy your family and stay in touch.

I suppose you only have to look at the politics, but the country and the people are beautiful. If only Hugo would get assassinated before all democratic process is lost......

A weestrom police bike, wow.

 

[anaconda]

My usual hangout was the Tamanaco.

Saludos,

Mike

Not too shabby, Mike!!

I live about 10 mins from the Tamanaco.

 

[Quick-Silver]

If only Hugo would get assassinated before all democratic process is lost......

Sometimes even in a Democracy someone has to dictate to stay the course.

 

[anaconda]

Today was another quiet day. My brother and I drove to visit my aunt. This doesn't look like much, but it's one of the main freeways in the city. They even had to put an HOV line to ease the congestion... Lucky for me, traffic has been not too bad due to the holiday season.

So we arrive to my aunt's and get greeted by a couple of kitties...

My aunt and my brother. She lives in a really nice part of town.

I've mentioned this custom grill to some folks at the Katy bike night. It has tiled side cabinets, and a lever to adjust the height of the grill! It obviously has seen better days, but it still does the work.

As you can see, my aunt enjoys tending to the garden. All sorts of potted plants, trees, etc all over the place.

I wish I had a view like this from my backyard!

If any of ever wondered how a papaya tree looks like, here's one, bearing fruits even...

 

[anaconda]

So we left my aunt's, and I asked my brother to take a backroad back home. This is on a hill that overlooks the valley and the beautiful Avila Mountain. As usual, getting to see the top peaks without any clouds will prove difficult.

I took a stab at making a panorama with AutoStitch. I usually use the software that came with my HP printer to stitch the pics together, but since this PC doesn't has that, I had to download AutoStitch. Not too bad!

 

[anaconda]

I also took a little video of part of the drive coming down the hill. I think it conveys pretty well how steep the roads are, and how did they manage to build all those high rises.

 

[anaconda]

More steep streets...

As we park my brother's car in another garage, I noticed how many people are now also riding (thanks to the aforementioned increasing traffic congestion). Since parking in the ares comes at a premium, they park their cars and motorcycles on the same spot.

This is really not helping my hankering for a ride!!!!

So we walk back home, and what do you know...After all this time of me pondering the idea of whether to start doing camping trips on the bike, and not being sure if camping is really for me, it seems that I already have a camping gear company!!!! www.carpasanaconda.com

We went later to a bakery nearby, to have some coffee. I also ordered a "bomba", or "bomb", which is a sugar-sprinkled, creme-filled donut-like dessert.

We were joined by one of my brother's friend's parents. The gentleman in the middle is a retired general from the Venezuelan National Guard.

A minute later a friend of his, a retired army general, joined us as well, and we had the most interesting conversation. The retired army general has pretty much been all over the world, first as a military attache, and also with the UN and Red Cross, inspecting the condition of war prissioners during the Iraq-Iran war in the 80's.

And that's pretty much it for today, as I sit here while cooking some squash cream soup!

 

[Mike in Clear Lake]

Not too shabby, Mike!!

I live about 10 mins from the Tamanaco.

Hey! Nice. There's a good restaurant there, outside by the pool. They serve stuff on a hot piece of stone and it cooks right there in front of you. Fish, shrimp, steak, etc.

The Euro-Building is another nice hotel, but I think the Tamanaco is the grand lady of Caracas.

I've done Maracaibo also and Puerto La Cruz, but have not been to Margarita yet. Hopefully next time, if business ever comes back.

Nice trip report

Mike

P.S. How is the media hora thing working out down there?

 

[z_clark]

Ana,

I really like your pictures and write up. Venezuela looks so beautiful! I have never been, but now want too. I really like the sidewalk cafes. I spent 2 weeks in Buenos Aires and really got into the cafe culture. Ohh, and la bomba looks yummy!

I have heard that Venezuela is expensive to travel. Is this true?

Keep up the story. Thanks.

 

[Mike in Clear Lake]

Ana,

I really like your pictures and write up. Venezuela looks so beautiful! I have never been, but now want too. I really like the sidewalk cafes. I spent 2 weeks in Buenos Aires and really got into the cafe culture. Ohh, and la bomba looks yummy!

I have heard that Venezuela is expensive to travel. Is this true?

Keep up the story. Thanks.

Jeff,

You sound like one of us. We will have to make you an honorary Latino. Wife and I know BA well. She knows Argentina and Uruguay better than I do. We did our honeymoon at Iguazu falls about 25 years ago. Cafe life has gotten expensive in BA's Recoleta area. It's like $10 for a cup of coffee!

Uruguay, or Montevideo is like a mini-BA. Cleaner, less crowded, and more quaint and down to Earth. Lots of open hearth (parilla) type restaurants where you can get your beef flamed right there in front of you. Gotta be some of the best steaks in the world.

Ana, sorry for the slight threadjack. Have you dined at Mi Vaquita in Maracaibo? Another place that serves memorable steaks

Mike

 

[prhaussies]

Wow, like a flash back. In my formative years, we had guava, papaya, mango and avocado trees in our yard. It was about 2000 miles away, but about the same climate. It all makes my mouth water, any jicama dishes in the making? Pretty much haute cuisine compared Freebirds. Vee Stroms Rule!!! RH
What a cool outdoor kitchen!

 

[Jack Giesecke]

I spent 2 weeks in Buenos Aires and really got into the cafe culture. Ohh, and la bomba looks yummy!

Well, not into the starbucks thing, but Argentina is on my "to do" list when I make my second million (already gave up on the first). I wanna do some of the pigeon/dove shooting down there I've seen on Outdoor Channel. Non-stop action and it seems the only limits they have down there are how many rounds you can burn up without your shoulder falling off. It's bird hunting heaven, waterfowl, too.

Now, back to Venezuela.

 

[anaconda]

Yesterday we had to run some errands in preparation for the New Year's eve dinner, so the first stop was at the butcher's.
As many stores around here, they rely on motorcyclist to do their deliveries. Since bikes around here split lanes all the time (in theory prohibited, but it has NEVER, and will never be, enforced), they have a greater advantage over cars during rush hour. This shop has a couple of old-beaten vespas, and I particularly liked to photgraph them since you can really tell that they are viewed as tools of the trade, no need to waste time and money in restoring the glamorous look of this italian machines...just keep'em running!

The butcher shop. They have chairs by the counter, since most orders are prepared in front of you. None of that old, prepackaged stuff. While we waited one of the owners came from a coffee run, and offered some to us.

One of the butchers hard at work. We ordered pork, in a cut that it's kinda like sirloin. Actually what it is is they take a rack of would-be-pork chops, and remove the bone and some of the excess fat.

Then they wrap it, and here's the final product, ready to be marinated:

Then we went to the grocery store, where I couldn't miss taking a picture of the much described avocado in the salad a few pages ago. Just insert an aussie accent a-la crocodile Dundee...."that's not an avocado..THIS is an avocado...."

Walking back from the grocery store, I took a picture of this motorcycle shop. Over here they don't let a few steps detter them from putting a bike shop when real state is hard to come by...

In the afternoon I went for a nice, hour-long walk, to mitigate some of the 'damage' done by all the eating tasty, rich food. It wasn't a particularly long walk, but it's mostly uphill. I went to an old amphititheater, now one of the landmarks in the area. It's sometimes used for small concerts and entertainment, but most weekends people go there to take advantage of the topography and work out.

On the back of the amphitheater, there's an old abandoned control room, still bearing the marks from the recent referendum elections... the graphitti means " *No* to the ammendment."

The amphitheater takes advantage of the natural shape of the hills. I used to work out there by running up/down the steps. This time, just walking from the house to there was enough for me...

You can't help but work out an appetite after all that excercise...so it was a good thing that we already had an invitation for dinner that night...
Salad, hallacas, and to wash it down, 15 yr-old scotch whiskey...

 

[Quick-Silver]

This report just keeps getting better and better. I am ready to move there and have my retirement check forwarded. All I need is one room, a care giver, and a place to park my motorcycle or two.

 

[anaconda]

This report just keeps getting better and better. I am ready to move there and have my retirement check forwarded. All I need is one room, a care giver, and a place to park my motorcycle or two.

While so far the report shows a lots of "pros", we can talk about the "cons" next time we see each other...

 

[Boxercup Dave]

Great story and pics from your trip!

I used to travel to Brazil, Argentina and Panama in the early 90's and enjoyed evey trip. Never made it to Venezuela as the deal fell through there.

I should get my old pics out, scan and post to smugmug.

 

[Tourmeister]

I would be interested in hearing your views on some of the cons of Venezuela. I am sure that like most countries, there is a wide gulf between the ultra rich and those on the bottom. For some reason, I find the more mundane aspects of the people's daily lives very interesting. Just things like how and where they shop for food, clothes, etc,... It is neat to see what the day to day experiences are like.

One thing interesting from the many pictures of the cityscapes is the abundance of green, particularly ON buildings. It looks as if any building with balconies all have lush gardens on them, and many rooftops have quite a bit of green on them as well. Window and lawn gardening looks to be very popular there. I like that.

 

[anaconda]

Hey! Nice. There's a good restaurant there, outside by the pool. They serve stuff on a hot piece of stone and it cooks right there in front of you. Fish, shrimp, steak, etc.

The Euro-Building is another nice hotel, but I think the Tamanaco is the grand lady of Caracas.

I've done Maracaibo also and Puerto La Cruz, but have not been to Margarita yet. Hopefully next time, if business ever comes back.

Nice trip report

Mike

P.S. How is the media hora thing working out down there?

The half-hour thing is moronic, IMHO. Yeah, sun comes out earlier but also comes down sooner!! It gets dark a little before 6:00 pm.

 

[anaconda]

Ana,

I really like your pictures and write up. Venezuela looks so beautiful! I have never been, but now want too. I really like the sidewalk cafes. I spent 2 weeks in Buenos Aires and really got into the cafe culture. Ohh, and la bomba looks yummy!

I have heard that Venezuela is expensive to travel. Is this true?

Keep up the story. Thanks.

I haven't traveled much through the country in many years, so I can't say, although I'll ask sround and get a feel for current air/bus fares, and hotels. Caracas is usually really expensive when it comes to hotel fares, compared to the rest of the country (except perhaps to Margarita Island). The other thing, is that prices are relative if you come from abroad for one simple reason: there is a fixed currency exchange rate. Not only the rate is fixed, the amount of dollars a venezuelan citizen can buy is fixed as well...thanks to the currency exchange control the government instituted a few years ago (although it's not the first time this has been done, it happened for a short while before Chavez with the same disastrous results). So... what's the first thing that happens when a government tries to control the free exchange of currency? Well...a black market, off course. So, while the official exchange is about Bs 2500 / $1, the unofficial going rate is double: Bs 5000/$1. So if you are lucky and find someone wanting to buy you dollars, you'll get a much better rate. At the "unofficial" rate, I find that the prices here (food, etc) are almost the same in the US... But at the "official" rate, it doubles!
For instance, the pork we bought at the butcher the other day, wheighed about 10 lbs, and costed Bs 150000...that would be $30 at 5000/$1, but it would be $60 at the official rate!

 

[anaconda]

Wow, like a flash back. In my formative years, we had guava, papaya, mango and avocado trees in our yard. It was about 2000 miles away, but about the same climate. It all makes my mouth water, any jicama dishes in the making? Pretty much haute cuisine compared Freebirds. Vee Stroms Rule!!! RH
What a cool outdoor kitchen!

I'm not sure what Jicama is...we may have it but with a different name...
Yeah, most everyone with a house and a backyard will have a bunch of fruit trees in their backyard. VEry common in the city: avocado, mango, papaya, guava, lime, orange, cherry...

 

[anaconda]

Jeff,

You sound like one of us. We will have to make you an honorary Latino. Wife and I know BA well. She knows Argentina and Uruguay better than I do. We did our honeymoon at Iguazu falls about 25 years ago. Cafe life has gotten expensive in BA's Recoleta area. It's like $10 for a cup of coffee!

Uruguay, or Montevideo is like a mini-BA. Cleaner, less crowded, and more quaint and down to Earth. Lots of open hearth (parilla) type restaurants where you can get your beef flamed right there in front of you. Gotta be some of the best steaks in the world.

Ana, sorry for the slight threadjack. Have you dined at Mi Vaquita in Maracaibo? Another place that serves memorable steaks

Mike

I've never been to Maracibo, but I've heard a lot about Mi Vaquita. But there's plenty of good steak houses in CCS anyways....

 

[anaconda]

I decided to take daily walks as the one I mentioned before (to the amphitheater). It won't completely offset all the eating, but I'm hoping it will make jumping back in the work-out bandwaggon easier when I get back to TX....
I liked how the sun reflected on the side of this hill...

Later I met an old friend for dinner. With me being famished and all the catching up to do I forgot to take a pic of a delicious pizza. We drove to a nearby bakery/cafe to have some dessert and coffee.

Right next to this place, there is a Domino's pizza, so I finally managed to get a picture of their delivery bikes...looks like they have upgraded from the old vespas!

I'm lucky in that we live right next to "Las Mercedes", a nice, trendy neighborhood, with a lot of nightlife (which is where I had dinner last night). You can read a little more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Mercedes
Las Mercedes, my neighborhood, and a good percentage of the photos I've posted so far, are in the "Baruta" municipalty, like a small county. More on Baruta here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruta_Municipality

Looks like the have also taken on decorating the river for Christmas...this is the second time they do this:

Now...a big caveat on the "river"....it's the "Guaire" river...it was a nice river...about 100yrs ago....now is nothing short of an open sewer. There's been quite a few plans over the years to build treatment plants to clean it up. But there's nothing yet (although I heard they may be starting construction on one soon).

 

[anaconda]

My brother tagged along for the walk today. He finds amusing all my picture taking...as if I were a tourist visiting for the first time.
It's sunday, so most stores are closed. During the walk we passed two fish stores...Looks like both have the same parking arrangements for their vespa's:

The fruit store was open though:

In addition to all these stores, there are many farmer markets around the city during the weekends, but there was nothing today due to the holidays. Also, some food items are getting hard to come by (in part due to the fixed pricing set by the government). Fresh milk, for instance, it's missing from the refrigerators on most stores...That leaves us the use of powdered milk... quite common around here, but I've never stomached it's taste.

This "quincalla" was open as well. A quincalla is a little shop that sells a little bit of everything...clothing, make up, cheap jewelry, ,small gift, buttons, threads, needles... you get the idea. This particular store has been in business since...well, since I can remember. I think I even saw the same lady behind the counter.

A nice restored Fiat. It caught my eye because of it's great condition and looks. You usually see old Fiats like the first two vespas I posted a few days ago... barely in running condition.

We got back just in time for a quick lunch. My brother and my dad cooked some pasta, fried plantains, and tomato sauce with tuna Plantain is a staple side dish for many venezuelans. You can fry it, cook it in the oven, or put it on a soup with other vegetables.

And as you can tell, the kitchen tile is the original 70's vintage tile that came with the apartment....

 

[anaconda]

(...)

One thing interesting from the many pictures of the cityscapes is the abundance of green, particularly ON buildings. It looks as if any building with balconies all have lush gardens on them, and many rooftops have quite a bit of green on them as well. Window and lawn gardening looks to be very popular there. I like that.

Oh yes, it's really common to have all sorts of potted plans all over the place. It also helps is that due to the mild weather we have in the city almost year round, most people don't have A/C in their houses/condos. Windows are open most of the time, letting light and fresh air come in. Makes it a lot easier and inviting to decorate balconies and windowsills. And it doesn't take but a little trimming here and there and some water to keep them happy...unlike my gardening experiments in Katy... This is a perfect example, just across the street:

The soil around here is really fertile. And with the good weather it doesn't take a lot for an untended yard to become a small rain forest. This house is on the side of a hill, but it's just a few feet from our building, at the same level as our apartment (4th story). Last time I was home, all thre was on this side was some grass, a small banana tree, the tree on the left, and a mango tree in the very background (which I can't see anymore)...that's it...When I looked out the window I couldn't help but gasp...

 

[anaconda]

A few not so "glamorous" shots....


Hmm...loks like the garbage collector is long overdue here...

...and here...

...and here...

They're overdue...but only a day, two tops. See, with high density population comes....well, high density garbage accumulations!! Many streets are too narrow, and not enough room on most buildings to convert to containers. So the janitors must haul the garbage bags outside every night. Most buildings have trash chutes, where the trash (again, due to lack of planning) falls into drums (like oil drums) instead of a better container. Then the poor janitor's job is to take the bag out before it overfills, line the drum with a new one, and haul the bag out.

Many of the trees on the streets are not really the most appropriate...Some tear the streets and sidewalks pretty bad...

And you better watch your step! Tree roots, broken sidewalks, missing meter covers can cause a broken ankle, a twisted wrist or worst. Obviously, our legal system is not law suit-friendly or you wouldn't see sidewalks like this...