The First Few Days

We arrived here and are safe. We have not had internet at all or any way of


getting a connection. So let me tell you what we have been up to. We

arrived at the Simon Bolivar airport at 12:40am, a little later than was

expected. As we walked through customs, there was Hugo, a HUGE mural of him

welcoming us. Then we were waiting for our luggage….and waiting…and

waiting….until mine showed up! Yay both are here and heavy and safe with

me. Unlucky for Mark, we could not find his. SOO we had to stay quite some

time at the airport looking for his luggage, then talking with the lost

luggage guy, and he told us he will look for it on the next flight in from

Toronto…which is Friday. So luckily he has his toothbrush, some clothes,

and a swimsuit. By the time we left the airport it was 2:15AM, we got a

taxi and were on our way to hotel la parada, we got there and the taxi

driver tried really hard to rip us off..thank god we are not that stupid

and know how to bargain. They happened to be booked so we had to have a

taxi to another hotel. Not going to lie I was quite nervous to the area we

were going to, and there was a gate going into the hotel and all. A bit

sketchy, but we were so tired and needed sleep, since we had a long day the

following day. We talked with the guy from the hotel who hooked us up with

a cheap taxi into Caracas so we could catch a bus to Puerto La Cruz. He

said we had to be to Caracas by 8 if we wanted a good bus. So we decided to

get a wake up call at 6:30am….mind you we did not get to bed until 3am.

When we woke up we were all ready and the taxi guy picked us up…who

happened to be the hotel owners son. They said it would be about a 35 min

ride to Caracas… after an hour and a half the boy driver told us he did

not know where he was going and that it was his first time driving in the

city. So a 35 min ride turned into 2 hrs. and 10 min. Mark and I were

currently very frustrated, lucky for us it was a flat fee, and not by the

minute or mile! We arrived at the bus station in Caracas at 9:10am (only

six hours after we had gone to bed) We got tickets on the 11:00am bus to

Puerto la Cruz. We had time to spare and neither of us had eaten a thing

yet so the best we could get at the bus station was I got a yogurt and

water, he got Doritos and water…(little did we know this was all we would

get to eat until 10PM!!) We finally got on the bus and it was a nice bus

with really reclining seats, WE PASSED OUT SLEEPING. We were told the bus

ride would take about 5 hours. We couldn’t believe it because it was

technically only the distance to door county! Well our bus did go a high

30mph the whole way. We stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom or grab

food. The food did not seem very good for us Americans to eat, so we passed

on that, but we did hit the restrooms, where I had to get a bucket of water

(MYSELF) to flush the toilet. The toilet that did not have a seat and that

we cannot put toilet paper into. Mark and I kept checking the time, our

“5” hour bus ride was really 6 ½. We finally arrived to Puerto La Cruz

at 6:40pm. Where we had to take a ferry to the island we are staying on for

the next 3 days. While in line at the ferry station we heard that a ferry

was going to leave in an hour and a half. Perfect timing for us! Well we

wait and wait and wait in a pretty short line and our 8:00pm ferry was

dwindling from our dreams. At 8:10pm, when I was told the next ferry was at

2am Mark got to sit with the luggage while I finish up in line. After lots of bickering

and help of some really nice people around me, they got us on the 8:00pm

ferry. By now it was 8:22pm and they told us to run. We got on the ferry

and finally sat down to a ham sandwich, it was amazing, since we were so

hungry. We made it to Isla Margarita and we took a really sweet taxi to the

a 20$ a night hotel. Haha. (then again we have no toilet seat, there are

geckos in the bathroom, the shower curtain barely stays up) but it was

20(US dollars). In the morning we went to La Playa Agua. (the beach) We

laid out all day, which we could do because it was a bit cloudy and was not

always sunny and hot. We ate a yummy seafood meal, played in the waves, and

then got on a bus to head back to our hotel.