Latin America
has in Caracas, Venezuela one of the largest active social groups
of expats (expatriates) in South America. Called the Rincon
Gang or Rinconeers, they publish a regular newsletter, the Rincon
Reminder, which updates their Caracas community web site, www.Expat-Village.com
The Rincon Reminder updates are also issued to ex-Caracas Rinconeers
now living and working in over 25 countries..
The Expat-Village web-site has all the latest Venezuelan news in English.
We publish news stories of interest to expatriates, including world news, sport,
entertainment and business. We have features on travel in Venezuela, Latin
America and the Caribbean, quick food recipes, and Venezuela security alerts.
Caracas social activities are listed in ‘What’s on in Caracas’, and we’ll keep
you amused with the 'Joke of the Day' page.
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Venezuela and Caribbean Travel
Chavez and Venezuela's Lost World
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A travel story from The Daily Telegraph at www.dailytelegraph.co.uk
Caracas
is suffering one of the greatest hangovers in Latin American history.
It's an impressive sight. At the height of a ski resort, a feast of old
skyscrapers, statues, American cars and neon sprawls across the
mountains.
The Orinoco gathers more water than any other river
Since
the discovery of oil in the 1920s, almost three million Venezuelans, or
one in 10 of the population, have clambered up here. For years, they
spent wildly, played baseball and shopped in Miami. Then in 1994 the
economy crashed, and all that's left are the fancy houses and almost
three million colour TVs.
Now there's a new face among the
peeling paint. He has meaty gaucho features and he's often depicted in
his paratrooper's beret. To those now living in cardboard, President
Hugo Chavez is a saviour, but to everyone else, he's the Arch Party
Pooper.
Everywhere his banners proclaim the revolution. On our
first evening, my wife, Jayne, and I watched his nightly TV show. He
was still spouting slogans when we returned from dinner three hours
later. Venezuela, he declares, will be the new Cuba.
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| The Orinoco gathers more water than any other river |
Caraqueños
seem to take all this in their stride. Their city is far too
spectacular for them to let a war of words upset them. So the party
goes on. People are just less flashy now. Although our hotel was as
stylish as anything that went before (black uniforms and Perspex
chairs), it was smaller and - even in its name (The Hotel) seemed to be
courting obscurity. Others just party on, in their own little world.
Vendors
ran in and out of the traffic selling alcopops. While the middle
classes have simply shifted their activities into a parallel black
market. But most self-contained of all were those of the Maria Lionza
cult. They dashed across a six-lane highway to reach its central
reservation and worship their idol, a voluptuous naked goddess astride
a rampant tapir.
I was fascinated by this revolution fought in
posters. It alone probably justifies a visit to Venezuela - although
Americans don't think so. To them, the word "socialism" sounds like
anthrax or an approaching storm. They have fled, taking with them a
hefty chunk of the tourist trade. Back in 1912, thanks to Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, Venezuela achieved stardom as The Lost World. Was it now
about to disappear for real?
I soon realised that, beyond
Caracas, such human squabbles were dwarfed by nature. Columbus called
Venezuela "the land of grace", and he hadn't even seen it from a plane.
Few early explorers got beyond the stilted huts on the shore, and so it
became "Venezuola", or "Little Venice".
From the air, though,
it couldn't look more stupendous or less Venetian. Caracas shrank to a
pinhead, and a great dome of green planet glowed upwards through the
cloud. The sheer greenness of it all was bewildering - savanna, hot
gassy jungle and cool mountain forest. Small wonder that so many little
creatures had chosen to lose themselves in..........
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news
Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams
in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Welcome aboard
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From The Economist print edition at www.economist.com
In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an honest one sound like?
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you
aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please
ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and
your tray-table is stowed.
At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that
is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like
those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an
emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we
would go bust.
The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This is
the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention to.
So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance where
the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of survival
if we have to evacuate the aircraft.
Also, please keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even if the
seat-belt light is not illuminated. This is to protect you from the
risk of clear-air turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of
disturbance that can cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food
trolleys jumping into the air and bashing into the overhead lockers,
and you will have some idea of how nasty it can be. We don't want to
scare you. Still, keep that seat belt fastened all the same.
Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove
it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a
landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because
in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have
made successful landings on water is zero.
This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that...........
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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Havana Cuba - A Tourists View
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A Daily
Telegraph story by Sarah
Shuckburgh at http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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| Havana Old Town contains colonial buildings from the 16th century onwards |
A few days in Havana and Sarah Shuckburgh, a Daily Telegraph writer loses
her British reserve as she dances in the street and relives her teenage
love affair with a handsome revolutionary. Cuba does that to you.
I sit on a bench in a tiny park, and the colour, music
and exuberance of old Havana engulf me. The air is smothering - a hot,
wet blanket, heavy with humidity - but heat cannot dim the joie de vivre
of the Habaneros. An intoxicating blend of Spanish guitars and African
drumbeats drifts from a nearby bar, where an elderly couple is
performing an afternoon salsa. Workmen repairing a stone fountain add
strange syncopated rhythms with their chisels.
Music aside, the streetlife is extraordinary. In the
shade of a tree, an old man chats to his caged birds, a smouldering
cigar dangling from his lips. Three barefoot boys in tattered shorts
kick a dented can over the cobbles, splashing through puddles from last
night's rain. A street-sweeper hobbles by, licking her ice cream.
Another old crone squats in front of a sky-blue door, selling single
cigarettes. Bare-chested men exchange jokes as they push barrows of
rubble. A grizzled, toothless man approaches me and holds out his hand.
I give him a few tiny coins.
As I look up, a woman leans from an ornate, rusty
balcony to hang out washing and waves down at me. Beneath her, the
peeling stucco façade of the once-grand house is criss-crossed with
wooden scaffolding. It's a typical sight. The old town contains
incredible architecture, with colonial buildings from the 16th century
onwards. Many are crumbling and decrepit, but others stand newly rescued
and restored, partly as a result of Unesco World Heritage funds. Open
portals lead to vibrant art galleries and leafy courtyards.
On a corner, the house where Simón Bolívar once lived
now contains exhibits illustrating his life - amusing ceramic vignettes
depict him being born, being breast-fed, and later having sex in a
hammock, as well as liberating Latin America from colonial hegemony.
Bolívar died aged 47, disillusioned at his failure to
form a unified Latin American republic, but today "El Libertador" is
revered as a saint. Passing his statue, I cross the street to a small
café where, over a delicious guava milkshake, I ponder our own lack of............
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Travel Security Alert for Trinidad and Tobago
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The follwing is the official UK Foreig Office Travel Advice for Trinidad and Tobago at http://www.fco.gov.uk
Trinidad
Crime
Sensible precautions should be taken against theft, which can be a problem at night in parts of downtown Port of Spain and in other urban areas. There has also been a worrying increase in robberies and break-ins in all areas and an increase in attacks, some involving the use of firearms, at tourist sites, including Fort George, and also at car parks of supermarkets/shopping malls around Port of Spain and other areas, and at business premises.
In some cases, foreign nationals have been shot, including a German national who was shot dead at his home on....Click for more on Travel Security Alert for Trinidad and Tobago
Tobago
Crime
Crime against tourists in Tobago is a concern. There was a spate of serious robberies against tourists in Tobago in 2004. Some of these incidents have been accompanied by violence, including rape, against foreign nationals. These and more recent attacks have for the most part been targeted at privately rented villas in the south west area of the island. You should ensure that security officers are present at such villas, to provide protection day and night.
Be alert. Do not visit isolated beaches. Use taxis after dark. On 18 May, an Italian national was shot...
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Venezuelan - Cable car system is high point of visit to Merida
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A Miami Herald travel story by Elliott Hester at www.Miami.com
For three weeks I walked the narrow streets of Mérida, Venezuela's most popular destination for budget travelers. This quiet town of 500,000 is chockablock with low-priced guesthouses and eateries, and is surrounded -- in the most picturesque manner imaginable -- by the towering Andes.
I peeked through the gates at the Universidad de los Andes, home to 40,000 students that help give the town a bohemian feel. I lapped up chocolate, spinach, and even onion-flavored ice cream (yuck!) at Heladería Coromoto, an ice cream shop boasting 806 flavors -- a fact that garnered a Guinness World Record. I ate arepas (maize pancakes) at steamy street stalls, sipped jugo de fresa (strawberry juice) at frenetic outdoor cafes, and took Spanish classes in the courtyard of a 200-year-old colonial building.
Wherever I went, the ubiquitous rhythms of salsa music seemed to...
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First Kitesurf School opens on Isla Coche, Venezuela
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Coche Kite Sport Center, the first kitesurf school on the island of Coche in Venezuela is open for winter 2004/2005 in Playa Punta. Situated 12km off the coast off Margarita, Venezuela this small island of 165km2 has an amazing bay at the base of the island which has a 3km long beach with white sand, clean waters and fantastic, year round, wind conditions for kiting. Kiting is possible all day on the super flat waters as there is a consistent offshore wind - making Coche one of the most idyllic and tranquil places in the world to kite.
The Center offers lessons for at all levels for groups, private customized tuition and the Center holds regular intermediate and advance personalized clinics. In 2005 the clinics will run for one or two weeks and include individual tuition to improve technique and tricks, video and DVD feedback, along with excursions to other hot spots on the islands. As safety is a priorty, there is a dedicated safety boat for kiters nearby at all times.
The 2005 equipment includes the latest kites and boards from Cabrinha and Slingshot in a variety of sizes to suit all conditions. The school is IKO certified with instructors who speak a number of languages and have taught over 2,000 clients to kitesurf. There are facilities to store or repair kites and new and used equipment is for sale in the Center.
In addition, Playa Punta’s long beach also offers a track for teaching kite buggying and mountain boarding or, 5 minutes along the coast, there is a 2 km x 4 km salt flat which is perfect for practising or going for pure speed.
Chris Valentine said: “I chose to open my second school in Coche as it is in one of the most perfect situations in the world for kiting. With consistently strong winds the center is in an ideal location and the beach is everyone’s dream of kiting paradise.”
Playa Punta in Coche was the venue of Round 2 of the Venezuelan National Championships in February 2004 and will be the venue for Round 5 December 17th – 19th 2004.
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Angel Falls - Venezuela
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BY LESLIE MAZOCH of the Associated Press
The Gran Sabana, in the southeastern part of the country, occupies about half of 7-million-acre Canaima National Park, the world's 6th-largest nature reserve.
CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK, Venezuela - In 1937, American adventurer Jimmie Angel's plane sank in the soft mud of the towering tropical mesa that hosts Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall.
It took his party 11 days to hike back to civilization.
Nowadays, those visiting Canaima National Park in Venezuela's southeast can fly in and out with bush pilots who usually carry cargo in their single- and twin-engine airplanes.
Our recent trip promised plenty of adventure. As we flew bumpily into the park, El Condor, as our pilot called himself, assured us he'd only lost a few hairs on his head while surviving nine plane crashes.
We planned to hike up the mesa, or tepuy, known as Roraima, then visit Angel Falls, locally known as Parekupa-meru.
Aside from hiring a private airplane to reach several hostels, or posadas, in the park, many visitors must use a local cargo airline that services widely scattered mining towns.
On the second stop, a missionary handed me a baby as she got into the back seat. I smiled as my husband took a picture -- then told me not to breathe. ''She just said that the baby has tuberculosis,'' he whispered.
Vast Landscape
Little by little, a vast landscape of valleys and plateaus swallowed us as we walked to the base of Roraima, a sandstone mesa 9,094 feet high.
Our guide pointed out a lobster-size grasshopper and a white frog resting in the shade of a single blade of grass.
Clouds shrouded the tepuy during the three days it took us to hike to its summit. It was a journey through time and space, where we were greeted by a dazzling maze of rock formations and shallow pools of water lit by a smoky gray light.
A tiny black frog that rolls instead of jumps and a carnivorous plant are some of the species that thrive atop Roraima. The surrounding mesas inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Lost World, in which dinosaurs live on an isolated plateau in the Amazon.
Six days later, feet swollen and blistered, I was back inside El Condor's Cessna for a 115-mile flight to a base camp near Angel Falls.
Up Close
Along the way, El Condor offered to give us a close look at the falls for $60 in bolivars, the local currency. He accepted the only bolivars I had, $13 worth, as we approached the falls, 15 times taller than Niagara Falls at 3,212 feet.
El Condor jerked his craft left toward Angel Falls. I snapped a few pictures before he jerked the plane right just as it seemed we were about to hit, slamming me to the other side of the plane.
El Condor lived up to his nickname that day.
Our Angel Falls guide, Ladimir Gonzalez, whisked us off in a boat to a tiny island across a lagoon to our lodging.
Waterfalls pounded into the lagoon and foam floated on the surface. We climbed and walked along a small path tucked behind the falling water, where we watched the water roar onto the rocks below.
Those precious nights were full of the sound of crashing water as we fell asleep in hammocks strung from the posada's rooftop.
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Venezuelan has scoop on shrimp, spaghetti, fish-flavoured ice cream
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Rosnep Gonzalez gasped in disbelief as he surveyed the selection at Heladeria Coromoto, an ice cream parlor in this western Venezuelan city perched between towering mountains.
"Garlic!" the 10-year-old shouted at his mother. "Smoked trout! Avocado! Onion!"
His dark eyes wide as saucers, Gonzalez settled for something relatively conservative, "Coca-Cola" ice cream. He said it tasted great, "just like the soft drink."
Opened 22 years ago by Portuguese immigrant Manuel Da Silva Oliveira, Coromoto has become wildly popular with locals and tourists who come to sample its hundreds of flavors of ice cream.
A former construction worker and chef, Oliveira began with four flavors - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and coconut - but branched out after hearing about avocado-flavored ice cream in Brazil.
It took Oliveira 45 tries to get the avocado flavor right. Since then, he has become a Guinness World Records holder, producing 812 flavors to date - and counting.
"I thought up 50 or 60 new flavors this year," said Oliveira, 73. "I try it and if I don't like the taste right away, I drop it."
Not all 812 flavors are available every day, but there are usually about.....
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Llaneros - the first South American Cowboy
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An article from http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica
Many of the landowners in the Llanos of Venezuela have
turned to tourism to supplement their ranching activities. Hatos, or
cattle ranches, now accept visitors and provide viewing opportunities
for wildlife, and llaneros. This area is a ‘must see’ on any tourist
itinerary while in Venezuela.
The History of the Llaneros.
Before the coming of the Spaniards in the mid-1500s, the llanos were inhabited by various indigenous groups.
When the Spaniards began to colonize the area, a new population group arose: the first cowboy of the Americas, the llanero.
Part Indian, part Spanish to begin with, and now a mixture of many
ethnic groups, the llaneros are skilled horsemen, adept at rounding up
and corralling cattle. Wearing a distinctive starched hat, they appear
impervious to heat or cold, and often go barefoot. Until the discovery
of vast oil reserves, the llanos were.............
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Valentine Weekend - Try Caribbean Island Romance
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Living in Venezuela you’re in the right location to access dream vacation spots, but where will you get the most luxury, relaxation and special treatment for your money?
Look no further than northwards, because here are a few of the most romantic, luxurious places in the Caribbean. Each has its own distinctive character, so read about them all, (and visit their web page links we have included) before deciding. Most offer all-inclusive packages which can make planning just that much easier, leaving even more time for togetherness.
For more details on the these Valentine 'getaways' click on,.... Valentine Weekend - Try Caribbean Island Romance
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Tell us your travel tales
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| Angel Falls |
Here we report on the good (and the bad) bits of where to go and what to see, and where to stay in Venezuela and the surrounding region.
We have several Rincon Travel Tales in our archives that we shall be publishing in the next few months. If you are travelling on pleasure or business and you want to write a piece, please submit your draft article to the Editor. It doesn't have to be restricted to Venezuela, any traveller's tales from this Northern Latin or Caribbean region will be welcome.
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Weekend Break Valencia Area
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RINCON TRAVEL TALES
Win and Bea Sargent recommend this posada a 40 minutes drive outside Valencia.
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