First things first: Happy New Year!
My New Year was spent in the same place as my Christmas. The plan was to move on before and celebrate New Year in Venezuela, but my general health didn’t improve at all until the day before New Year when I woke up without fever for the first time since Christmas.
Before I could celebrate the New Year I had to finish what I started in that year so the most of the 31th of December 2008 was spent diving and doing a theory test for my PADI. None of it was very hard but since I couldn’t do any diving as long as I was sick did it take me over a week to finish the course. That may have made me one of the slowest PADI divers ever. But at least I have it now.
After passing the PADI course I had two reasons to celebrate that night. The hostel had a great barbecue (with free beer) and after too much food and drink, most of us ended up in the only bar/club in Taganga. It was packed full of party people and salsa dancers (I you have to label me would the first category probably do best) and I had a great night with to much beer in the end.
2009 started like the first day in any year: with a hangover. So I didn’t get much done until I left Taganga in the morning on the third day of the new year. I got a bus from Santa Marta directly to Maracaibo, the second biggest city in Venezuela and centre of their oil industry. We where three tourists on the bus, me and another Swedish couple. It was nice to have some company when arriving in Maracaibo because the city was anything but nice. We stayed in a hotel in the old town and it all felt like a movie set. Most of it was nicely built up but nothing living could be seen anywhere, except for millions of cockroaches.
None of us had a good feeling about this town so as soon as we woke up in the morning we went back to the bus station and took a bus to Coro, where we just arrived. I’ll spend one or two days here before moving on the Caracas where I’ll catch a flight on the 7th of January.
Vale cariño!
First things first… We´ll practise some Spanish and Salsa as soon as I arrive… Hopefully you´ll be a professional by the time we leave faraway… I can help you with the Spanish, but not too sure about the Salsa… Will try anyway!
Take care see you really soon! Te quiero
Amaia xxx
Gott Nytt År från oss på Österlen!
Hoppas Caracas är trevligare än det låter o ha en bra flygning.
För att du ska må bättre…här snöar det…
För att du ska må ännu bättre: Nu på morgonen har vi 17 grader KALLT.
Hälsningar Pappa
Hello Mr,
Hopefully you are feeling much better now, I hope so anyway. It seems that you are having such a great time over there, I’m so so so so jealous, jolin I love to be there too.
I have seen some of your photos and they look really great places, and you are getting tan too, no more ice cube eh? Ja ja …
Well I know that you have been travelling for many years and I that make me fell well and confident, especially now that my little girl is over there with you. As you have wrote in your bloc, if you have bad feeling about any town, run away from it is probably worst than what you think man.
I haven’t been in South America, but as you know lots of my friends are from there, and many others, have been visiting it. All I want to say is that you have to be careful, I know that you are but, extremely careful now Mr.because my little girl is over there, and she has to come back the way she left, happy, entuastic, talking lots and last but not least with all her body parts…
Have fun, enjoy, make us feel so jealous for this amazing trip, and BE CAREFUL OK? Well …….. and patience with my little chatterbox,
She is the person that I love more after my mum please I beg you if something happens to you guys let us know as soon as possible, missing documents, money, whatever ok?
You know where we are anyway, my phone here is 0034 696500029.
Take care and thank you for making my sisters dreams became truth.
Love, Maite