Uh oh, we have a flat tire!
So that’s where they hide the spare!
Raising the car is a pain!
Those bolts are really tight!
The wheel is heavier than it looks!
Somehow we did it!
We even managed to clean up for dinner!
Between my new girlfriend Laura’s repeated ravings about Kalalau and National Geographic’s beautiful pictures, I had no choice but to go and check out this “hidden paradise” for myself.
All I knew going in to this was that Kalalau was a remote valley located on the uninhabited Na Pali Coast of the Hawaiian island, Kaua’i. You reach it through an incredibly arduous 11-mile hike starting at Ke’e Beach and once there you are immersed in nature without electricity, running water, food, or toilets.
We obtained camping permits, prepared our camping essentials, and packed for our 6-day stay in Kalalau. Given the hike and Laura’s repeated warnings about its difficulty we took immense care to minimize our pack weight. We took a tent, two sleeping bags, two sleeping mats, a tarp, a cooking set, a water filtration system, a small plastic shovel, two portable flashlights, a lighter, heavy duty matches, a backpack water system and two water bottles (5 liters total), biodegradable paper, 16 power bars, beef and turkey jerky, a bag of trail mix, two small bags of tuna, two bags of macaroni and cheese, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, 8 extra duty large garbage bags (to protect the gear while swimming to the boat for the return boat ride), cordage (to fix the tarp), a camera, a swimsuit, one pair of hiking socks, two pairs of ankle socks, a sun hat, toiletries, one hiking short, a pair hiking shoes, a pair of hiking sandals, two hooded sweatshirts, a poncho, a first aid kit, extra batteries and a small fanny pack. That was it!
Despite our best efforts, my pack still weighed in at 55 pounds (when all the water containers were full) and Laura’s at over 30 pounds! We decided to camp on Ke’e Beach on Sunday night right before the trail head to get an early start for the hike. I would advise those attempting to copy us not to make their first attempt at building a tent they have never used before at midnight with limited light. We finally figured out how to assemble the tent and promptly went to bed. Unfortunately, we barely slept that night as the local roosters mistimed sunrise and started crowing at 3 a.m. in a cacophony of noise that made it impossible to sleep. By 5 a.m. we gave up trying to sleep and packed for the hike. Most people do the hike in two days stopping at the 6-mile campsite in Hanakoa, but we were determined to make the entire hike in one day to avoid the nasty mosquitoes in this area and maximize our time in Kalalau.
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The first quarter mile is on a relatively steep and narrow trail, which made for a good warm-up. There is a beautiful beach at mile 2. We refilled our water bottles and frolicked on the beach for a while before heading back on the trail. The trail is actually hard to ascertain in certain areas and we briefly walked in the direction of the local waterfall for by mistake. I also managed to drop my brand new Ray-Ban sunglasses. Despite searching for them for almost an hour, we failed to find them and moved on. The next four miles felt as though they went on for 100 miles. I kept thinking, “are we there yet?”! It took over 3 hours to get to the 6 mile site where most people stop for the night. We rested for a while and were lucky to run into some of Laura’s friends who had done a boat drop that morning in Kalalau and were hiking the trail back. They had delicious fruits and trail mix which they generously shared with us.
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The remaining 5 miles did not feel nearly as exhausting, or maybe we were so tired we could not feel anything anymore. There was however an extremely hairy part at mile 7. The trail around the cliffs was completely eroded. To go through we had to hug the mountain, essentially dangling above a several hundred-foot drop into the ocean below. It was all the more harder to accomplish while buffeted by 50 mile-per-hour wind, carrying a 50+ pound pack, and having walked up and down a narrow trail for 6 hours! Fortunately we made it through unscathed! Kalalau Valley was a site for sore eyes with its gorgeous colors and amazing white sand beach. I was excited that we had finally reached it, but my happiness was tempered when I realized we had another mile to walk to get to the river, and another mile to the actual camp site. Funnily enough the official permitted camping grounds are located after many, “Area Closed, Do Not Go Further” and “Falling Rocks”, “Stop or You Will Die” signs!
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When we finally crawled into the campsite at 4 p.m., we were exhausted, but happy that the ordeal was over. It has been said, many people experience a spiritual awakening upon reaching Kalalau. I can understand why, as the place exudes beauty and positive energy. Then again, as dehydrated, hungry, and tired as we were after an insane 10-hour hike, I think many would feel a spiritual awakening entering into a McDonalds or lying down on their couch :)
The valley had just been completely cleared for the annual goat hunt and we were one of the first groups to make it in, so we selected a nice camping spot with beach access. We set up camp, ate a light dinner, and promptly fell asleep by 7 p.m. The sun sets at 7 and with no electricity there is not much to do at night. We slept 11 hours and were up at 6 a.m. the next day with the sunrise. While we were rested, we ached everywhere and decided to take it easy that day. We read, walked on the beach, went for a swim and showered in the nearby (freezing) waterfall. Laura also went to meditate on “Sacred Hilltop”. Even a relaxing day involves a fair amount of activity as the river we pumped our drinking water from was 1 mile away and we had to get water twice a day – which entails at least 4 miles a day of walking for water. That said, after the grueling 11-mile hike up and down many mountains with a 55 pound backpack, 4 miles on a wide road on flat terrain with a light pack felt like child’s play!
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We spent the next few days exploring the valley. Usually, the valley is home to a number of local hippie types who call themselves “outlaws”. They squat illegally and spend their days avoiding the park rangers. They had left the valley for the goat hunt and we were mostly left to our own devices. Fortunately Laura, who had been to Kalalau before and had become close to the outlaws remembered most of the private spots, secret gardens, and scenic views. We witnessed, and drank from some of the last known virgin water sources on earth, bathed in waterfalls, and explored such valley hang outs (for those in the “know”) as: The Bluff, Big Pool, Outlaw Falls, Smoke Rock, Sacred Hilltop, Ginger Pools, and Mike’s Garden just to name a few.
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After two nights, we decided to setup camp on “The Bluff” away from the campers. The lack of natural light made for wonderful star gazing! We even saw a “UFO” flying in bizarre air patterns (probably a military plane from the nearby air force base). We fell asleep on the bluff and had a restful night until right at the crack of dawn a helicopter flew into Kalalau, and started hovering right over us. We thought it was the park rangers who would land at the ranger station a mile away giving us plenty of time to pack up and leave. We stayed cozily in out sleeping bags, and to our surprise, the helicopter landed right next to us! The ranger came out and asked if we had our permits. (Most of the days in August were sold out of permits far in advance so we had only bought tickets for the day we hiked in, taking a chance we would be able to avoid getting caught for the rest of time by the local park rangers, who fly in to the valley by helicopter every now and then). It looked like our luck had run out only 3 days in to our trip! Somehow I looked trustworthy and when I assured him we did, he did not question us further. He just told us he was accompanying a film crew and needed us to leave. He also informed us that Kalalau was closing for the rest of the year for restorations in a few days (which we already knew). I am one of the last people to see Kalalau in its natural state. This winter Kalalau beach will receive a man made face lift and will never be the same. We set up our new camp near the mouth of the river and stayed there until our last day.
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Despite not having internet, email, or Xbox, and being isolated for over 5 days with notionally nothing to do, I was never bored and only managed to read one and a half books. The reality is that surviving is a full time job! As you might recall, we had only brought 16 power bars, beef and turkey jerky, a bag of trail mix, two small bags of tuna, two bags of macaroni and cheese to eat. We actually ate 10 of the 16 power bars on the trail. After two days they were all gone and I vowed not to eat any more power bars for the rest of my life. By day 4 however, we had eaten all the food, and I would have happily eaten a power bar again :)
We had originally planned to live off the mangos that grow in season on the abundant mango trees in the valley. I had been assured, they were so good I would never eat a mango outside of Kalalau again and I was looking forward to gorging on mangos for a week! To my utter disappointment mango season had recently ended and most of the mangos were rotting on the ground. We scoured the valley looking for food and luckily found a hidden community garden planted by the outlaws. We found delicious super ripe figs, which we picked right from the tree. We also chanced upon a squash, which we decided to have as our entrée with some lilikoi (a local fruit) for dessert. Creating and sustaining a fire strong enough to boil water and cook a squash is a non-trivial affair. You have to forage for the right dried wood, branches, logs and leaves to make the fire. After many hours of getting water, stoking the fire, and preparing the food, relaxing to enjoy your meal, as meager as it may be, is an utterly satisfying experience!
I actually had difficulty documenting the trip. On the way in, I realized that my trusty Panasonic ZS3 with its 12x optical zoom’s lens cover had not closed properly and the lense was scratched (I have since bought a ZS7 with a 16x zoom as replacement). The camera could no longer zoom and the pictures were a bit fuzzy where the scratch was. I started using my iPhone 4 as the main camera. I have to say I was impressed by its photo and video quality. Even low light photos were amazing. It unfortunately met an untimely end when I dropped it in the ocean while taking a picture.
After six days it was time to go. I was ecstatic that Laura had organized a boat pick-up as I don’t think I could have survived the 11-mile hike back with no food! We packed all our gear in garbage bags, braved the “strong current, dangerous shore break, and high surf” which many signs on the beach warn you of and jumped in the water to swim to the boat. The ride back was actually gorgeous as we marveled at the beauty of the coast, its inlet caves, and cliff side waterfalls.
The first thing we did when we got off the boat was head straight to Ono Burger (“ono” means good in Hawaiian) for an epic meal! I ordered two cheeseburgers, fries, and coke! I then promptly booked us a room at the St. Regis Princeville and treated us to in-room massages before spending the rest of the day relaxing by the pool. Funnily enough our one night at the St. Regis cost more than the entire week in Kalalau which only cost $44 in camping permits and around $100 in food and supplies! The next day our stay in Kauai came to an end. It was time to go kite surfing for a 5 days in Maui, the next exciting leg to our trip :)
I left refreshed, happy, and ever more grateful that capitalism’s invisible hand provides the answer to all of our needs; especially tap water, electricity, ovens, and food in supermarkets and restaurants :)
Overall, it was definitely a unique and amazing experience. I cannot recommend it enough!
Courtesy of my friend Linda Kang who moved from NY to SF a few years ago.
Now someone needs to prepare tips for people moving from SF to NY :)
Buenos Aires:
Hotel to stay at: Tailor Made Hotel. It’s relatively inexpensive, only 5 rooms and everything is free – food, Internet, drinks, laundry, calls to the US, etc. I stay there every time I go.
Things to do:
• Markets of San Telmo
• Cemetary in Recoletta
• Visit the Malba museum
• Walk in Puerto Madero
• Go to Tigre (1 hour by train). Walk around and take a boat
• Boat to Colonia (Uruguay) for the day – make sure you take the express boat – 1 hour vs 3 or 4.
• Walk around Palermo
Places to eat and drink:
• Grilled filet mignon (lomo) at El Mirasol next to the Four Seasons
• Peruvian/Japanese at Osaka
• Italian food at Sottovoce
• Frozen mojitos at Milion
If you go clubbing, don’t go before 3 am. Everything is empty and dead before then – definitely not before 2 am.
Rest of the country:
You could go to Iguazu Falls to see the waterfalls for a 2 or 3 days (it’s in the north of the country). Don’t go for more, there is not much to see or do. You can see a few pictures from my week-end there at: http://fabrice.phanfare.com/4336778.
For Patagonia, the Bariloche/Cumelen region and the Calafate region are great. You can find more information and suggestions at: http://www.fabricegrinda.com/travels/patagonia/
You may also want to add a trip to Ushuaia to go see penguins.
I had the privilege of being invited to MaiTai Kite Camp 2010 in late May. It’s a fantastic annual event which started four years ago when professional kiteboarder Susi MAI and venture capitalist Bill TAI from Charles River Ventures invited a few of their friends to kite with them. The event has grown to over 150 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who come to network and kiteboard! The setup is really smart: networking events start early in the morning and end at 11 am and start again at 6 pm. In other words, we’re completely free from 11 am to 6 pm to kite all day long –and what a kiting experience it is!
I was a bit wary to travel so far (12 hours from NY when you include the stopover in Honolulu) to kite given the rotten luck I had the last three times I had gone to Cabarete (2 days of wind out of 20 days total!) and in Margarita (2 days of wind out of 11!). The minute I landed my fears were put to rest. I had never experienced so much wind! There was 25-30 knots of wind with gusts over 40 knots! Not wanting to fly into the stratosphere, I left my Cabrinha Switchblade 12 in the trunk of the car and borrowed someone’s 7. For guys my size – 6’3”, 185 pounds – 7s are usually trainer kites you learn to fly on the beach when learning to kite. It seemed inconceivable to kite with one, but with that much wind if anything I was overpowered! I bought a new Cabrinha Switchblade 8 later that day and kited with it the entire week. The experience was amazing. When you are so used to light wind and big kites, the responsiveness of a small kite is thrilling and empowering!
Kiteboarding also makes for great bonding opportunities and the kiting community is very close. Kiteboarders look out for each other: they help each other launch and land their kites and most importantly bail us out when we have kitemares especially far out at sea. Everyone who kites has needed to be helped or rescued by someone at some point. Knowing you will need help one day makes you much more understanding, appreciative and willing to help! As a result, the event made for fantastic networking. I got to meet fantastic new people, made new friends and became even closer to existing friends.
Maui is also fantastic in its own right! I stayed near Paia at the Inn at Mama’s Fish House around 20 minutes from kite beach. The lodging was great and the food even better! The locals were extremely friendly and helpful and the sunset from the Haleakala volcano was breathtaking!
I will definitely be back!
Here is a fantastic quick video Forbes put together on the event:
You can also Forbes’ article on the event: Kiteboarding: The New Golf
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As I am from Nice I keep getting asked what to do when visiting the South of France. Here are my recommendations:
Nice:
St. Paul de Vence:
Monaco:
Cannes:
St. Tropez:
Nice, Monaco, Cannes and St. Paul can all be done from where you are staying in or near any of those cities. You will need to rent a car to get around.
Stay a few nights in or near Saint Tropez. With the nights you will have there, you will not want to be doing any commuting!
I flew back from Europe 10 days ago. My flight from Berlin to Zurich had been delayed a few hours as the volcanic ash had forced a shutdown of German air space. The next day I flew from Zurich to New York. I was minding my own business watching Shutter Island (which I very much enjoyed btw) when all of a sudden I noticed that almost all the other passengers were standing on the left side of the plane watching out the window.
I asked what was going on, hoping they were not staring at an engine on fire, and they excitedly reported we could see the Eyjafjallajökull volcano from the window! I checked the on screen map which said we were flying right over the middle of Iceland and went to look out the window. Low and behold the volcano was right there in all its glory!
After a few disappointing trips to Cabarete over Thanksgiving and late December where I was cursed with only 1 day of wind out of a combined 10 days there (granted it’s not the windy season there), I was looking forward to a change of kiting scenery.
As my fantastic baby brother Olivier lives in Sao Paulo where he runs marketing for BrandsClub, the Gilt equivalent of Brazil and was loth to travel, I searched for kiting options in Brazil. I chanced upon an article on Prea online and decided to take the plunge. We booked a trip from December 24 to January 1 at Vila Prea.
I was extremely apprehensive upon arrival. Prea is hard to get to. You fly into Fortaleza airport (FOR) and drive for 4 hours seemingly to the middle of nowhere. In the process you cross extremely poor towns and neighborhoods. The arrival in Prea was barely more reassuring as it was only marginally better than the towns we crossed on the way. Fortunately in the last 5 minutes of the ride, you reach a beautiful sand beach with amazing bungalows: Vila Prea.
The place exceeded all my expectations. They have not had a single day without wind since the beginning of the windy season in July (the season lasts from July to January). There was constant wind every single day from 11 am to 6 pm! The managers and staff are extremely friendly and helpful. The bungalows are great and have free wifi. The nearby town of Jeri is also extremely cute. The upside of how difficult it was to reach the place was that there was almost no one there! I never saw more than 10 kites simultaneously on the water. By comparison, on Cabarete I often felt I was stuck in traffic at rush hour!
I had a blast! I learned to jump and did my first back loop. My ardors were only tempered by my left knee and an upset stomach which seemingly did not appreciate all the sea water ingested in the process of learning to do a back loop.
Given how far Prea is, Cabarete will remain my first port of call for a long week-end of kiting given its direct 4 hour flight from New York, but for extended kite trips, Prea cannot be beat!
I will be back!
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Ever since I read about Tanzania in National Geographic Adventure, I had wanted to go, especially as I had never been on a safari. I originally considered a 10 day walking safari in the Serengeti with Mark Thornton Safaris followed by a climb of the Kilimanjaro (not on the “Coca Cola route”). Mark Thornton Safaris provides an amazing experience as the walks are lead by a team of Maasai warriors, but ultimately, as my dad decided to join so much walking and climbing was inappropriate. As we considered our options, we were lucky that Mark Harrison, the CEO of Abraham Harrison, OLX’s fantastic PR agency had lived in Tanzania for a few years. He introduced us to Tanzania Odyssey and helped structure the trip for us.
We ended up selecting a mixed itinerary flying from Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam through Kilimanjaro. After one night in Dar, we flew to the Mwagusi safari lodge in Ruaha for a 4 day safari. From there we flew to Mahale on Lake Tanganyika where we stayed for 3 days chimping at Greystoke Mahale. Finally, we went on a 3 day walking safari organized by the Sand Rivers lodge in the Selous Game Reserve. All three areas had fundamentally different climates and provided very different experiences.
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Ruaha
Ruaha National Park is in the middle of the country in an arid region whose landscape reminded me of Arizona and Nevada with desert like temperature variations: smoldering heat during the day to seemingly freezing cold at night.
We stayed in beautiful individual lodges. There was no cell phone reception, Internet or electricity, but the experience was all the better for it. The rooms had individual bathrooms, hot water in the morning and battery powered lamps at night. Meals were communal with the other guests. Dinners were truly exceptional as they were eaten in the open at a different location every night. For the game drives, we had our own car, driver and guide. The game drives would start at around 6 am. We would return for lunch at 11 am and start again in the afternoon from 4 pm to 6:30 pm. We read and relaxed during the breaks – you can’t see the animals from 11 am to 4 pm anyway as they stay hidden to protect themselves from the heat.
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I had never been on a safari and was truly impressed by how close you could get to animals in open off-road vehicles. Wild animals are seemingly afraid of the strange bipedal beings we are, but unconcerned by the large mechanized vehicles we were traveling around in.
We were hopeful we would see many animals because the trip took place in late August during the dry season which provides the best opportunity for game watching. We were not disappointed! On our very first day, we chanced upon a beautiful 18 month old female leopard which was hunting dik-diks (very small antelopes). We had the privilege of being able to observe her patiently stake out her prey and discreetly crawl its way into hunting position. After observing her for 90 minutes we let her be to give her a better chance of reaching her objective.
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On the second day we encountered a large 500 animal strong herd of buffalo. As we soon learned, wherever there are buffalo, there are lions! A pride of lions is often found following buffalo herds preying on the weak, old and young. Again, we had the privilege of seeing lions prepare an attack while male buffalo prepared a defensive barrier to protect the herd. Another group saw the buffalo actively chase away the lions which were forced to retreat into the trees.
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During the game drives we saw countless yellow baboons, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, vultures, zebras and elephants. I loved watching the fish eagle royally stand on a branch observing the world around him before majestically flying and catching a fish.
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One of the cutest moments of the trip took place on the third day. While driving along a dry river bed we encountered a large elephant herd. We learned that elephants can find water tens of kilometers away. They apparently knew there was water running below the river bed and used their front legs to dig a hole one to two feet deep. As the water seeped into the hole, they used their trunks to drink it. We saw two of the cutest baby elephants first trying to imitate their elders by attempting to dig a hole, then lying on their side for their short trunks to reach the water in the hole their elders had made.
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The Ruaha trip part of the trip was the one where we saw the most diversity of animals, but after 4 days of sitting in open air vehicles we were looking forward to a more active lifestyle. It was time to leave the arid landscape of Ruaha for the lush tropical climate of Mahale.
Mahale
The Mahale Mountains National Park is on the West Coast of Tanzania towering above Lake Tanganyika. Lake Tanganyika is one of the largest freshwater lakes by volume in the world: 670 km in length, 50 km in width with a depth of up to 1,470 meters! On the 90 minute boat ride to the Greystoke Mahale lodge it felt like we were navigating on an ocean. The ocean just happened to be made of freshwater and full of hippos and crocs!
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After the arid climate of Ruaha with its drastic temperature contrasts, we welcomed the moist tropical climate of Mahale. We had individual bungalows which blended well into the forest. Mahale Mountains National Park houses some of Africa’s last remaining wild chimpanzees with a population of around 800 and the main attraction of Greystoke was the ability to go “chimping”. Every morning the guides would report where the troop of 60 nearby chimps were located and we would hike to them. Once we got close we had to wear masks to prevent potentially infecting them with the flu.
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We would spend one hour observing them play, fight, eat and mate. It’s incredible how indifferent they were to us. They would pass by us oblivious to our presence only acting with other members of their group based on their position in the social hierarchy. We were also shocked by the similarity between their facial expressions and human facial expressions.
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The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the beach, reading, hiking, playing Frisbee and kayaking before observing beautiful sunsets and dining on the beach with the other guests. It was the perfect way to relax after months of intense work. After three exquisitely relaxing days we took our leave and headed for the Selous Game Reserve.
Selous Game Reserve
The Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest fauna reserves in the world and is located to the south of Tanzania. It took the entire day of flying in the propeller plane to get there with 3 stops along the way, but it was well worth it. The walking (or “fly camping”) safari turned out to be the highlight of the trip.
Every morning we would get up at 5:30 am, walk from 6 am to 11 am. We would rest for a few hours before hiking again from 4 pm to 6:30 pm. After a long day of walking in the sun, we would relax and eat a fireside dinner with our guide before sleeping in our tents. The experience was as authentic as it gets – the restrooms were essentially a shovel and showers were provided by gravity (an elevated bucket with a drip below it) – but safe and luxurious.
There was four support staff for the two of us: a cook, someone to assemble the tents and drive them to the next night’s location and two guides with guns. We each had our own guide as my dad was not up for hiking 7-8 hours per day. Our guides had guns to protect us. Interestingly enough lions and hyenas pose little threat as they are afraid of us. Buffalos, hippos and to a lesser extent elephants are the real danger as they sometimes charge humans.
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Even though we did not get nearly as close as we did in the off-road vehicle in Ruaha, we saw all the same animals: prides of lions, giraffes, zebras, wild beasts, buffalo, hippos, elephants and dozens of birds of all types! Probably because of our diminished relative size, it was more impressive and humbling to see them while on foot. Our humility was reinforced by our frequently chancing upon skeletons and remains which reminded us of the fragility of life. The awe inspiring power of nature was further strengthened by the beauty of the star filled nights which reminded us of our relative insignificance and made us all the more grateful for our ability to experience such magical moments.
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Just as importantly, the trip, the long marches and the mid day pauses also allowed me to bond and connect with my dad in a way I had not in a long time. At the end of the trip, I felt closer to him than I had felt in years.
After three nights, we were happy to be taken to a lodge for a hot shower before flying back to Amsterdam, but already felt a tinge of the coming nostalgia for leaving behind such a beautiful wild environment. We had been touched in a unique way. I left knowing I would return to Africa: I long to see Victoria Falls, climb the Kilimanjaro and discover hidden wonders I am not yet aware of.
One thing is for sure: I will be back!
I was lured to Margarita and specifically the kite spot El Yaque by the kite boarding travel specialist Fun & Fly. It promised 360 days of wind out of 365.
Unfortunately the spot failed to deliver on its main promise. We were only able to kite 5 hours in the first 11 days. Fortunately, we were able to kite 5 hours on the 12th and final day. It rained every single day if only briefly. While the trip itself was inexpensive, food and local purchases were extremely expensive (above New York prices) as inflation increased many prices by 50-100% in the past year. The stay would also have been much more enjoyable if the room had hot water.
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We intended to spend a few days in Los Roques or Tortuga as we had heard fantastic things about both locations but all the local flights were booked. We rented a boat and spent 2 days in Las Frailes, a small set of deserted islands near Margarita instead. The highlight of that trip came before we left as my cousin and I convinced our girlfriends we were going to sail the boat ourselves, share 1 small cabin for 4 people, eat the fish we caught which they would have to clean and prepare. Unfortunately the trip did not live up to expectations. There were no scuba tanks on board, contrarily to what we expected. There were no sand beaches on Las Frailes to walk on. There were not that many fish and corals to observe and the sea was covered by small jelly fish. Moreover, the boat rental was outrageously expensive!
The trip back to New York was a disaster. Santa Barbara Airlines closed its check in early and we missed our 6 am flight. They could not find our reservation in the system despite our printed eticket confirmations and took over 2 hours to issue our boarding passes. We could not pay airport taxes by credit card and the money exchangers did not allow the withdrawal of enough money to pay the airport taxes. We missed our connection in Miami and were put on standby for the flight to New York on American. The flight we ended up getting on in Miami was delayed 5 hours and they lost my suitcase!
On the bright side security was much better than we expected and did not notice any petty crimes. We did hear to avoid Caracas at all cost and dutifully obeyed. Should you come bring cash as you get two times the amount of Bolivars on the black market than at the official rate (and credit card transactions are at the official rate). Never get money at an ATM. Not only would the rate be at the official rate, but they would steal your PIN and take all the money out of your account.
Despite all of our travails, I had a good time given the charming company, witty conversation and relaxing atmosphere. Twelve days of doing nothing were exactly what I needed.
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That said, I would recommend avoiding Margarita and will probably not come back to Venezuela other than to visit Los Roques.
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