Oct 14th - Jonathan (from ABB) and I went into Maracaibo to look around at the shops and stuff. We got there at about 2pm. While we were there, we met Freddy and Fernando, who invited us to a game of tennis. We said, we couldn't as we were wearing are street clothes. Freddy said no problem - come on. So of we went. We got to the courts and Freddy dressed Jonathan and I in a full tennis outfit complete with sweatband and racquet, and we played tennis in the 1000% humidity. Then we went back to their house to shower, Freddy dressed me in some of his nightclubbing clothes - the only thing missing now where women.
Joanny lives in student residence with about 15 other girls, and there are no men allowed inside the house. At all - fathers included. So us guys stood around on the street, looking like the local gang, waiting for our babes. Of course, now that we all dressed as cruising Latinos, we really fit the part.
Of to "Level" we all went and danced until 2am with are very pretty girls. I was lucky enough to see "mi novia" dance "tambores", which involves some guys playing an excellent beat on percussion, and girls taking turn to outdo each other in the middle. Dancing I might add which consisted solely of moving your hips as fast and as sexily as possible. Joanny was a very good dancer, and I had the envy of every other guy there. :)
We decided to leave when the police arrived, because being a foreigner in a nightclub where bad things are going down and the police and/or National Guard are checking IDs is not good. Jonathan and I got back to our Cabimas hotel close to 3am. Not bad for an lazy afternoon's shopping.
Oct 22nd - Joanny picked me up from airport, loaded the car with a stereo and more girls, and off we went to the beach on San Carlos island. We drove through her home town of El Mojan and got on a long-boat and traveled across the lake to San Carlos, a fishing community and beach place for the young people of Maracaibo.
On the return journey, there was no gas for the long-boats, and we had to wait for a big boat to take us all home. Joanny and I stood on the aft deck of the boat and looked at the stars, and I was lost not being able to se the Southern Cross or Orion.
On the way back to Maracaibo from El Mojan, the girls in the car cranked the stereo to unbelievable levels. All of a sudden, we pull-up on the side of the road for an emergency potty stop. I was told "don't look" and down they squatted. Amazing.
Oct 8th - Money problems. My Canadian access card doesn't work down here, I cant get money from the hotel against my bill, American Express has no machines down here to get money out of, and the Australian Bank account I was using for cash went dry. Oops. Now I'm stuck. Mum bailed me out with a couple hundred dollars, and I arranged for a transfer from my Canadian account to my australian one. I also had Neles cut a cash advance cheque and have them send it. I found out that the cheque will take 28 days to clear, which blew me away. I don't know if the money transfer has been sucessfull or not yet. So I've been going to lunch, picking up the whole bill on my AMX and then getting the others to give me cash. Its sucky, but they're cool/about it.
At some point, we broke out of the office and had a 2 hour lunch (as apposed to the 1.5 hour lunches we'd been having) and escaped to this truck stop place. They had a fire pit and several animals cooking in it, which you ordered parts of by the kilo. We ordered 1 (1 kilo that is) and had a good lunch. This is us having a good lunch.
The place is called "Rinco Llano" (pronounced rin-ko yah-no), and some of my buddies. I cant remember the two guys in the middle, but the girl is Christina Fang, a local Venezuelan who speaks Spanish and (I think) Vietnamese, and is improving her English. The other guys is Jonathan Venkataramiah (van-cat-tra-my-ah or just van-cat or 24, think about that one). Jonathan was born in India and has been living in the US for a long time now. As you can see, we are a diverse lot.