where hugo's boss

I've made it to Venezuela having successfully navigated the international airports of Aruba and Bogotá. Things were a little tricky in Aruba (with no international transfers desk, I had to get a visa, recheck my luggage, and convince customs officials to let me back into the airport) but I managed easily enough, and was soon jetting toward Columbia. Mind you, this transfer was a bit ridiculous, as Caracas is at most a 20 minute flight from Aruba, and I was instead flying 2 hours out of the way to then turn around and come back, but this way I got to see the inside of another airport.

A brief stop by Aruba.

Flying out to Bogotá.

Landing in Caracas, I was met by Ricky and his father for a short cruise through the city. This gave me a chance to see Caracas at its best (that is: its least visible). Still, I found the drive through urban poverty from the backseat of a bulletproof SUV (with Ricky pointing out the sites of major revolt) to be very memorable. As open sewers and decaying tenements gave way to trees and golf courses, we pulled into the apartment, and I stepped out into the warm Venezuelan night. Greeting Ricky's mom and sister, I offloaded my bags and settled in to catch up with the family. Before long, it was time for bed, and I retired to my quarters.

Waking up in Caracas.

Waking up late the next morning, I joined Ricky for a traditional South American breakfast prepared by their Colombian maid. The rest of the morning was dedicated to set up for a barbecue, planned for the afternoon. I helped bring down meats and Polar beer (some of the only available in the city, due to a wildcat strike/total breakdown of Polar's distribution capacity) and before long we were cooking away. As I learned how to play Dominions, a serious business in South America, I was treated to an array of tasty local delicacies (mmm... blood sausage). Also available was a selection of local libations, including the famously potent "caiprinha."

Caiprinha, a traditional drink made with rum, lime, and sugar.

We were joined by a number of Ricky's friends, many of whom would be making the journey to the island of Margarita with us the following day. Thus began my immersion en Espanol. While bilingualism is a common enough feature of Ricky's friends, I'm doing my best to embrace this language, and I'm learning all kinds of fantastically useful phrases to supplement my Ritchie Valens-based education (yo no soy marinero, soy capitan!) All in all, lots of laughs, lots of dominoes, lots of meat.

The following morning, after far too little sleep, I joined Ricky, Andres, Lucho, Ignacio, Luisja, Andrea, and Daniela at the airport. After a few hours, we boarded a flight that would last roughly 30 minutes before touching down on the Caribbean island of Margarita. Venezuela's most popular island destination, Margarita was sunny, warm, and totally absent of the snow currently inundating my home state. Our cab ride from the airport to the resort took longer than the flight from Caracas, but we arrived just soon enough to be told we would have to wait another four hours for our rooms to be ready. So we passed the time playing dominoes and getting the first of our less-than-stellar all-inclusive meals.

Checking into the resort.

After checking in, we wasted no time in changing, and were soon enjoying the warm, sandy beach. Dominoes continued to be a feature of our social interaction, and it was on this afternoon that I would begin my reign of terror over the game. I also experienced my first empanada, a deep-fried dough pocket containing, in my case, plantain and cheese, and the single greatest cause for premature heart failure on the southern continent. But like everything that's bad for your health, the empinadas were delicious, and became a staple of our diet over the next few days. The eight of us spent a relaxing afternoon doing pretty much nothing, and after a while we made our way to the resort for a buffet dinner with all the culinary excellence of airplane food.

The sweet ride that brought us to the beach every morning.

After dinner, the eight of us called a pair of cabs to take us to into the city to check out a local club called Latitude. Arriving at the club at 22:30, we found that it had not opened yet, and so everyone milled around for a while while we waited for the doors to open. Inside, the club was reasonably posh, and I settled in with our group to continue my Spanish education. It wouldn't be until later that I would finally embrace the latin beats being pumped out of the sound system, but it was all in all a reasonably good evening.

The next day was once again spent at the beach, with lounging interspersed with fiercely combative dominoes. I would be on this day that I began my reign of terror over the domino table, carrying a unbeaten streak through two days of play. We sat around the table sipping Regional Light, a beer that's only redeeming value is that it was complimentary, and creating intricate patters in domino. Before long, everyone was ready to head back to the resort, where we entertained ourselves with 'Los Simpsons' while getting ready for the evenings activities. After yet another abysmal dinner (seriously, stray animals refused this food when we offered it to them) Ricky, Andres, Lucho, Ignacio, and myself packed ourselves into a single cab bound for a local casino. The only way that we could fit all five of us into the cab was for Andres and I to share our laps with Ignacio, and because of this I can summarize the half-hour ride as being: painful.

The Beach.

Arriving at the casino, I allowed the feeling to return to my legs before heading in to watch Ricky and then Ignacio lose their money on electronic roulette. I myself followed my traditional approach to casinos, and meandered over to the actual roulette table. In a system that has become the cornerstone of the Patrick Ives School of Casino Roulette, I followed a pattern of betting on the 2nd and 3rd dozen numbers over two cycles, and walked away from the table with my investment effectively doubled. I then coached Andres through my system, played for Ricky, and later coached Lucho, and I am happy to say that the Patrick Ives School of Casino Roulette has continued its unblemished streak of success.

One of the more interesting features of the casino that we were playing in was that it was a part of the Hilton Hotel complex recently seized by the Venezuelan Government. A subject of much international controversy, but not altogether uncommon in this pseudo-dictatorship, the hotel was seized last October, and has since been run by the state. This did not, as I experienced, save it from being subject to the new power-rationing policies resulting in orchestrated brown-outs across the country. In an effort to save electricity, the casino and hotel were taken off the grid at midnight, though they continued operation on backup generators.

Covert photography of the Casino.

After enjoying a few complimentary drinks, we left the casino to return to our resort, where I was kept awake through a series of five domino games before I was finally defeated, and allowed to go to sleep. The next morning began, as with every morning, with a trip to the beach. Though on this occasion, we walked the length of the coast, to visit a neighboring beach were we were meeting Ricky's aunt and cousin for lunch. The walk was short, but enjoyable (I should mention that certain parties would disagree with both of those categorizations) and we were soon greeted by Ricky's relations. Everyone huddled under cover during a brief afternoon shower, during which we enjoyed an excellent lunch of fish and fried everything. I followed lunch with a spirited, if reasonably talentless game of beach tennis with Ricky's cousin (who was actually rather good at the "sport") before we piled into a car for the drive back to the resort.

The arid land of Margarita.

'Los Simpsons' continued to be a feature of our late afternoon schedule, which ended with dinner, the unarguably hilarious concept of "cop chickens", and a cab ride out to a different club. "The Beach Bar", as it was appropriately titled, was less pretentious and more enjoyable than or previous club-of-call, and I found myself more involved in the dancing aspects of the evening, though tragically, all photographic evidence of the evening has been mysteriously destroyed. When the music finally stopped playing a little after 4:00, we all piled into cabs and returned to our resort for a well-deserved sleep.

Wrapping up night of wild Caribbean dancing.

Another morning, another day at the beach. I procured a new pair of swim trunks, as well as a beach towel, and otherwise followed the laid back schedule that we had by now become accustomed to. I opted to explore the rocky coastline at the edge of the beach before heading back to the resort, and found the rocks to be reasonably accessible, through very secluded. Which would probably explain why, rounding a bend, I... how should I say? "interrupted" a couple. Waving, a bizarre knee-jerk reaction, I turned about-face and headed inland. I explored the arid landscape of Margarita for a while, coming across some rather stunning landscapes in the fading light, as well as a wild honey bee hive. Before it started to get genuinely dark, I strolled back to the beach and caught a ride back to the resort when I rejoined the rest of the group.

Stumbling on a wild bee's hive.

We spent our last evening on the island relaxing and playing several rounds of premium tequila-fueled dominoes. Turning in sometime after 3:00, I woke early the next morning to enjoy our last day at the beach. It ended up being a short stay, as we had to return to the resort to check out, so I'm glad I made the most of it by sleeping nearly the entire time, then charging into the waves right before we left. After checking out, we had plenty of time before the shuttle would meet us to take us to the airport, so we called a pair of cabs to take us to The Mall. I'm not a big fan of malls, but it was a good way to kill some time. Lucho deprived the elderly and infirm of mobility by renting a scooter(which is actually a common enough practice for otherwise mobile mall-goers here), which he drove around the mall in a highly entertaining fashion. Before long, it was time to head back to the resort so that we could catch our minibus to the airport. All in all, it was a great few days at the beach, but now it's time to plan out a more adventurous chapter in my travels.