Friday morning our ride back to the airport came. The ride took again about an hour :) At the airport we didn't receive much help. We were just told to wait for awhile. Then Susan tried to change bolivars to USD at money exchange. They said that they wouldn't change and that it would be possible only in the bank.
None of the stores were open and we had to wait a long time in the airport. Luckily there weren't that many people waiting so we had space to walk around. Finally in the airplaine we had a good crew who knew what to do and when.
Most trouble I got was in Grenada, when I went through immigration. I have to say that I missed Finland at that time very much. Luckily I got in without extra trouble. Peter was waiting for us, so no waiting needed in this end :)
Now you know what was our trip like to Isla de Margarita. I would rate the trip as 8/10. The lost points came from the moldy room mainly and because of language problems. The Hover Tours was excellent as well as both our trips.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday: Shopping again!
We hadn't made any plans for the thursday. So we decided to go shopping again. First we went to 4 de mayo street, which was supposed to be a big shopping street. It indeed was a shopping street, but due to the burned back I didn't enjoy being outdoors.
Susan didn't like it either so we decided to continue our way back to Sambil. Sambil is a huge shopping center with a/c. We walked around and shopped some more. We ate lunch at some ranch place number 2. The waiter was amazed by Susan's eyes and was making excuses to come to our table.
We noticed that some people thought that Susan was a movie star or something like that. People stared where ever we went... None the less we had a nice shopping trip and found nice clothes ans shoes.
Wednesday: Katamaran trip to Isla de Coche
Wednesday morning we woke up earlier than planned as our ride arrived earlier. Luckily we got the message about it very late the previous night. It took as an hour to get to the marina, where the katamaran left.
The whole day was very sunny and I bet you can imagine what happend to me. I got burned pretty bad... But now I am getting ahead. Lets go back a bit.
In the katamaran there were spanish speaking, german speaking and english speaking tourists. Susan and I were the only english speaking ones :)) We put a lot of sunlotion on and just laid down to get as much sun as possible.
After few hours sailing we stopped for snorkling. The water was so cold that there was no way that I would go swimming. But few daredevils went to the ocean. Susan and I walked around and Susan also jumped around :) During the trip we got free drinks and snacks.
After affiving to Coche we had about an hour to enjoy the beach before lunch. And depending how fast we ate, almost two hours after lunch. The beach was full of white sand. There weren't very many other tourists there so all the sales persons were trying to sell us something.
The ocean felt cold at first, but after a while it wasn't so cold. So we swam couple of times before leaveing the island. Susan got stung by jellyfish while we were swimming. We did not see any jellyfishes there but the katamarans crew new what it had been. The burning was really bad at first, but there is nothing a cold beer won't cure.
On our way back the ride was a bit ruff and we got all wet... The whole day was really nice, expect the sun burn and jellyfish sting.
The whole day was very sunny and I bet you can imagine what happend to me. I got burned pretty bad... But now I am getting ahead. Lets go back a bit.
In the katamaran there were spanish speaking, german speaking and english speaking tourists. Susan and I were the only english speaking ones :)) We put a lot of sunlotion on and just laid down to get as much sun as possible.
After few hours sailing we stopped for snorkling. The water was so cold that there was no way that I would go swimming. But few daredevils went to the ocean. Susan and I walked around and Susan also jumped around :) During the trip we got free drinks and snacks.
After affiving to Coche we had about an hour to enjoy the beach before lunch. And depending how fast we ate, almost two hours after lunch. The beach was full of white sand. There weren't very many other tourists there so all the sales persons were trying to sell us something.
The ocean felt cold at first, but after a while it wasn't so cold. So we swam couple of times before leaveing the island. Susan got stung by jellyfish while we were swimming. We did not see any jellyfishes there but the katamarans crew new what it had been. The burning was really bad at first, but there is nothing a cold beer won't cure.
On our way back the ride was a bit ruff and we got all wet... The whole day was really nice, expect the sun burn and jellyfish sting.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Tuesday: Jeep Safari
Tuesday morning we ate breakfast and went out to wait our ride. We didn't have to wait for long. In the jeep was already four other tourist (probably from Argentina or Venezuela). We sat next to the door and tried to understand what people were saying. Our driver didn't speak much english nor did the other tourists.
First we went to a place close by, where all the other cars would come as well. There were souvenier shops there, but we didn't see the point to buy stuff now and carry them around the whole day. So we didn't buy anything from there.
Next stop was at a fortress, which was pretty old. I mean older than what I have seen before (I think). The view was amazing. You could see really far away, but I think that was the point of having the fortress there. There we also heard the plan for the trip in english. Which was nice and turned out to be almost the last english that we heard the whole day.
Then we travelled to a "spiritual capital" where there was a big church and lots of small souvenier stores. The sun was very hot and luckily we continued our trip soon after the stop. Again we listened to a music which was too loud for our taste and which from we understood nothing.
We went to a boat trip. We saw a sea star (or what ever they are called ;)) and raced the other boats. We stopped to eat lunch at a beach restaurant. Sadly we didn't stay there to swim, but coninued to another beach.
We took a lot of pictures and I have already shared some in kuvaboxi ;)
First we went to a place close by, where all the other cars would come as well. There were souvenier shops there, but we didn't see the point to buy stuff now and carry them around the whole day. So we didn't buy anything from there.
Next stop was at a fortress, which was pretty old. I mean older than what I have seen before (I think). The view was amazing. You could see really far away, but I think that was the point of having the fortress there. There we also heard the plan for the trip in english. Which was nice and turned out to be almost the last english that we heard the whole day.
Then we travelled to a "spiritual capital" where there was a big church and lots of small souvenier stores. The sun was very hot and luckily we continued our trip soon after the stop. Again we listened to a music which was too loud for our taste and which from we understood nothing.
We went to a boat trip. We saw a sea star (or what ever they are called ;)) and raced the other boats. We stopped to eat lunch at a beach restaurant. Sadly we didn't stay there to swim, but coninued to another beach.
We took a lot of pictures and I have already shared some in kuvaboxi ;)
Monday: Shopping at Sambil
Our trip was organized by Hover Tours. On monday morning a guy from there came to tell us what we could do and where we can go if we want to go shopping. His name was Edward and he was a bit surprised to see two white faces as he was expecting two grenadians. :))
He recommended us a jeep safari aroung the island and then either go to snorkling/scuba diving or to katamaran trip where there also was possibility for snorkling. We decided to take the jeep safari next day and the katamaran trip the day after tomorrow.
As we were interested to see the shopping opportunities Edward took us to Sambil shopping center which is located near Porlamar. It took us a bit over half hours to get there. Sambil is very big (but not huge) and you can find almost anything from there. The only thing we weren't able to find was a decent tourist/souvenier shop.
We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe (!) which had been there for few years. Apparently they had sold T-shirst with "Margarita Hard Rock" almost ten years before the restaurant even came to the island.
I have to say that the shops there were as expensive as in Finland. And these shops were supposed to be tax free! There were nice clothes there, but most of them were pretty small. Even Susan said that her normal size is not good there.
Before sun set we took taxi ride back to our hotel. The driver didn't know were our hotel were, neither did we... Luckily he just asked directions from few guys next to the road and we were able to get to the hotel.
At the hotel we were shown few new rooms, as we didn't want to sleep in the current room anymore. It was too moldy. We found a better room upstairs, but only with one bed. But as we are finns we didn't see it as a big problem. As long as we had a room where we could breath, we were okey.
He recommended us a jeep safari aroung the island and then either go to snorkling/scuba diving or to katamaran trip where there also was possibility for snorkling. We decided to take the jeep safari next day and the katamaran trip the day after tomorrow.
As we were interested to see the shopping opportunities Edward took us to Sambil shopping center which is located near Porlamar. It took us a bit over half hours to get there. Sambil is very big (but not huge) and you can find almost anything from there. The only thing we weren't able to find was a decent tourist/souvenier shop.
We ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe (!) which had been there for few years. Apparently they had sold T-shirst with "Margarita Hard Rock" almost ten years before the restaurant even came to the island.
I have to say that the shops there were as expensive as in Finland. And these shops were supposed to be tax free! There were nice clothes there, but most of them were pretty small. Even Susan said that her normal size is not good there.
Before sun set we took taxi ride back to our hotel. The driver didn't know were our hotel were, neither did we... Luckily he just asked directions from few guys next to the road and we were able to get to the hotel.
At the hotel we were shown few new rooms, as we didn't want to sleep in the current room anymore. It was too moldy. We found a better room upstairs, but only with one bed. But as we are finns we didn't see it as a big problem. As long as we had a room where we could breath, we were okey.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)