Travel blog by Päivi & Santeri Kannisto

Venezuela was inexpensive and easy for travel, although not always very comfortable. They have the same kind of cramped double-decker buses than in Argentina that mainly go by night so you will have to try to sleep on the bus. We crossed the whole of Venezuela starting from Guiria where we arrived from Trinidad & Tobago. On our way, we passed by Puerto la Cruz, a seaside town on the Caribbean coast and the oil rich town of Maracaibo before entering to Colombia. Maracaibo was a city full of contrasts. We saw a beautiful and precious historical centre but right after there was a huge market area full of people and rubbish. We found an interesting hotel, Hotel Victoria, from the historical centre. It works mainly as an hourly hotel (brothel) probably because of the low number of tourists around.

We arrived in Port of Spain at the end of the carnival. There were still some cooldown happenings going on, mainly soca parties on the beaches, but the city itself was already suffering from hangover and looking just like Rio de Janeiro after the carnival: it was full of rubbish and sulky people. Guest houses in the capital were still asking for carnival rip-off prices so we headed to a little village called Toco in the northeastern corner of the island. The seaside is great there, ideal for surfers although there were none around. Tourists seemed to have vanished right after the carnival although the dry season between December-June is supposed to be the high season.

Have you noticed how hard it is to get rid of the stuff you don’t need any more but which is too valuable just to give away? If you are tired of carrying it around, go to Jamaica. Friendly and happy Jamaicans will help you out.