AFTERWHILE CROCODILE …
It's been one year now since we have lived in the Sunshine state of Florida! We first arrived in Miami from Ecuador to begin our new life "outside of the box" on our newly purchased preowned 40ft sailboat.
The 'Shambala' was anchored at the Miami Marine Stadium. There were about eight other boats anchored there also. Some of them "live aboards" and some just floating toys that people enjoyed on the weekends and holidays. There was another family that lived on their boat also... with their son, two dogs and three cats :o We had a front door view of beautiful downtown Miami. The five of us swam, fished, kayaked and hiked the whole area. It was great!
|
|
stuck in venezuela!
EVERYBODY said, " DON'T go through Venezuela!" "They will steal your belongings and you will be delayed and the airport is terrible and you won't be able to buy food with US dollars and..." I was so freaked out about even thinking about Venezuela that I was willing to pay more for a flight that went through Bogotá, Columbia instead and then on to Miami.
I had to have my mom book our flights from Ecuador to Miami because we didn't have a credit card to pay for the flight. I did in fact insist that she book us on United or Copa Air to insure we will not have to deal with the warned of hassles since there were five of us traveling with about 15 pieces of luggage! With the airlines, if you do not have the names on the reservation EXACTLY the same as it reads on your passport-letter for letter, then they will NOT let you fly! My mom was not aware of the anal retentive airline rules and inadvertently transposed the letters in one of our child's middle name AND misspelled my middle name It's a common mistake so I can't really fault her but WOW! What an ordeal to try to get it corrected!
When she called to make the corrections, they wanted to charge her $150 per person to change the names! She had a fit! I did too! $300 for a reservation made not more than ten minutes prior! Anyway, since she had such a fit, the nice sales person suggested she put us on a different airline that "cost a bit less" and that would make up for the difference. My mom, the bargain shopper that she is, thought, how nice...sure, that sounds good. She made the adjustments and sent me the itinerary. I nearly fainted! The nice little sales guy booked us on a morning flight on Aviar, going through Venezuela!!!! :O AND they STILL spelled our son's name wrong!!! I couldn't believe it! When we called back to have the corrections made again and get the original request of NO VENEZUELA, they wanted to charge us another $500! WHAT??!!! Were they serious?! After two days of calling and holding, I had no other choice but to yield and take the Venezuelan flight...uhg.
I had to have my mom book our flights from Ecuador to Miami because we didn't have a credit card to pay for the flight. I did in fact insist that she book us on United or Copa Air to insure we will not have to deal with the warned of hassles since there were five of us traveling with about 15 pieces of luggage! With the airlines, if you do not have the names on the reservation EXACTLY the same as it reads on your passport-letter for letter, then they will NOT let you fly! My mom was not aware of the anal retentive airline rules and inadvertently transposed the letters in one of our child's middle name AND misspelled my middle name It's a common mistake so I can't really fault her but WOW! What an ordeal to try to get it corrected!
When she called to make the corrections, they wanted to charge her $150 per person to change the names! She had a fit! I did too! $300 for a reservation made not more than ten minutes prior! Anyway, since she had such a fit, the nice sales person suggested she put us on a different airline that "cost a bit less" and that would make up for the difference. My mom, the bargain shopper that she is, thought, how nice...sure, that sounds good. She made the adjustments and sent me the itinerary. I nearly fainted! The nice little sales guy booked us on a morning flight on Aviar, going through Venezuela!!!! :O AND they STILL spelled our son's name wrong!!! I couldn't believe it! When we called back to have the corrections made again and get the original request of NO VENEZUELA, they wanted to charge us another $500! WHAT??!!! Were they serious?! After two days of calling and holding, I had no other choice but to yield and take the Venezuelan flight...uhg.
Thank GOD for Jose, our taxi driver and Ecuadorian. He helped us through the customs check in and check out of Ecuador. All Spanish and official is something I can not translate very well. The airlines were concerned about our 15 totes and baggage. They said, 'they didn't think it looked so secure' :O They suggested we buy little locks to lock the totes and even shrink wrap the really valuable stuff to keep the Venezuelans from stealing it! I was not liking the looks of this "new beginning" going back to the states. So we paid $15 EACH to shrink wrap four totes and took our chances on the rest, including the computer.
The flight to Venezuela was smooth. We saw some of the fires burning in the streets and countryside near the airport. Wow! Those news reports were true, it REALLY is that bad there :( Our layover was only supposed to be about three or four hours and then only three more hours to Miami-easy peasy...? When we flew in the airport looked so small. The building was kind of tiny and basic. It had just one very large room with a bunch of seating and several armed guards standing around playing on their cell phones. There were two tiny standing room only eateries and an art gallery of all things, in the back corner near the restrooms. We weren't allowed to leave the airport at all if Venezuela wasn't our final destination. They said it was WAAAY too dangerous out there!
We stayed in the airport and tried to stick with the plan: watch each other's back, don't buy any meals and leave as soon as possible. After four hours passed, we began to think the plane was delayed and sure enough, it was. UHG...my second worse nightmare; being stranded in a poor war torn country that we barely can understand the language! My mind began to get out of hand with crazy imaginative scenes of local unrest and them storming the airport, robbing, raping and killing all its passengers. That is when I also realized it was PRAYER TIME! "God would not put us here to die like that!", I told myself. I gathered the family together to say a prayer of protection and confidence so no one else would get any of those crazy images in their head either! I was quite comforting.
We stayed in the airport and tried to stick with the plan: watch each other's back, don't buy any meals and leave as soon as possible. After four hours passed, we began to think the plane was delayed and sure enough, it was. UHG...my second worse nightmare; being stranded in a poor war torn country that we barely can understand the language! My mind began to get out of hand with crazy imaginative scenes of local unrest and them storming the airport, robbing, raping and killing all its passengers. That is when I also realized it was PRAYER TIME! "God would not put us here to die like that!", I told myself. I gathered the family together to say a prayer of protection and confidence so no one else would get any of those crazy images in their head either! I was quite comforting.
Two more hours went by and everyone was getting hungry. After all we began our trip the night before around 9:00pm, but we all had nearly been up (minus a few hours here and there of sleep during the eight hour taxi ride from Catamayo to Guayaquil) for 28 hours already. I broke down and bought some doughy pocket kind of food. It was terrible :( Tasted like chewy cardboard. In fact, all the food we bought at those little eateries tasted like cardboard.
Our phones were quickly loosing their charges and all the plugs were taken. There were very few if only a handful of English speaking people there. I did befriend a man from Ecuador that worked in Venezuela that spoke English. He was able to translate some the announcements about what was going on. People were getting very anxious because of the delays and the lack of communication between the airlines and the waiting passengers. That made me a bit nervous because tempers were beginning to flair and voices and tones were strengthening towards the airline people.
We had reservations in the hotel and if we didn't make them, we would still be charged but there was no way to call out without a local calling chip. I noticed a electric outlet had been freed up at a table near the restrooms. As I excused myself to get in to plug in, a lady spoke to me in English, asking me where we were flying to. I was SO relived a REAL American! It turns out that she, Diana, was from New Jersey, I think, but was teaching English in Venezuela. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to find out the real nitty gritty of what Venezuela was going through. I told her we were a news journalist and documentary company, and asked if I could do a video interview with her. Diana agreed and then blew my mind with her testimony. Unrest, does not do the description of the state of that country justice. They are in a hellish chaos! I really appreciate how candid Diana was with me so I could understand and get the word out. Venezuela needs our help!!! (See the full video below)
Our phones were quickly loosing their charges and all the plugs were taken. There were very few if only a handful of English speaking people there. I did befriend a man from Ecuador that worked in Venezuela that spoke English. He was able to translate some the announcements about what was going on. People were getting very anxious because of the delays and the lack of communication between the airlines and the waiting passengers. That made me a bit nervous because tempers were beginning to flair and voices and tones were strengthening towards the airline people.
We had reservations in the hotel and if we didn't make them, we would still be charged but there was no way to call out without a local calling chip. I noticed a electric outlet had been freed up at a table near the restrooms. As I excused myself to get in to plug in, a lady spoke to me in English, asking me where we were flying to. I was SO relived a REAL American! It turns out that she, Diana, was from New Jersey, I think, but was teaching English in Venezuela. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to find out the real nitty gritty of what Venezuela was going through. I told her we were a news journalist and documentary company, and asked if I could do a video interview with her. Diana agreed and then blew my mind with her testimony. Unrest, does not do the description of the state of that country justice. They are in a hellish chaos! I really appreciate how candid Diana was with me so I could understand and get the word out. Venezuela needs our help!!! (See the full video below)
As it turns out, we were delayed for five hours at the Venezuelan airport. Although the communication with the airlines was a bit strained, they did feed us and provided plenty of cold drinks in a hot situation. Eventually, we got on the plane and left for Miami almost six hours later. The warnings everybody gave me from the Facebook groups, other airlines and people who had negative personal experiences with Avaiar, did not totally line up with our experience in Venezuela. Yes, the flight was delayed and it was hot and the communication was terrible BUT, they fed us dinner and gave us cold drinks and tried to offer comfort to our plight. I did not feel as though we were in danger at any time whatsoever. It just goes to show; 1) that if I would have listened to Ed, my husband, in the first place, we could have saved about $500 in extra fees and a lot of anxiety. 2) Listening to negative people that really don't know the truth about something can be straining on the mind and heart. 3) Life is A TRUST WALK in this WORLDWIDE journey we are in. Trust in what you know deep down inside and don't let your negative thoughts and imaginations toy with you. Be firm and stand strong in knowing that things aren't always as bad as another says they are! God's bigger than it ALL.
Street People: Performers, Venders, and Beggers
People all over the world that fall on hard times can become very resourceful! Some have hard luck stories that actually happened and some fabricate some of the wildest, most pitiful scenarios imaginable! Others, find a "gig" to work the streets. By selling goods: food, drinks, brooms and mops, puppies, watches, plants, undergarments....you name it. While in Ecuador, I have even seen men wearing the dresses they are trying to peddle :O I like the folks that play music for money. Many of the musicians are really talented! I think the most daring, are those who choose to juggle at the stop lights on the busy bus filled, fast taxi-driving streets! They are some brave souls, as I have seen a few close calls with drivers and street performers.
I was able to capture some of them at work. (Included are a few street performers during New Years eve. They stop the cars by blocking the street with a rope and ask for money... dressed like women!).
I was able to capture some of them at work. (Included are a few street performers during New Years eve. They stop the cars by blocking the street with a rope and ask for money... dressed like women!).
|
|